Student Success Is More Than One Number 

The California School Dashboard matters. State assessments give us important information about how our students are performing, and I don't believe we should ignore data simply because we don't like what it says. But I also don't believe an annual state assessment tells us everything we need to know about our students or our schools. 

Throughout the year, our teachers and schools collect information about what students know, the progress they're making, and where they still need support. I want us looking at all of it. A student can make significant growth and still not cross a proficiency line on one state assessment. That growth matters, and so does knowing what comes next for that student. 

For me, student success means asking a bigger question: Are our students learning, growing, and leaving Oakley prepared for what comes next?

Tell the Whole Story 

State testing gives us one important view of student achievement, but it shouldn't be the only view we use. Throughout the year, our schools collect local assessment data, examine student work, and see student growth happening in classrooms long before it appears on the California School Dashboard. 

I would like us to get better at telling that story. What does our local data tell us that state data doesn't? Are students making meaningful growth throughout the year? And how can we communicate that information to families and our community in ways that are understandable and transparent?  

Improvement Can't Wait 

Some improvements in education take years before their full impact appears in state data. A stronger reading program introduced in the early grades, for example, may not show its full effect until those students have moved through several grade levels. 

But we also have students in our classrooms today who cannot wait years for the system to catch up. If a student is struggling in fourth grade, sixth grade, or eighth grade, we need to know what support is available now and whether it is actually working. 

From the Board level, that means asking for clear information about our intervention systems: Who is receiving additional support? Are students making progress? Are our resources reaching the students who need them? And what are we doing when the data shows an intervention isn't working? 

Long-term improvement and immediate support shouldn't compete. We need to keep building stronger systems for the students coming behind while paying attention to the students sitting in our classrooms today.

Being at School Matters 

Student achievement and attendance are connected. If students aren't consistently in school, they lose access to instruction, intervention, enrichment, and the relationships that help them succeed. 

At the Board level, I want us to pay attention to chronic absenteeism just as we pay attention to reading and math. Are our attendance strategies working? Are there schools or student groups where the data tells us we need to do something differently? Are we investing in approaches that help families stay connected to school? 

Attendance is more than a number. It is one of the conditions we have to get right if we expect students to succeed.

A Place to Succeed 

Student success can't be defined only by reading and math scores. Those skills are foundational, but school should also be a place where children discover what they're good at, what interests them, and where they belong. 

For one student, that might be band. For another, it might be art, theater, technology, science, a second language, athletics, leadership, or a club that gives them a reason to look forward to coming to school. Not every child will experience success the same way, and they shouldn't have to. 

I want Oakley students to have access to a broad school experience alongside strong academics. From the Board level, that means looking at the opportunities available across our schools, considering those opportunities when we set priorities and allocate resources, and asking whether students have meaningful ways to explore their interests and strengths. 

Kids should work hard at school. They should also have fun, build friendships, try new things, and have opportunities to discover something that makes them think, “I'm good at this.”

Opportunities That Last 

Some of the experiences students remember most happen outside the core academic day. But too often, clubs, activities, and other opportunities depend on whether a particular staff member has the time and willingness to take them on. When that person moves on or can no longer do it, the opportunity can disappear. 

I would like us to look at which opportunities students and families value most, whether students have equitable access to them across our schools, and how we can make successful programs more sustainable from year to year. That doesn't mean every school has to offer exactly the same thing, but students shouldn't discover an opportunity they were excited about only to find that it no longer exists the following year. 

Enrichment shouldn't be an afterthought. The experiences that connect a student to school can be an important part of what makes that student successful there.

Ready for What Comes Next 

Oakley's responsibility doesn't end with an eighth-grade promotion ceremony. Our students leave us and enter a new school district for high school. I want them arriving ready—not just able to pass a test, but prepared academically, confident, connected to their peers, and ready to take advantage of everything high school offers. 

As a parent, this has become even more real to me. My daughters are at the beginning of their Oakley education now. By the time they leave eighth grade, I want them to be strong readers, writers, and mathematicians. I want them to have continued developing the bilingualism and biliteracy they began building in Dual Language Immersion. I want them to have tried things, found interests, built friendships, and learned how to navigate challenges on their own. 

But I also know my children have an advantage: they have two educators at home. Our expectations for Oakley schools can't depend on what a child's parents know about education or what they can provide outside of school. Every family should be able to expect their child to leave us prepared for the next step. 

That's ultimately how I think we should judge student success: When our students leave Oakley, are they ready for what comes next?

Ask the People Who Receive Our Students 

One way to know whether we're preparing students well is to ask the schools that receive them. Our eighth graders move on to Liberty Union High School District, and I want us to keep strengthening that connection and learn from what happens after our students leave Oakley. 

Are our students arriving academically prepared for high school? Where are they excelling? Are there areas where they consistently need additional support? That information gives us another way to evaluate our work and can help inform the goals we set as a Board. 

Success isn't just how students perform while they're ours. It's whether we've prepared them to succeed after they leave us.