Sankofa Reflections, Summer 2013

"We are arriving..." 

Sankofa Continues Ambitious Expansion

Standing in the recently painted hallway as Sankofa Academy’s first class of 6th-graders passes by and its Pre-K students rush to recess on the redesigned playground, Principal Monique Brinson takes in the scene before capturing the school’s commitment to continuous improvement in a few short words: “We are arriving.”

Student Council Vice President Mikylah and President Phillip,
both members of Sankofa’s first 6th-grade class

It is this mix of pride and humility — and a nod to the work yet to be done — that continues to define Sankofa. As the campus evolves and grows to become a Pre-K-8, the school community constantly looks to the present and past for cues, staying true to the meaning of the Sankofa name: “to return and fetch it,” to reclaim the past in order to move forward.
 

“The adults in our school community are my eyes and ears,” says Brinson. “Through the dedication of our family leaders, classroom teachers, Teachers on Special Assignment (TSAs), and other school staff, we are becoming the village that takes care of our children.” 

Sankofa is also respecting the small-school roots that shaped its culture and helped boost student achievement. Staff has capped class sizes at 25 wherever possible, and has stayed true to the philosophy of individualized attention for students, with one-on-one support offered by on-site staff as well as outside partners like Lincoln Child Center (LCC) and Project SEED, UC Berkeley’s Sage Mentors and UC Build, Experience Corps, and Temple Sinai volunteers.

6th-Grade Youth Elders Lead the Way

While a unified vision and positive momentum are felt across all grades at Sankofa, the school’s first group of 6th-graders has stepped up to lead the way. “Last year’s 5th-graders became this 6th-grade class of leaders,” Brinson says, echoing this newsletter’s theme of “arrival” and growth. “They are our legacy class, and I’m so proud of how they’ve become the youth elders in our community.”

6th-grader Adam embodies this spirit in a number of ways. Academically, he is on the Sankofa Honor Roll and in the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program. He is also clearly a peer leader and role model for other students. When a class of 3rd-graders filed past Adam during his interview for this newsletter, nearly every student greeted him with “Good luck, Adam!” They all knew he was scheduled to represent Sankofa at the Alameda County Spelling Bee the next day. 

6th-grade student leader Adam

“It feels great being a youth leader and Sankofa elder because the younger kids look up to you,” Adam explains. “Whenever I’m on the yard with them, they’re always like ‘Adam, Adam, can you help me with this, can you play with me?’ And I love to do it because I like children, they’re so energetic it’s just fun to be around them and mentor them. You have to be trusted to really be a big part of Sankofa. We 6th-graders are leaders, and we choose that role ourselves by showing that trust.”

The genesis of Adam’s piece for the recent Oratorical Contest reflects the depth of his sensitivity and vision. The idea came to him around September 11, this past fall. As an African-American Muslim, he was attuned to the atmosphere of discrimination connected to the 9/11 anniversary. “I was thinking about this, and I got really sad,” Adam recalls. “So I thought of a solution. My thoughts were to make a poem and have my dad and family and everybody else listen to it. The poem is called ‘I Am an African,’ an original piece by me displaying African culture and saying we are here, we’re like you, we are all the same.”
 

After writing it, he shared the poem with Principal Brinson, “to see if it was good enough. She cried when she read it. It was amazing.” When Adam read the piece aloud before the entire school, “I was a little afraid. But once I let it out, everybody was happy that I was speaking up for every African and African-American that has been treated unfairly because of the skin they’re in.”
 

Adam’s free-time reading also reflects an ambition beyond his 6th-grade years. “My dad is a lawyer and political author, so has a lot of law books,” Adam says. “I like to read those and challenge myself because my dad always says, ‘I want my kids to be smart.’ He treats me like an adult, he’s real with me. He trusts me and, along with my mom, he’s the one who made me achieve all these things. I want to show the younger kids how much of a leader I am, as my dad is for me.”
 

When asked about the future of Sankofa, Adam lights up. “I hope we continue the success we’re having right now,” he says. “I mean, we’ve achieved so much. I feel as if we’re all connected, and I think that can happen to every child as long as they feel our spirit and our Sankofa pride.”

Academic Achievement Gains

  

This year, Sankofa moved more students into “Proficient” and “Advanced” (a 12.2 percentage-point increase) in English Language Arts (ELA) than any other school in the District. Overall, Sankofa’s Academic Performance Index (API) has increased 248 points since 2007! At 773 today, we are just shy of the state goal of 800.

Sankofa's steady API increase since 2007

As we continue to grow as a Pre-K-8 full-service community school, it is more critical than ever to sustain and build our programs, including the whole-child activities offered in our extended-day program. You can make a tax-deductible donation online or by mail to: “OSF/Sankofa,” PO Box 27148, Oakland, CA 94602. Thank you for your support!
 

Interested in enrolling your child at Sankofa Academy? Call the Student Assignment Office at 510-273-1600. We also welcome you to tour our school. Call 510-654-7787 to set up a visit.

EnCompass Rising, Summer 2013

Owning Their Learning
EnCompass uses Science and Blended Learning pilots to personalize learning

Thorax, pupa, nocturnal, larva, exoskeleton. Within seconds of sitting down with EnCompass Academy 2nd-graders to talk about science, these are just some of the words they rattle off with confidence.
 

Thanks to a deep commitment to science this year, students across campus are talking, thinking, and acting like scientists. “We have more science than ever at EnCompass,” says Principal Minh-Tram Nguyen. “It’s been an amazing year of growth.” As an OUSD Science Cohort School, EnCompass staff got support from a District science coach, received science trainings, and increased Science planning time.

This boost, says Nguyen, not only helped the school offer more science learning – every grade gets much more science time than the District requires – but it has fueled the pursuit of two key parts of the EnCompass vision: “teaching to the whole child,” and “developing an active, reflective, and disciplined mind.”

“Students are using the academic vocabulary of science to ask each other questions, and then asserting scientific thinking through claims and evidence,” explains Nguyen. “That inquiry and investigation supports the ‘active mind.’ And their use of scientific language – through science notebooking and in conversation – connects to the ‘reflective and disciplined’ piece of our vision statement.” Nguyen says the students in Marlene Atwood’s class “took science talk and ran with it.”

2nd-grader Josue offers an example. “If we’re observing a darkling beetle and one dies, we have to have our evidence, and then make a claim about why the beetle died. For example, I might claim my darkling beetle died because of the evidence that it had laid all of its eggs, and they soon die after laying all their eggs.”

Josue’s classmate Mariajose goes on to explain their use of “compare and contrast” when looking at the life cycles of beetles versus humans, and offers a creative interpretation. “Beetles molt, and drop the exoskeleton that covers them. In a way, humans do the same thing: We change clothes when ours don’t fit us anymore.”

By engaging in this type of analysis and hands-on work, students are taking real ownership of their learning. Atwood puts it this way: “Science gives students the opportunity to make sense of the world around them. But to make this experience real and tangible to them, it needs to be taught as a total body experience, allowing children to use all of their senses. Hands-on science allows the students to become scientists discovering the world for themselves.”

“Learning this much science now, in 2nd grade, is going to help us later on because you might get a job as a scientist,” explains 2nd-grader Noel. “And in college, it will help us to know a lot of science already, because when we have to solve problems in class, we won’t just say, ‘I don’t know this, I guess I’ll just guess.’ Instead, we’ll really know the answer.”

Interacting with animals and insects all year has also instilled respect and sensitivity. “When you learn more about them, you care more about them,” says 2nd-grader Sarah. “Science helps us know more about animals so we can take care of them.”

2nd-grade scientists Josue, Noel, Mariajose, and Sarah

The Next Level: Blended Learning

EnCompass Academy is honored to be one of just two OUSD elementary schools taking part in the Rogers Family Foundation’s Blended Learning Pilot. While using technology is a big piece of this program, computers are a conduit for a larger vision.

“As we transition to the Common Core standards, we need to help our students adjust to a new way of thinking and applying knowledge using technology,” says Principal Nguyen. “The online math and reading content is motivating kids to improve by immediately and consistently letting each of them know what level they’ve reached in the progress toward their learning target. It’s a powerful shift.”

“EnCompass has embarked on an ambitious first-year implementation of blended learning that ultimately reached every single teacher and every single student,” shares Greg Klein, director of the Blended Learning Pilot. “Teachers and students used a variety of adaptive online programs to personalize the learning experience for each student. EnCompass teachers rose to the challenge, setting the stage for Year 2, where they can focus on going much deeper with the tools already in place.”

“Even in our early phase of piloting Blended Learning, our students now own their learning more across content areas,” says Nguyen. “They are choosing to use screen time to put their minds to work and become more engaged in the world, rather than the kids’ typical use of screen time to disconnect and escape from the present moment."

Support Our Young Scientists and Technologists!

In a state that spends roughly $3,000 less per student than the national average, public schools like ours must fundraise to continue offering our kids the science and technology resources they deserve. You can help!
 
Please consider a tax-deductible donation online (be sure to choose "EnCompass" in the PICK YOUR SCHOOL pull-down) or by mail to:
“OSF/EnCompass,” P.O. Box 27148, Oakland, CA 94602. Thank you for supporting our ambitious students!

Think College Now: The College Review, Summer 2013

Think College Now’s Alumni Night 2013

A year closer to their collective goal, a community of college-focused TCN alumni
reunite.
 
Since 2007, Think College Now 5th-graders have been taking the next steps toward our shared goal: college. Now roughly 350 strong, TCN alumni are at middle and high schools across Oakland, and with each passing year their presence at our Annual Alumni Night grows, literally and figuratively (see Gabriel, at right).
 

TCN alumni then and now: Gabriel at his first Alumni Night
as a 6th-grader, and this year as a high school sophomore

Among our oldest alumni, the idea of college is coming into clearer focus the closer they get to high school graduation. “There are so many colleges I’d like to go to,” said Gabriel during Alumni Night. Now a 10th-grader at Oakland School for the Arts, he will begin applying to colleges in the fall of 2014. “I like Santa Cruz, but I’m also thinking of the east coast, maybe Columbia.”

Oakland Tech 11th-grader Astrid (pictured below on the far right in the top row), a member of TCN’s first group of alumni, has UC San Diego on her list. Taking in the scene at Alumni Night, she was inspired to see so many TCN students – former and current – keeping college in their sights. “I can see [the younger students] – my sister is one of them – following the right steps and reaching for their goal, which makes me proud,” said Astrid. “College is our dream, that’s what we’re all fighting for. What I like about the Alumni Program is staying in contact with TCN staff and former students. I can talk with them about what’s going on with me and about planning for the future.”
 
Gabriel, who volunteers in TCN’s after-school program coaching soccer and helping students with homework, reflected on keeping such close ties with his elementary school. “I feel closer than I’ve ever been to TCN. It’s the best place to volunteer – people are family here.”

Some of TCN’s oldest alumni, now in 11th grade, at this year’s Alumni Night

As Principal Jose Ruben Olivares said when addressing the crowd, “For me, this event is so special because we all get to reconnect in this special place you all helped to create.”
 
Events like this are also opportunities for staff to connect former students with college-prep programs such as AIM High and Pre-Collegiate Academy. Several students are now members of College Track, a college-prep and completion program, including Gabriel and Astrid. Astrid says College Track has helped her “see a lot of opportunities out there that I didn’t know of. If you think grades were everything, they’re not: there are so many things you need to go college, and College Track opens our eyes to those.”
 

Founding Principal David Silver, now College Track’s CEO, was also on hand to offer historical perspective. “Every year we’ve gotten a little better,” he told the students. “We won the Title I Academic Achievement, Distinguished School Award, broke 800 on the Academic Performance Index. Today, people hear you went to TCN and they say, ‘That’s a great school.’ It’s great that we’re achieving, but you all made a promise: to get into college. The proof will be in fulfilling our promise, making sure that all of you get into college and end up graduating.”

At the end of the evening, when asked about the enduring impact of Think College Now, Gabriel put it this way: “TCN taught me to challenge myself. I know now that I’m capable of being very smart, and my teachers here made me see that in myself. Teachers here do more than teach, they help you with all sorts of things. Now I’m out there in the world, confident, doing the best I can. It’s good to see how students are doing, see them doing well — both my fellow classmates and the younger kids. I just hope we all have a bright future. To ensure that, we must all pursue our dreams of college.”

Support Think College Now!

Continuing our fundraising momentum is more important now than ever as TCN enters a milestone year. Not only is 2013-14 the beginning of TCN’s second decade as a school, but it’s the year our oldest alumni, now juniors in high school, begin applying for college. Our school community’s college-focused vision will officially be realized when those students begin receiving their acceptance letters!
 
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to support our college-focused efforts.
You can donate online at www.thinkcollegenow.org, or by mail to:
“OSF/TCN,” PO Box 27148, Oakland, CA 94602.

Thank you!

Former TCN students Linda and Xochitl reunite on Alumni Night

ECP 6th-Graders Shine in WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase

ECP 6th-graders performing at the WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase

For the 14 Elmhurst Community Prep (ECP) 6th-graders standing nervously on the stage in ECP’s newly renovated auditorium, December's WOW! Apprenticeship Showcase was their spot-lit moment to share 11 weeks of hard work.

"We practiced a lot for that performance," recalls 6th-grader Gemini. "We had to learn three different African dances, and at the beginning it was really hard but we worked for 11 weeks – we'd even leave class and practice at home." With the support of instructor Julia Chigamba, drummer Orga, and Citizen Schools Teaching Associate Amber Arnold, the kids learned three traditional African dances – Harvest, Warrior, and Welcome – throughout their Citizen Schools after- school apprenticeship. And the semester was about much more than learning the steps: Chigamba taught them the origins of the dances and wove in cultural and historical background.

"The Warrior dance has a lot of jumping," explains Gemini, "and it’s about standing up for your rights. Harvest was about gathering food and being giving to people – we balanced baskets on our heads while dancing. And the Welcome dance was about welcoming all the spirits."

6th-graders Gemini, Eduardo, and JazminPhoto Copyright Hasain Rasheed

"In the Welcome dance we were saying, 'Come and sit' to the spirits," adds 6th- grader Jazmin. "I had a lot of fun in African dance class because we got to learn about a different culture, and Orga taught us some basic Zimbabwean words."

The class, which took place at the East Oakland Youth Development Center, also invited a chance to improvise. "At the end of class, we would get to freestyle," Gemini says. "So we could do some of the dances we already knew. We taught Ms. Julia a new dance from Oakland!"

"We learned from her, and she also learned from us," says 6th-grader Eduardo.
So when the kids stood on stage before an audience of their peers, families, and community members, there was pressure to live up to all they had learned, and to the trust and rapport they had built with their instructors. "When they announced we were going to perform we got scared, thinking, 'What if we mess up?'" explains Eduardo. "We were wondering, 'Are we gonna make it, are we gonna be able to do this?'" remembers Gemini.

SUPPORT ECP!

Building on the momentum of our apprenticeships, we hope to extend our students' experiential learning through several spring field trips – especially college tours. But due to steep state cuts, we must raise outside funds to offer these trips. You can make a tax-deductible donation online at www.elmhurstcommunityprep.org/donate or by mail to: "OSF/ECP," P.O. Box 20238, Oakland, CA 94620. Thank you for your support!