African American Male Achievement Initiative: A Deeper Look At African American Males In OUSD

This report provides further insights into the status of African American boys in Oakland Unified School Distric (OUSD) and aims to reverse the academic and social inequities they face in seven key areas: the achievement gap, graduation rates, literacy, suspensions, attendance, middle school holding power, and juvenile detention. A framework of three levels of well-being (on course, at risk of falling off course, and off course) was used to understand how African American male students are faring in these areas.

• For African American male students K-12, 45 percent were on course, 21 percent were at risk of being off course, and 34 percent were off course. For OUSD students K-12 overall, 63 percent were on course, 18 were at risk of being off course, and 20 percent were off course. Tweet
• Chronic absence in elementary school drove many African American boys off course. Tweet
• More than half of African American boys in middle school were at risk of dropping out of high school, with suspension being a factor for 73 percent of those off course. Tweet
• Almost one in five off-course African American male students were held back. Tweet