Valuing Girls Voices (Oakland) | 2016
Research overview:
This report highlights the lived experience of girls of colors at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) schools. The findings are based on results from an analysis of Oakland Unified School District data on academic success and school-engagement indicators, a series of focus groups with girls of color and interviews with district and other stakeholders working on promoting girls-specific services, supports and policies.
Key findings:
Girls and administrators alike have noticed new programming for boys over the past several years and a corresponding lack of similar programming for girls.
Girls of color appreciate opportunities to engage in girls-specific programming, enrichment activities and support, and yearned for more of these types of opportunities.
Peer relationships, conflicts and aggression are the primary source of stress and cause of suspension for girls of color.
Girls who attend higher-quality schools with positive school climates feel safer at school and look forward to being in school, while girls who attend schools that are chronically failing, undergoing school transformation or have a consistently negative school climate feel unsafe.
African American girls do not experience OUSD schools as caring environments, citing numerous examples of unconscious and conscious bias, low expectations and abusive language coming from adults and peers. However, African American girls who described their families as highly involved in their education and reported academic success in school viewed their school experiences more positively.
Administrators and stakeholders suggested that there was a need to understand more about the needs, preferences and strengths of Latina girls.
Recommendations:
Create more opportunities for adults, stakeholders and staff to hear about the experiences of girls of color in OUSD. Support positive youth-development, leadership and advocacy efforts driven by girls.
Support an expansion of girls-specific programming and policies, implementing district-wide policies while also supporting site-specific efforts to create restorative spaces for girls. Expand prevention efforts that create opportunities for African American and Latina girls to come together and for boys and girls, regardless of their ethnicity, to have positive experiences with each other.
Support improvements in school quality, school climate and quality instruction, which will create more positive experiences for boys and girls of color.
Identify opportunities to learn from and align with other efforts happening in the district, including boys-specific efforts, restorative justice and equity work. Work intentionally to avoid creating “gender silos.”
Develop programming and policies that support adults’ capacity to have caring relationships with African American girls, such as training on unconscious bias and trauma-informed approaches.
Create opportunities for African American girls to build sisterhood, celebrate their achievements and access culturally relevant education. • Create a task force with girls and key adult stakeholders to review, modify and implement model policies and programs to prevent and intervene in instances of sexual misconduct at school.
Continue to study the experiences of girls of color within OUSD schools.
