1. Meaningful Student Engagement
Presented by:
Pilot Year Final Report
Student Directors
ShaCora Cowart
Markeshia James
Raquel Jimenez, Student Engagement Specialist
Jidan Koon, MSE Consultant
Shannon Chase, MSE Student Intern
MSE Staff

2. Goals of MSE Initiative
Engage student leadership in school governance and policy making as well as addressing school improvement issues rather than solely focus on activities planning
Include traditional as well as non-traditional leaders in student leadership in order to access the influence of a broad range of students
Build mechanisms for on-going feedback between student leadership and their constituents in order to represent a broad range of view points instead of representing individual opinions
Provide students with school based training and support to develop leadership skills through a class with curriculum
Build capacity for youth-adult partnerships in schools

3. MSE Learning Questions
for Pilot Year 07-08
What does it take to support school-based efforts to establish meaningful student engagement?
What are some models of school based student leadership structures and activities?
What should a leadership class curriculum include and how should it be used to support meaningful student engagement at schools?
What does it take to support district wide efforts to establish meaningful student engagement via All City Council?

4. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Creating curriculum for leadership classes
MSE staff worked with a student intern from MetWest High School to create a 35 week, two sessions per week, curriculum for leadership classes
Curriculum modules are based on student engagement standards developed by the MSE Collaborative in
This curriculum is mixture of newly created curriculum as well as curriculum borrowed from Peer Resource classes, SOUL, Youth Together, and various other youth leadership groups.

5. Implementing new structure and function for All City Council (ACC)
This was the first year operating under the new ACC constitution created and adopted by ACC in 2006 – 2007.
ACC has increased it’s participation to 14 high schools in total throughout 07-08, with an average of 11 schools at each monthly meeting; and 8 middle schools in total, with an average of 4 middle schools at each monthly meeting.
We have also implemented new activities, informed by findings from MSE-Youth In Focus (YIF) student research team project from 06-07

6. All City Council High School
New Activities
All day leadership building retreat for students in October
Governing Board planning retreats in summer and winter
Campaign implementation and support for site based youth-led efforts:
1. Williams implementation & monitoring
(clean schools campaigns at Skyline, Oakland High, and Fremont Federation), Nutrition Admin. Regulations monitoring and support (healthy food campaigns at Castlemont and YES),
2. Textbook monitoring
(collecting testimony and documentation at ACC meetings)

7. All City Council High School New Activities (cont’d)
Issue Discussion and Platform development for: Quality Teaching, and Safer Schools
High School Peer Resource/Ethnic Studies Conference, 300 OUSD students in attendance
Leadership fieldtrip to Sacramento, Oakland delegates talked to legislators about education budget cuts, participated in anti-budget cut postcard campaign
School Site Council training for high school student representation

8. All City Council Middle School
New Activities
All day leadership building retreat for students in September
SF State College tour
Middle School Peer Resources Conference, 450 students in attendance
School Site Council training for middle school student representation

9. III. Piloting MSE at Eight Schools
Of the nine schools initially in the MSE pilot, eight sites completed the entire year.
All sites reflected the diversity of schools in Oakland: comprehensive & small schools, continuation, and geographically in different neighborhoods.
Two schools had previously existing leadership classes:
Skyline High School
Westlake Middle School
Six schools started leadership classes for the first time:
Coliseum College Preparatory Academy
Excel High School
Metwest High School
Roots Academy Middle School
Rudsdale High School
Youth Empowerment School

10. Student Action Projects
Surveys
MSE Sites Implement
Student Action Projects
CCPA implemented their first ever Black History Month Exhibit to educate the school community on the Black experience in this country.
MetWest designed a Conflict Mediation program to address violence and school culture issues, and also planned a school dance.
Roots began a Student Store to provide students with healthy snacks and the academic materials often not available at home.
Rudsdale students designed a student lounge as well as developed a student survey process where students gave feedback on teaching and classes offered at the school.

11. Student Action Projects (continued)
Skyline implemented a clean bathroom education project aligned with the ACC campaign for safe and clean facilities. Students researched and developed a presentation on bathroom cleanliness and presented to all English classes.
Westlake students identified campus beautification as an issue and designed and completed a mosaic entitled “Leadership Legends” on a wall visible from Harrison Street.
YES leadership class worked in partnership with Youth Together to build a youth center on campus as well as implemented a food justice campaign in order to provide healthier and more appetizing lunch, and to keep students on campus.

12. Providing support to MSE pilot sites
MSE staff provided:
Regular (monthly) meetings for coaching and trouble shooting with leadership teachers
Classroom presentations or scheduling for student or community presenters for leadership class
Professional development and peer learning at beginning of year and mid-year
Funding for action projects
Fieldtrip and supplemental activities planned centrally, via ACC

13. Sharing best practices nationally at AERA (American Education Research Association) Conference in New York
We traveled as an MSE team with youth and staff from ACC,
Youth In Focus, and Organize Da BAY Coalition. This youth
team represented OUSD, in three sessions:
1) MSE as a model for current applications of critical pedagogy
2) MSE history and current work with community partners
3) MSE model for youth-led action research with Youth In Focus.
The student team also visited, and shared their work with
student organizers doing similar work in Brooklyn and the Bronx
with Brothers-Sisters United, Sister Sol, and at Bushwick
Community High School.
Interviews

14. Focus Groups LESSONS LEARNED
What does it take to support school-based efforts to establish meaningful student engagement?
MSE staff, teachers, and students have learned from this pilot year that we need to continue the following:
Solid Structure
Day time leadership class
At least twice a week meetings for leadership class. Possibly an advisory as well as elective class.
Strong link to school day if leadership class is after school via teacher or administrative sponsor
Team teaching: it really works! School day teacher paired with community based organization or after school staff.
Focus Groups

15. What does it take to support school-based efforts to establish meaningful student engagement? (CONT’D)
Clear and common vision for leadership and its role on campus.
The following agreements must be established and held by teacher, administration, students:
How leadership functions as well as the role of student leadership prior to establishing leadership body/class
Parameters for student leadership projects and role in decision making
Set calendar of events or activities to plan
Agreement and support for training and leadership development in place of endless activity planning
Boundaries on the kinds and number of activities that the leadership body is expected to plan.
Focus Groups

16. What does it take to support school-based efforts to establish meaningful student engagement? (CONT’D)
Focus on supporting youth and adults to have students on school policy making bodies such as School Site Council, Site Leadership Teams, and Positive School Climate (Safety) Committees.
Retreat for leadership students to build team and do substantive work at the beginning or mid-year.
Getting buy in from and changing attitudes of adults in the whole school about engagement of students in leadership
Students, leadership teachers, and MSE staff presenting to administration and school site staff about role of leadership in school to re-define expectations for leadership class.
Cultivate willingness on part of adults to share power (in defined ways) with students
Reach principals about MSE and capacity building for youth-adult partnerships.
Focus Groups

17. What does it take to support school-based efforts to establish meaningful student engagement? (CONT’D)
Training and capacity building for leadership teachers
Peer learning and peer coaching of teachers works well and should be expanded upon:
Professional development sessions led by MSE are useful and need to meet the scheduling constraints of teachers.
MSE staff providing monthly coaching for teachers as well as capacity building for other school staff on youth-adult partnerships.
Support from district offices
Process for purchasing action project supplies must be stream lined
Provide substitutes for attending ACC meetings.
Focus Groups

18. What are some models of school based student leadership structures and activities?
Structure of leadership class
After school leadership class with strong link to school day via school day teachers or administrators
School day leadership class through advisory
School day leadership class as an elective
Mixture of any of the above
Membership of leadership group
Elected students in traditional roles/titles
Student unity council in non-hierarchical roles with titles based upon function
Mixture of elected and appointed/selected students
Leadership club with students voluntarily joining leadership
Students elected to represent advisories
Focus Groups

19. What should a leadership class curriculum include and how should it be used to support meaningful student engagement at schools?
Prioritize certain key lessons for the beginning of the class (for example facilitation, agenda setting, and school decision making).
Instead of a sequential curriculum, the teacher should pull lessons around the class’ projects. The curriculum modules should also be structured around small homework assignments or mini-projects.
Get student buy in to the curriculum and ACC by having an orientation presentation in the class, involve students in choosing
the lessons they want to cover, and use peer teaching, either within same grades or younger grades (especially using HS students to teach MS students).
The curriculum msut be grade appropriate (MS and HS) and should incorporate more team building activities throughout.
Focus Groups

20. What should a leadership class curriculum include and how should it be used to support meaningful student engagement at schools?
(CONT’D)
Planning of projects and activities needs to be balanced with covering the curriculum. Many schools needed fewer activities to plan in order to have enough time to build skills and transform focus of leadership class.
What does it take to support district wide efforts to establish meaningful student engagement via All City Council?
1. All City Council must continue alignment with community based youth group campaigns, such as this year’s collaboration with
Californians for Justice and Youth Together on Williams complaints and clean schools campaigns
2. Choose a campaign that is broad enough to impact all schools
Focus Groups

21. What does it take to support district wide efforts to establish meaningful student engagement via All City Council?
(CONT’D)
3. More reflection/evaluation of ACC with students at end of year.
4. Channel ACC students into other leadership opportunities through providing resource list of local leadership groups to become a part of, especially during summer.
5. Substitutes to assist teachers in bringing students to ACC meetings
6. Transportation for ACC delegates to attend ACC meetings
7. Request for District (NEXO offices) to accept one permission packet for all ACC meetings
Focus Groups

22. What does it take to support district wide efforts to establish meaningful student engagement via All City Council?
(CONT’D)
8. More staffing support, 2FTE and one .5FTE to carry out:
Overall MSE coordination: ACC, district wide campaigns and activities, and non-MSE school site support for participation in ACC
District wide outreach for All City Council
Provide and coordinate support, peer mentorship, and coaching for sites
Coordination of Ethnic Studies and Peer Resource Conferences
Teacher to teacher mentorship
Coordination of Student Evaluation/Research; YIF student led action research is critical to informing direction of ACC campaigns and feedback on overall MSE work
Focus Groups

23. Finding 1 NEXT STEPS for 2008-2009 Implement Recommendations:
MSE staff are implementing many of the recommendations of students, teachers, and community based organizations involved in the MSE initiative this year.
MSE Youth Planning Retreat:
The MSE initiative will kick off the school year with a collaborative retreat, bringing together adults as well as youth leaders from key youth organizing and advocacy groups to build relationship, map out campaigns, and plan out the year together.
MSE Curriculum Revisions:
Teachers from the pilot sites are revising the leadership curriculum over the summer to incorporate the lessons they have learned through using the curriculum as well as to develop a middle school version of the curriculum.
Finding 1

24. NEXT STEPS (Cont’d) Teacher Mentoring
Teachers from the cohort will also be involved in training and mentoring teachers in the cohort of MSE pilot sites.
New Sites for next year:
Media Academy HS
Architecture Academy HS (tentative)
Oakland International Academy HS
Farwest HS
Roosevelt MS
Melrose Leadership Preparatory MS
Claremont middle school
CCPA MS

25. Appreciations
MSE staff members Raquel Jimenez and Jidan Koon would like to thank the following people and groups for providing invaluable support, partnership, and leadership in advancing student voice for social justice and quality education!
AyeNay Abye, Charles McDonald and the students of Californians for Justice
Amy Dellefield and Mary Scott at Oakland High
Ashlee George, Vernon Bell, Misha Karigaca and the Westlake Leadership Class
Nicole Trujillo, Karen Pezetti, Maureen Benson and the YES Leadership Class
Robbin McCulloch, LaCole Martin, Yetunde Reeves and the Excel Leadership Class

26. Appreciations (Cont’d)
Sarah Kate Roberts, Keisha Green, and the Skyline Leadership Class
Charles Schneekloth, Rick Gaston, and the CBITS Student Governing Board
Heather Manchester, Abbey Atwood, Lydia Moore, Brandee Stewart, and the ROOTS Leadership Class
Shannon Chase, Greg Cluster, Eve Gordon and the MetWest Leadership Class
Victor Duarte, Willie Thompson, and the Rudsdale Leadership Class
Amanda Martinez and the students of Fremont Youth Together
Sagnicthe Salazar and the students of Castlemont Youth Together

27. Appreciations (Cont’d)
Josh Fisher and the students of Skyline Youth Together
One Land One People Youth Center Staff at Skyline
Yvonne Campbell at Paul Robeson
Helen Wu, Andrea Tacdol, and the Oakland Youth Commission
Daaimah Aleem, Aaron Townsend, and Fabiana Ahumada at CCPA
April Scott at United for Success
Jay Conui, Tiffany Eng, and Claire Tran at AYPAL
Huaxtec grassroots student leaders
Kimberly Aceves and Prishni Murillo of Youth Together

28. Appreciations (Cont’d)
Jamileh Ebrahimi and the Ethnic Studies Planning Committee
Michelle Ferrer and the leadership/PASS students at Oakland Tech
Julie Iny and Kim Miyoshi of Oakland KidsFirst!
Cynthia Adams and the NAACP Oakland Chapter
Robert Dousa and Jackie Shonerd
Lailan Huen, Jennifer Gong of Youth In Focus, and the Da Town Researchers
FCO staff: Anne Okahara, Risha Riley, Gulliver Scott, Sarah Nuno,
Zenaida Parea, Anika Hardy, Isela Barbosa, Sou Garcia, Oscar Ramos, and Elaine Tan.

29. Appreciations (Cont’d)
Network Officers: Alison McDonald, Wendy Gudalewicz, Fred Brill, and Harriet McLean
Facilities Staff: Tim White, Robin Moore, Roland Broach, Leroy Stokes, and Tadashi Nakadegawa
All City Council Governing Board members: Shacora Cowart, Isaiah Toney, Markeshia James, Cecilia Lopez, Arwa Omar, Brianna Pang, and Andrew Wilson