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Findings 12 findings
20-1
Page 1
Oakland Unified School District’s public comments regarding Castlemont High School's misuse of APEX and other grade recovery programs misled the public about the severe academic and ethical breakdowns that occurred at the school.
F20-1
Oakland Unified School District’s public comments regarding Castlemont High School's misuse of APEX and other grade recovery programs misled the public about the severe academic and ethical breakdowns that occurred at the school.
20-2
Page 1
Oakland Unified School District’s weak internal policies, inadequate training, and lack of oversight enabled some Castlemont High School teachers of onsite make-up courses and credit recovery tutorials to run roughshod over academic integrity and best practices.
F20-2
Oakland Unified School District’s weak internal policies, inadequate training, and lack of oversight enabled some Castlemont High School teachers of onsite make-up courses and credit recovery tutorials to run roughshod over academic integrity and best practices.
20-3
Page 1
Oakland Unified School District’s policies on administration of APEX Learning online credit recovery courses were inadequate to ensure consistent and appropriate application of APEX and allowed abuse by a small number of teachers and counselors at Castlemont High School.
F20-3
Oakland Unified School District’s policies on administration of APEX Learning online credit recovery courses were inadequate to ensure consistent and appropriate application of APEX and allowed abuse by a small number of teachers and counselors at Castlemont High School.
20-4
Page 1
APEX teachers received little or no training in the proper use and administration of APEX courses and of the grading of students in those courses.
F20-4
APEX teachers received little or no training in the proper use and administration of APEX courses and of the grading of students in those courses.
20-5
Page 1
Extraordinarily high truancy rates at Castlemont High School and insufficient administrator intervention made it impossible for habitually truant students to receive the required educational experience.
F20-5
Extraordinarily high truancy rates at Castlemont High School and insufficient administrator intervention made it impossible for habitually truant students to receive the required educational experience.
20-6
Page 1
Some long-standing OUSD students arrive at Castlemont High School unprepared for high school level work due to being repeatedly promoted in earlier grades without meeting the district’s requirements for promotion. 29 2019―2020 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report
F20-6
Some long-standing OUSD students arrive at Castlemont High School unprepared for high school level work due to being repeatedly promoted in earlier grades without meeting the district’s requirements for promotion. 29
Recommendations 12
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R1Onsite teacher-designed make-up courses must be included in course lists and available to all failing students.
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R2Credit must only be given for make-up classes in the same subject as the failed course.
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R3Credit toward a required number of subject units cannot be given for the same semester course taken twice.
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R4Course curricula and assignments must be administratively reviewed.
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R5Aeries records must include attendance data and progress through the recovery course as in regular courses.
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R6Credit cannot be awarded for failed courses based on subsequent courses that were passed. Recommendation 20-2: The Oakland Unified School District must implement specific controls to ensure all APEX learning complies with recommended APEX policy, procedures, and best practices. At a minimum:
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R7Limit the number of courses taken simultaneously.
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R8Require all quizzes and exams be proctored on campus.
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R9Confine APEX classes to one subject.
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R10Prohibit enrollment in the same traditional and APEX classes at the same time.
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R11Require a minimum number of online hours within a minimum number of weeks of instruction not restricted entirely to quizzes and exams.
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R12Ensure teachers do not coach students through pretests, quizzes and exams. Recommendation 20-3: Teachers of APEX courses must be credentialed in the subject of the course and must be trained in APEX Learning’s published best practices for teaching the classes, in using pretests for customizing course curricula, in making graded assignments, and in grading quizzes, exams and classes using progress and proficiency scores produced by the APEX program. The exercise of teacher discretion in assigning grades for APEX courses must be strictly regulated by school site administrators. Recommendation 20-4: Castlemont High School administrators must put in place and rigorously enforce robust procedures to track and control excessive student absences, consistent with the Oakland Unified School District’s standards and the California Education Code. When local efforts fail to ameliorate truancy, cases should be referred to the Alameda County Truancy Court. Graduation 30 of students with chronic absenteeism resulting in failures in required courses must be prohibited, until those courses are properly passed. Recommendation 20-5: District-wide procedures must be developed and implemented to consistently enforce OUSD’s existing Pupil Promotion and Retention Policy that prevents students from being promoted into grades for which they are insufficiently prepared. REQUEST FOR RESPONSES Pursuant to California Penal Code sections 933 and 933.05, the grand jury requests each entity or individual named below to respond to the enumerated Findings and Recommendations within specific statutory guidelines, no later than 90 days from the public release date of this report. Responses to Findings shall be either: Agree Disagree Wholly, with an explanation ⦁ Disagree Partially, with an explanation ⦁ ⦁ Responses to Recommendations shall be one the following: Has been implemented, with a brief summary of the implementation actions Will be implemented, with an implementation schedule ⦁ Requires further analysis, with an explanation and the scope and parameters of ⦁ an analysis or study, and a completion date that is not more than 6 months after ⦁ the issuance of this report Will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable, with an explanation ⦁
Conclusions 4
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CL1 Page 15Students First: We support students by providing multiple learning opportunities to ensure students feel respected and heard.
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CL2 Page 15Equity: We provide everyone access to what they need to be successful.
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CL3 Page 15Excellence: We hold ourselves to uncompromising standards to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
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CL4 Page 15Integrity: We are honest, trustworthy, and accountable. It is unfathomable that OUSD administrators were oblivious to the problems at Castlemont and did not intervene long before whistleblowing teachers reached out to the media in desperation. Statistical data demonstrating Castlemont’s under-performance, student truancy and rising graduation rates in the face of poor standardized test results have long been available for district scrutiny. When OUSD was forced to acknowledge the problems publicly, it wrongly denied there was misconduct, doing teachers, students, and the public a disservice. OUSD’s investigative reports failed to acknowledge the severe academic and ethical breakdown occurring at 28