This website features Urban Strategies Council's research for the African American Male Achievement Initiative.

Urban Strategies Council joined the Oakland Unified School District and the East Bay Community Foundation in launching the ambitious African American Male Achievement Initiative (AAMAI) in late 2010. The AAMAI aims to enable African American boys in Oakland to achieve their full potential by reversing the academic and social inequities facing them in seven key areas: the achievement gap, graduation rates, literacy, suspensions, attendance, middle school holding power, and juvenile detention.

Urban Strategies Council's role in the AAMAI includes data analysis, policy research and developing & tracking indicators to measure the initiative's progress toward the major project goals.  Our research focuses on key issues that relate to the educational outcomes of African American males in the OUSD.  Our work is action-oriented research that utilizes strong empirical data analysis to inform the selection of strategies highlighted as promising practices nationally, practices designed to improve outcomes for African American boys and eliminate disparities among racial/gender groups.

Attendance Research & Reports

Suspension Research & Reports

On-Course To Graduate Report

For a set of PowerPoint slides giving an overview of the research Urban Strategies Council has conducted for the African American Male Achievement Initiative, click here.

More information about the initiative visit http://www.thrivingstudents.org/5

Today on Your Call: What should school discipline look like?

As a part of our work on the African American Achievement Initiative in Oakland Unified School District, the Council authored a report called A Closer Look at Suspensions for African American Males in OUSD, which examines data and policies related to suspensions and offers recommendations for reducing the rates of and disparities in suspensions of African American male students in Oakland. We were invited to share our findings on KALW’s Your Call radio program on November 14th. Sarah Marxer, a research associate at the Council, joined practitioners of restorative justice in Oakland schools to discuss suspensions and moving toward racial equity in school discipline.

Listen to the show

Last week our Research & Technology Director presented on our work using data to drive education reform and policy change as part of our AAMAI project. This is a 5 minute Ignite style presentation at the Code for America Summit in San Francisco. Hope you enjoy it!