Oakland Schools Foundation FAQ
General Questions About OSF
• What does OSF do?
• What services does OSF provide?
• Why did you become OSF?
• What makes OSF unique?
• What results has OSF seen?
• How are OSF's services aligned with OUSD's vision for full-service community schools?
• Is OSF involved in advocacy?
• Who supports OSF?
• How is OSF different from a traditional "foundation"?
Questions About OSF-Member Schools
• How many schools do you serve?
• What results have OSF-member schools seen?
• How does a school join your network?
• What is OSF's criteria for working with schools?
• What is a "small school"?
• How many small schools are there?
• Are small schools charter schools?
• Is OSF involved with curriculum at schools?
OSF Finance and Fundraising Questions
• Of the funds OSF raises, what percentage directly supports schools?
• How much money have you raised since you started?
• Why do schools have to pay for your services?
Miscellaneous Questions
• What is an API?
• What is the CST?
• What are benchmark tests?
• What are the "flatlands"?
What does OSF do?
Everything OSF does is geared toward achieving its mission: to promote excellence for all of Oakland's public school students.
OSF generates, secures, and manages resources for schools while helping those schools develop their own capacity to create the best learning environments for their students.
OSF works with schools that serve predominantly low-income students, are results-oriented and mission-driven, have empowered entrepreneurial leadership, cultivate collaboration and family leadership, and are focused on student personalization and innovative curriculum.
Four initiatives drive OSF's work:
1. Deliver highest quality services tailored to the unique needs of public schools
2. Increase schools’ capacity to support student achievement
3. Develop high-impact programs that support school excellence
4. Be the leading education foundation and services organization for Oakland's public schools
What services does OSF provide?
OSF offers schools tailored services in the areas of communications, operations, and resources development. For more specifics, please see our Services page.
Why did you become OSF?
We became OSF as a logical extension of our mission and strategic plan, which is to promote educational excellence for all students in Oakland. As the Oakland Schools Foundation, we have the opportunity to work with more schools in need — not just those that are technically "small." We plan to use our work with OSSF's founding small schools as a model for our work as we expand.
What makes OSF unique?
• OSF serves each school individually to help it manage its own tailored initiatives and achieve its own goals, as outlined in a customized package called School Growth Plan.
• OSF is the only organization that offers these supports and specifically focuses on building schools’ capacity to finance programs, install and use efficient operational systems, and assess the programs essential to student achievement.
• OSF is the only private agency that helps schools develop into high functioning organizations, measuring schools’ performance through the lens of communications, operations, and resources.
• While OSF retains funds as a fiscal sponsor as other foundations and “education funds” do, OSF does this for individual schools rather than the district as a whole.
• While other agencies write grants, OSF is the only organization that acquires funds for schools and then rigorously monitors the progress of those funded programs, taking full responsibility for the performance outcomes.
What results has OSF seen?
• OSF partners with more than 30 schools to support their communications, operations, and resources development.
• OSF has helped raise more than $20 million for school programs since 2003.
• Please see our new Results and Impact document that lays out the different ways we have had an impact at our schools in the areas of grants funding, community outreach, Professional Learning Commmunities, and finance support.
How are OSF's services aligned with OUSD's vision for full-service community schools?
OSF supports the Oakland Unified School District's vision for full-service community schools. This document illustrates some of the ways our services align with the district's goals.
Is OSF involved in advocacy?
OSF's IRS status allows only very limited advocacy, and advocacy is only narrowly within the organization's mission.
Who supports OSF?
• S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
• Community Charities Special BINGO Account
• William H. Donner Foundation
• Dreyers Grand Ice Cream Foundation
• East Bay Community Foundation
• Evelyn and Walter Haas Fund
• Walter and Elise Haas, Jr. Fund
• Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Fernandez, Lyons, Greenwood, Harley & Oberman Foundation
• Oakland Fund for the Arts
• Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe Foundation
• Rogers Family Foundation
• San Francisco Foundation
• Silver Giving Foundation
• Wayne & Gladys Valley Foundation
• Yahoo! Employee Foundation
• Y & H Soda Foundation
• Zellerbach Family Foundation
• And hundreds of individual and corporate donors
How is OSF different from a traditional "foundation"?
Unlike a supporting foundation, OSF is not technically a grantor; nor is it endowed. OSF helps schools secure funding FROM traditional foundations and holds these funds as their fiscal sponsor, then works with schools to monitor their funded programs, acting as a bridge between the grantor and the schools' funded programs. OSF also relies on foundation grants to support its own operations and capacity.
OSF also sets itself apart from most "foundations" by working with schools in areas not directly tied to funding. OSF coaches schools in leadership and other operations, and provides schools with marketing in the form of newsletters, brochures, web sites, and more.
Questions About OSF-Member Schools
How many schools do you serve?
The Oakland Schools Foundation currently works with 45 member schools serving more than 14,000 students.
What results have OSF-member schools seen?
• Schools in OSF’s network outpaced state averages in growth based on 2010 California Standards Test (CST) and Academic Performance Index (API) results.
• Based on API, the Oakland Unified School District is the most improved large urban district in California over the last five years, due in part to the success of OSF-member schools.
• Think College Now (K-5) has an API of 859, surpassing the state goal of 800 and making it one of the highest-achieving low-income schools in California. In 2010, Manzanita SEED Elementary, Greenleaf Elementary, and ACORN Woodland joined TCN in eclipsing 800 on the API.
• The schools with the district's greatest API growth in 2010 — Manzanita SEED and Barack Obama Academy — are both OSF schools.
• Life Academy of Health and Bioscience and MetWest High School graduated more than 90 percent of their seniors in 2008-09.
How does a school join your network?
As OSSF transitioned to become OSF — the Oakland Schools Foundation — our network expanded to include select larger public schools (and one charter school) that embody the qualities of our vision for school improvement (see "criteria" below).
Schools can enroll in our Funds Processing Service, School Fund, or School Growth Plan.
What is OSF's criteria for working with schools?
OSF works with public Oakland schools that:
- serve predominantly low-income students
- have entrepreneurial leaders
- are results-oriented and data-driven
- have a strong mission and vision
- use innovative instruction and practices
- value student personalization
- emphasize collaboration and family involvement
What is a "small school"?
In 1999, Oakland Community Organizations, parents, and the greater Oakland community came together with the Oakland Unified School District to address the equity and achievement gap facing schools in high-poverty communities. The Small Schools Policy they wrote resulted in what are today 49 small flatland public schools (see "What are the flatlands?"). These schools are distinguished by their relative autonomy, entrepreneurial leadership, innovative instructional practices, small class sizes, and student personalization.
85 percent of small schools students come from low-income families where a large percentage of parents have not finished high school. 65 percent are English-language learners. Small schools have made remarkable progress in a short time: better test scores, higher graduation rates and attendance, and improved safety ratings from families and students.
How many small schools are there?
49. OSF works with 40 of them.
Is OSF involved with curriculum at schools?
No. OSF believes curriculum and instruction should be driven by on-site school staff, with help from curriculum-focused organizations such as the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES).
OSF Finance and Fundraising Questions
Of the funds OSF raises, what percentage directly supports schools?
In 2008-09 OSF raised about $1.3 million from individuals, businesses, and foundation for programs based at 36 schools. OSF retained 7.7% ($100,000) of this for overhead and processing, and 92.3% of these funds went directly to school programs.
OSF also raises money for its own operations. In 2008-09, OSF raised $270,000 for operations. These funds are not restricted to school-based programs, but 85% of these funds pay for staff to provide direct services in Communications, Operations, and Resources Development that make up each school’s School Growth Plan.
How much money have you raised since you started?
OSF has raised $18 million in public and private funds for schools since 2003. We are expert fundraisers but we also help schools manage their funds well and monitor their funded programs to ensure that philanthropy investments are working.
Why do schools have to pay for your services?
OSF receives fees-for-service from schools, as well as capacity grants from foundations to pay for staff to serve schools. Foundation grants account for only about one-third of the costs.
General Education and School-Related Questions
What is an API?
The Academic Performance Index (API) crunches California Standards Test (CST) scores in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies into one number between 200 and 1000. 800 is considered the state goal. (English and Math scores are weighted the most in calculating API.) OSF schools have shown remarkable API growth in recent years. For more on this improvement, click here. For more details on API calculation, visit the California Department of Education's website.
What is the CST?
The California Standards Test (CST) measures academic growth in English Language Arts, Math, and other areas such as Science. Students take the test at the end of each school year, with results released in August.
What are benchmark tests?
Schools administer standards-based "benchmark assessments" 3-4 times a year in both ELA and Math. Staff use the results to target specific students needing extra help to move up academic "proficiency" levels. This intensive tutoring work and tracking of progress make up the basis for much of OSF's After-School Collaborative work.
What are the "flatlands"?
"Flatlands" is a term commonly used to describe the areas where most of our network schools are located. Compared to the "hills," where schools and families generally have more resources, the flatlands are home to lower-income families. OSF is committed to narrowing the resource gap in order to give all of Oakland's students the opportunities to achieve excellence.