Who We Are // Our Organization

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Why We Work

GO is working to bring people together to realize the most effective solutions to ensure educational excellence and equity for Oakland students.

More than 65,000 Oakland students and their families are counting on us as a community to help our children achieve their dreams and be prepared for the future. And there are many excellent schools in Oakland. Yet equal, excellent educational opportunities are not yet a reality for all of our students.

In 2015-16 in Oakland Unified, according to district data, 75 percent of white students graduated high school on time, yet only 59 percent of African-American students graduated high school on time, and 55 percent of Latino students graduated high school on time.

In addition, white students are nine times more likely than African-American students and 18 times more likely than Latino students to attend a high-quality district school.

Our network is driven by the urgent needs of children and families for an excellent education — especially those most at risk of missing out.

How We Work

GO informs, organizes, and supports leaders at every level of our education system — grassroots (students, parents, educators) to grasstops (elected leaders, education leaders, community leaders).

We help leaders to understand, develop, and advocate for system-level changes (policy, practice and culture shifts) that promote excellence and equity for students and families.

Changes such as new resources to prepare students for college, new pathways to college and career success, and increased supports for effective teaching create the conditions for improved student opportunity, learning, and achievement, cradle to career.

How We Got Started

Since our launch in 2009, GO Public Schools Oakland has connected the public to education by informing and empowering community members about district and school policies and practices through communications and events.

Our first campaigns focused on keeping budget cuts as far away from students and classrooms as possible and pushing back on school closure plans focused only on school size and without any community engagement. Read more about our history.

Learn more about our organization in Frequently Asked Questions.

 

Interested in using our office space? Click here to learn more.