East Bay ROP: Improving Oakland-Alameda Regional Occupational Programs

1. East Bay ROP:Improving Oakland-AlamedaRegional Occupational Programs Changing the Way We Provide Career Technical Education Sean McPhetridge, Co-Director of Oakland-Alameda ROP Presentation to the Alameda Board of Education on May 27th, 2008

2. Our Most Important Investment • The most important investment we can make is in our young people. • Everyone really understands this: parents, educators, businesses and the greater community we serve. • We can now improve our investment in young people to our mutual benefit. • We need to leverage the resources available to us so we can better invest in the lives and learning of all students.

3. Why East Bay ROP? • For decades, Oakland-Alameda ROP has suffered from difficulties in coordination that impeded it from reaching goals of improving and increasing Career Technical Education (CTE) programs. • We have worked hard these past few years to reverse that trend and realize our common goals. • We finally have a real and viable working plan of how we can rebrand and retool our organization in order to help our students receive the training and realize the skills required to provide them with increased access to high wage employment and working knowledge for the new economy.

4. Meeting The Mandate Ahead • Oakland-Alameda ROP Stakeholders from both Oakland and Alameda Unified School Districts have met with authorities from CDE and ACOE alike to discuss our planning of a new agency. • Currently Oakland-Alameda ROP really operates like two agencies while reporting as just one: consequently we are failing to realize the focus, commitment and economy of scale required to improve Career Technical Education operations. • We are close to being able to change all that.

5. What East Bay ROP Means One ROP organizational entity One ROP administration One set of ROP books One new agency One mission One focus One goal

6. Why One ROP Agency? A “True” ROP Joint Powers Agreement An ROP JPA Agency of its Own East Bay ROP… A Means to an End • CDE, ACOE and all our ROP JPA counterparts agree the current Oakland-Alameda ROP structure impedes our ability to work both efficiently and pro-actively in the interest of East Bay students and member districts we aim to serve. • By becoming an autonomous agency that will cooperate with AUSD and OUSD, East Bay ROP will have the focus and coherence required to increase services to both districts... and more.

7. Progress We Have Made • All Oakland-Alameda ROP stakeholders now agree to the vision of becoming East Bay ROP. • We have done the environmental scan and now understand what currently exists throughout. • We have rewritten our Joint Powers Agreement. • We have communicated the new JPA rationale to AUSD and OUSD Superintendents and staff. • We are finalizing a new organizational structure to achieve goals of rebranding and retooling the current JPA so we can become East Bay ROP.

8. What Has Been Done • OUSD/AUSD fiscal counterparts and ROP Co-Directors both agree to the logic of retooling as East Bay ROP. • We have used model JPA agreements from local ROP JPAs for our own use. • We are ensured support from ACOE. • We are ensured support from CDE. • We have our attorneys reviewing our existing JPA and model agreements. • Our ROP JPA Board is on board also.

9. Milestones Ahead • A new improved JPA is approved. • Oakland-Alameda ROP rebrands. • East Bay ROP is actually created. • The JPA Board hires one CEO to assume leadership of the new JPA. • East Bay ROP assumes its own HR and fiscal responsibilities in order to enhance and improve services while also streamlining its JPA operations.

10. The Good News • We will provide better CTE programs and services for students who choose Career Technical Education pursuits. • We will help ensure student success and prepare them for both increased post-secondary options and careers. • We will assist member district efforts to decrease drop-out rates through meaningful and rigorous CTE training that is standards-based and updated to current industry trends and needs.

11. What It Will Take • OUSD and AUSD Boards of Education need to recognize the “value add.” • District leaders need to champion a new ROP JPA as “a change agency.” • Continued inter-agency collaboration between PCCD, OUSD and AUSD to continue 2+2 articulation agreement. • Continued efforts to build programs and seize growth ADA by creating courses matched to industry trends.

12. An Interesting Comparison • Mission Valley ROP now has a new $17 million facility serving Fremont, Newark and New Haven districts. • These districts serve 50,000 kids. • AUSD & OUSD serve about the same. • Mission Valley ROP ADA is 2200. • Oakland-Alameda ROP is 880. • Only East Bay ROP can achieve an aggressive growth strategy required to realize our true capacity to serve.

13. Compared to What? • Truth told, Career Technical Education has suffered across the state and nation alike. • We have an opportunity to change it here. • We have a vision of how to accomplish it. • We have a vision of how to achieve growth. • We have a vision of how to assist districts. • Our current structure impedes that work. • Our districts have created that structure. • We cannot do things the same anymore. • East Bay ROP is an important lever for districts who recognize CTE as real secondary reform.

14. Bottom Line: Cost/Benefits • School districts across the state and nation alike are scrambling for secondary reform initiatives that will better prepare our students for success in both college and career pathways. • School districts are seeking out ways to make high school years both relevant and rigorous. • One crucial answer to both these core problems somehow slipped out of our vision over time: Career Technical Education through ROP. • We can save money for AUSD and OUSD alike while simultaneously providing students with engaging CTE curricula proven to help reduce drop-out and increase post-secondary access.

15. Doing It Right: East Bay ROP • In months and years to come, AUSD and OUSD (and perhaps a few other member districts) will have a chance to use untapped ROP resources in a fiscally responsible manner. • East Bay ROP will bring renewed value and a supportive infrastructure to districts as it also brings new opportunities to students we serve. • We can actually double or triple the number of CTE/ROP programs in Alameda and Oakland at minimal cost to the districts. • We can now provide increased CTE pathways to the great advantage of the students we serve.

16. What East Bay ROP Means One ROP organizational entity One ROP administration One set of ROP books One new agency One mission One focus One goal