Arab, Asian, and Pacific Islander Student Achievement is an innovative targeted initiative of the Oakland Unified School District's Office of Equity to lift up our most struggling API students. The Arab Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement (AAPISA) program lifts up the diverse API populations in Oakland for every student to thrive, achieve and succeed in OUSD. There are roughly 6,000 Asian P
acific Islander students in OUSD schools, representing over 45 ethnicities spanning the API diaspora from Southwest Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific Islands. We celebrate our diversity while coming together in our common experiences, values, and the need to advocate for better policies, services, and institutions that reflect and serve our youth and families. https://give.classy.org/APISA
We work from data that shows disparities in equity for API students:
* In the fall of 2016-17, Pacific Islanders were the lowest performing student group in OUSD on the Scholastic Reading Inventory with 65% of the PI population reading multiple years below grade level.
* At the end of 2016-17, 66% of Arabic speaking students were not on track to graduate.
* At the end of 2016-17, 75% of Cambodian students were at Standard Not Met/Standard Nearly Met in SBAC Math.
* 44% of Pacific Islander students are chronically absent from school and at risk of chronic absence in OUSD.
* According to a recent student survey conducted by AYPAL, 58% of Asian and Pacific Islander students do not feel safe while they are at school. In the fall of 2017, API students and alumni led a Listening Campaign with 30 Listening Circles and 55 Interviews to listen to the needs of OUSD's API students to design solutions to create equity. Please follow & support our work to implement their recommendations!
