Minh-Tram Nguyen on EnCompass Academy

In 2003, the already distressed Oakland Unified School District truly bottomed out. The chronically underperforming district was $70 million in the red and famously dysfunctional. In the largest public school bailout in California history, the state tossed out Superintendent Dennis Chaconas and seized control of the elected school board and the district. Given that 89 percent of Oakland kids go to public school (versus 70 percent in San Francisco), and 69 percent are poor enough to qualify for a free or cut-rate lunch, this was clearly a public crisis. But Oakland must have hit the ground running, because a mere four years later, the turnaround has been astounding. Millions of dollars from heavy-hitter foundations have poured in, along with unflappable young talent and gutsy ideas—and the results are impressive. API scores are up in many places; of the 34 elementary and middle schools in the lowest performing category (with scores below 500) in 1999, zero remain there. And since 2003, the number of graduates qualified to enter the UC and CSU systems has nearly doubled. There’s no doubt that major work remains at all levels, particularly in the high schools, but Steven Seleznow, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says Oakland is “among the top three most comprehensively innovating school districts in the country right now.”