2014Impact Report

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to present the 2014 Impact Report for Breakthrough Oakland. Launched this past year as part of our blueprint to inspire highly motivated yet underserved students onto the college track, Breakthrough Oakland is the second nationally-run site of Breakthrough Collaborative.

Built on Breakthrough’s successful Students Teaching Students and Teachers Training Teachers models, both perfected over the past 35 years, and partnering directly with the Oakland Unified School District along with a myriad of regional and local partners, Breakthrough Oakland was an important step in tackling the local opportunity gap.

This Impact Report illustrates a sampling of the various ways our dedicated national board of trustees, national staff, site leadership, district, community and philanthropic partners have coalesced to focus local energies towards improving Breakthrough’s already successful and ever-evolving national movement. It is a movement that addresses the opportunity gap through innovation, excellence, rigor, community and accountability. It is a movement that serves as a significant launch pad for members of an often overlooked, yet deeply in need, middle school population to realize their college-bound aspirations. It is a movement that puts forth not only a promise, but also a toolkit for exceptional college students to best prepare and equip them to understand and solve our educational challenges. It is a movement that is explicit and purposeful about leveraging knowledge and know-how—as a local community—to grow into greater possibilities and to achieve meaningful impact.

None of what we do would be possible without the collective “we.” The students and teachers of Breakthrough Oakland are stronger, are more dynamic and are more empowered because of your inspiration and collaboration. We look forward to growing with you.

Warmly,

Joshua Lachs, Ed.M., M.A.National Executive Director

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To our community,

I am so excited to share with you the impact that Breakthrough Oakland made during our inaugural summer. Students, teaching fellows and instructional coaches supported each other to create a community that valued hard work, dedication and excellence in learning. Together, we focused on preparing our 53 rising sixth grade students for their transition to middle school by accelerating their academic skills and building their confidence to persist through challenges and succeed on their path to college.

• Family Day• Breakthrough Oakland Olympics• College Day at the University of California, Berkeley• Career Day with area professionals (Gap Inc., Goldman Sachs, Pinterest and more)

Students• 6 weeks of programming ○ 5 days per week ○ 8 hours per day• 4 academic classes: Math, Literature,

Science, Writing• Electives: Architecture, Art, Athletics,

Creative Writing, Dance, Debate, Japanese, Public Speaking, Spanish, Theater, Yearbook, Yoga

• Other courses: Advisory, Club

Teaching Fellows• 9-week residency ○ 2 weeks of intensive training ○ 6 weeks of classroom instruction ○ 1 week of evaluation• 100+ hours of professional

development

Host School• Claremont Middle School

Program

Special Events

Our students’ achievements this summer are a testament to their motivation to succeed, the instruction they received from our 12 teaching fellows and the guidance provided by our four instructional coaches. This report serves as evidence of the great things that can happen when we are dedicated to working together to provide our students with the best education possible.

As we look back at our first summer together, we are excited to grow and learn for many years to come.

Molly PosnerDirector, Breakthrough Oakland

At a Glance During the summer of 2014, Breakthrough served rising sixth grade students from 19 elementary schools across the Oakland Unified School District. These young scholars completed a rigorous application process, which included essays, interviews, teacher recommendations and transcripts. Breakthrough staff selected students who showed a willingness to work hard during the summer, a dedication to their studies and the commitment to attend Breakthrough for four years. Breakthrough students attended six weeks of focused academic programming, including four hours of instruction, two hours of individualized support, community-building events and up to two hours of homework every day.

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MathReading

On the Renaissance STAR Literacy and Mathematics Assessments,

students gained 1 and 2 months of reading and math skills,

respectively. Most low-income students lose months of reading

and math skills over the summer.*

92% Breakthrough Oakland retained 92% of students during its inaugural summer.

Students

50%

34%

32%

58%

Speak English as a second language

From low-incomehouseholds

From single-parenthouseholds

Students

96%

Students of color

97% Breakthrough Oakland students sustained an average summer attendance of 97%.

*Jennifer Sloan McCombs et al. “Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children’s Learning.” Rand Education & The Wallace Foundation (2011). http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1120.html

Will be first in families to attend college

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“As a result of my time at Breakthrough, I will

go to college.”—Oakland student 2014

Breakthrough Oakland’s teaching fellows were undergraduates drawn from top colleges and universities across the country, studying everything from engineering and math to history. They started their rigorous application process in the fall, when they wrote essays, submitted transcripts, requested references and created elaborate teaching videos. The most qualified applicants were selected in the spring and began their transformative Breakthrough experience with a two-week intensive training before students even set foot in the building. Once the summer program started, teaching fellows were responsible for all aspects of summer programming, from high quality classroom instruction to planning field trips and coordinating events. By the end of the summer, teaching fellows gained over 100 hours of training and over 50 hours of classroom experience.

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100%100% of Breakthrough Oakland’s teaching fellows say they would recommend this program to friends.

Teaching FellowsAt a Glance

STEM majors

42%Male teaching fellows

75%Teaching fellowsof color

Teaching fellows

33%

First in families to attend college

25%

Second summer with Breakthrough

Leadership skills

Teaching skills

Collaborative working skills

Mentoring skills

Conflict resolution skills

92%

100%

100%

100%

100%

As a result of their time with Breakthrough Oakland, teaching fellows agreed they grew in the following areas:

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75% 75% of Breakthrough Oakland’s teaching fellows say they are interested in pursuing a future career in teaching.

17%

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“There is no more rigorous, hands-on or professional option out there to prepare for a career as a teacher or

educator. I’ll always owe my professional future to the preparation

that Breakthrough afforded me.”

—Oakland teaching fellow 2014

Breakthrough Oakland’s instructional coaches were expert educators who supported a small cohort of three teaching fellows throughout the summer. Coaches provided their fellows with feedback on every lesson plan, observed them in the classroom two times per week and met with them daily to help them develop the skills and habits critical to effective classroom instruction. Using the Breakthrough Teacher Excellence Rubric, instructional coaches were able to pinpoint specific competencies to help teaching fellows work toward mastery, while providing both qualitative and quantitative evaluation data to help inform our programming.

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At a Glance

Instructional coaches

75%From Oakland Unified School District

75%Instructional coachesof color

100%

100%

100% of Breakthrough Oakland’s instructional coaches say they would recommend this program to fellow educators.

100% of Breakthrough Oakland’s instructional coaches say they would consider participating in Breakthrough again.

Instructional Coaches

Satisfied by their experience

Grew as educators

Strengthened their instructional leadership skills

Felt professionally energized by their work with teaching fellows

100%

100%

100%

100%

As a result of their time with Breakthrough Oakland, instructional coaches agreed on the following:

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“Breakthrough has allowed me to meet young teaching fellows from all over the nation who are inspired to encourage all

students to achieve their maximum potential. Their dedication and growth mindset gives me hope for the future

of education.”—Oakland instructional coach 2014

“Tonight, my daughter read an essay she wrote for her history class and it was great. On a scale of 1 – 10, her writing skills have increased from

5 to 9. Breakthrough is an extraordinary program and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I

appreciate all of the support you have and continue to give to these children.”

—Breakthrough Oakland parent

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“We absolutely love having Breakthrough Oakland at Claremont. Not only are they providing incredible instruction to our kids, but also to students throughout Oakland. The teachers are highly motivated and teach rigorous and relevant material to our students. As an added bonus, we even hired two of the Breakthrough teachers to teach at Claremont. We are looking forward to a long-term, mutually beneficial partnership that will grow to serve hundreds of students and families in Oakland and may very well make the difference between students finishing high school and going on to attend and complete college.”

—Jonathan Mayer, principal, Claremont Middle School,Oakland Unified School District

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Breakthrough Oakland Supporters

PartnersThank you to the dedicated principals, teachers and staff of the Oakland Unified School District, including Julie McCalmont, Jonathan Mayer, Edana Anderson and Tanisha Benjamin Champion.

DonorsBelay FoundationMay and Stanley Smith Charitable TrustS.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

Career Day HostsAdRoll (Karl Berta)AutoDesk (Peggy Snyder)Gap Inc. (Stacy Ban)Goldman Sachs (John Sheridan & Qing Li)Grand Rounds (Shaundra Eichstadt)Hall Capital (Lizzie Fisher Marshall)Pinterest (Stephanie Tam)PG&E (Brad Michael)University of San Francisco (Peggy Takahashi)

Summer 2014 StaffDirector: Molly Posner

Assistant director: Lansiné Touré

Instructional coaches: Doshia Battiest, Celia Bermeo, Julia Lehman, Rene Peña-Govea

Teaching fellows: Zac Bennett, Katie Contreras, Laura Gurrola, Sami Lamont, Kyle Michelson, Cal Montejano, David Murphy, Eric Quang, Tori Tamu, Bria Temple, Kelly Teshima-McCormick, Deniz Thacher

Volunteers: Minica Benjamin Champion, Purafe Eastman, Sophie Zhang