Education

Bill Clinton visits Oakland for community service day

Former President Bill Clinton recently came to Oakland on behalf of the Clinton Foundation’s Global Initiative. Volunteers made improvements such as gardening and painting the playground. The Clintons were also joined by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and local school officials.

Africana studies community research center has a welcome debut

Guests could hear music and laughter the moment they walked through the entrance of Building L at Merritt College one chilly March evening. They were here for the community open house for the new Africana Studies Community Research Center and Curriculum, which focuses on educating the public on African-American Studies and history. Every inch of the room was occupied by excited attendees, trays of soul food, decorations and detailed pamphlets that explained how the interactive curriculum in the center’s computer…

Oakland schools make LGBTQ representation a priority in history curriculums

California’s FAIR Act is an attempt to diversify history curriculum—specifically, to represent in history lessons people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and people with disabilities. The FAIR Education Act, or SB 48, went into effect on January 1, 2012. The law requires elementary, middle and high schools to represent these groups in history curriculum in a way that is “fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful”—or FAIR.

Little Kids Rock brings music education to schools

On March 23, members of the Pandora team held a music day at Roots International Academy, a middle school in East Oakland. This is a continuation of their Little Kids Rock program, which works to bring music education to schools serving a low-income student population.