Subject Areas

ESL/BILINGUAL

ESL/Bilingual staff at Oakland Schools provides consultation, professional development and technical assistance in Title III:ESL/Bilingual Education. 

ESL/Bilingual staff also serves local school districts, their staff as well as community members in Oakland County to develop quality programs that serve the academic needs of English Learners (ELs). This consultation focuses on program development, curriculum development, instructional practices that promote language proficiency and content acquisition, and Title III requirements for MDE, OCR and DOJ.

Join us in mi PLACE

Members of the Oakland Schools ESL/Title III Advisory Council include representatives from all 28 Oakland County school districts, Oakland Community College, as well as several charter and private non-profit schools. Meeting quarterly, the Council discusses changes to the rules and regulations regarding ESL/Title III Programming, Instruction, and Assessment, and develops strategic plans for implementing these changes to ensure high quality educational opportunities for all English Learners. 

Please join us in mi PLACE by requesting to join the group "English Learner Educator Community". 

Resources from our meetings can be found in our English Learner Educator Community group in miPLACE.

Fine Arts

Fine Arts staff at Oakland Schools offers a variety of grade-level and discipline-specific workshops and professional development opportunities for K-12 Arts educators.

Educators include teachers of dance, music (band, orchestra, choral, and general music), theatre, and visual art. In addition, the Fine Arts consultant is available upon request to assist arts educators and district administration with special needs.

Oakland Schools provides and maintains an email ListServ for those requesting frequent arts updates and resources. The Fine Arts Advisory Council provides an advocacy network and voice for arts education throughout Oakland County.

The Fine Arts staff facilitates:

• professional development
• monthly student visual art displays
• Oakland Schools' Annual Faculty and Staff Art Show
• Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner Financial Literacy Multi-Media Arts Contest
• collaborative initiatives with major arts agencies: Detroit Institute of Arts, Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and The Henry Ford

Health education helps students acquire the skills they need to make healthy decisions, achieve health literacy, adopt health-enhancing behaviors, and promote the health of others. Comprehensive school health education includes curricula and instruction for students in pre-K through grade 12 that address a variety of topics such as alcohol and other drug use and abuse, healthy eating/nutrition, mental and emotional health, personal health and wellness, physical activity, safety and injury prevention, sexual health, tobacco use, and violence prevention.

Health education curricula and instruction should address the National Health Education Standards (NHES) and incorporate the characteristics of an effective health education curriculum. 

Services Provided: 

• Professional Development/training in the Michigan Model for Health™; Reproductive Health/Human Growth & Development; Sexuality Education; and HIV/STD Prevention Education
• Countywide Reproductive Health Supervisors Meetings for local districts throughout the year to assist schools in keeping current with changes at the local, state, and national levels, as well as research in the field of Reproductive Health/Human Growth & Development; Sexuality Education; and HIV/STD Prevention Education
• Ongoing support and technical assistance for the implementation of Health Education curriculum

Media Specialists create spaces for students to access technology, reading materials and learn to use libraries as a resources for further learning and researching.

Visit the Oakland Schools Information Center

​​​​​Science staff at Oakland Schools provides resources, professional development, consulting and strategic support for districts.

The new Michigan Science Standards (=NGSS) present us with enormous opportunity, but also a huge challenge because they prescribe a revolutionary transfo​​rmation in science education. This page provides basic advice on how to begin our transition to new standards. The top section provides a few short video addressing the vision and some early stage challenges. Below are some suggestions on how to proceed.

4 Ways to be connected to what’s happening in Oakland County

1. Science Council quarterly meetings
2. Join the Oakland Science Strategy Team
3. Check out #OS_Science on Twitter. Browse, comment, or contribute!
4. Join the Oakland County mi PLACE group.

Social Emotional Learning Support At Oakland Schools 

Oakland Schools believes social emotional learning (SEL) is crucial for academic and personal success. Consultants from several departments are available for consultation, coaching and professional learning. 

What is social emotional learning?

• understand & manage emotions
• set and achieve positive goals
• feel & show empathy for others
• establish and maintain positive relationships
• make responsible decisions

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. 

SEL is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges in the context of supportive relationships that make learning challenging, engaging, and meaningful. 

Social and emotional skills are critical to being a good student, citizen, and worker.

Many risky behaviors (e.g., drug use, violence, bullying, and dropping out) can be prevented or reduced when multiyear, integrated efforts are used to develop students' social and emotional skills. This is best done through effective classroom instruction, student engagement in positive activities in and out of the classroom, and broad parent and community involvement in program planning, implementation, and evaluation. 

The ​​​​Social Studies Consultants at Oakland Schools provide consulting services, educational materials, and professional development that support educators and school districts in the teaching of social studies.

The social studies ​are comprised of the four distinct disciplines as defined by State of Michigan Department of Education:

• history
• geography 
• civics
• economics 

Our work centers within the three inextricably linked realms of curriculum,  instruction, and assessment. Consultation services are designed to address specific needs of individual districts.

Oakland Schools has also developed a model curriculum with instructional materials for K-11 aligned to Michigan standards for social studies and content literacy. These materials, available online, are grounded in research and delineate best practices in social studies education. 

Consultants provide county and district-wide professional development sessions for social studies educators. The focus of offerings each year is determined by the needs of local school districts within Oakland County through a countywide advisory council, which enables Oakland Schools to be responsive to local district needs.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​World Languages staff at Oakland Schools serves educators in Oakland County to develop quality, standards-based curriculum and aligned assessments. Services include consultation, resource development and professional learning that strengthen language proficiency and cultural understanding. Additional services include program design, implementation and evaluation, as well as assistance with appropriate educational technology in world language education.

The World Languages staff advises districts regarding the interpretation and implementation of the state world language requirement. ​

Oakland World Languages Advisory Council (OWLAC)

The Oakland World Languages Advisory Council (OWLAC) consists of representatives from each local district. Participants can include district world language coordinators, department chairs, central office staff, building principals and/or teachers with district leadership responsibilities with respect to world languages. The group meets four times per year. Meeting sessions are designed to promote networking and learning opportunities around the teaching and learning of world languages, as well as providing updates from Michigan Department of Education for the world language requirement. In addition to an emphasis on current research and practice in the field of world languages, these meetings are designed to foster conversation and collaboration among districts working on similar initiatives. The council serves as a referent group for issues in world languages education by bringing local concerns and initiatives to the county level.