How do you capture the capture the commitment of a city, the progress of a school system, the dedication of its employees and the development of its children in a single snapshot? You can't -- but the picture below is a start.

What you see there illustrates the incredible progress of the Oakland Unified School District over the past ten years. The first map is a sea of red, red being the color associated with low-performing schools. The second is populated with blue and green, the colors of high-achieving schools on the API, California's primary tool for measuring student learning.

In 1999, OUSD operated 42 "red" schools -- those scoring under 500 on the API. Today, red dots are barely visible as just six schools have API scores below 500.

A decade ago, a mere five schools rated as "blue." That's the highest category, the one for schools topping 800 on the API. Now, 21 OUSD schools enjoy that designation. An enormous amount of work remains, but the progress is undeniable.

The shift from red to blue is a tribute to the hard work of students, teachers and staff, as well as those members of the Oakland community who have rallied around the idea of quality public education as a civil right and invested in the belief that all students can learn.

This is not a declaration of victory, for we are still in the midst of a campaign to achieve equitable outcomes for all students and to prepare them for success in school, success in career and success in life. But after a decade of progress, it's time to reflect on how far we've come and take heart from our accomplishments as we proceed to paint the entire map blue.