Amid national trauma over the death of African American youth at police hands, a course and mentoring program of the Oakland Unified School District offers the nation a "beacon of hope," says a researcher from the University of California, Davis.

Vajra Watson, director of research and policy for equity at UC Davis, wrote "The Black Sonrise," a report on the Manhood Development Program of the Oakland Unified School District's Office of African American Male Achievement. The report was released today.

Watson said the program's daily class and mentoring helped African American students grapple with their sense of identity and belonging in school and the world. Patterns of underachievement were interrupted, and grade point averages rose.

"They've seen victimization everywhere they look — at the hands of police or sometimes at the hands of schools," Watson said, "and changed that into empowerment to know where they come from, who they are and importantly where they're going."

She said the program, begun four years ago, offers school districts across the country a model for African American student success.

Watson used the portraiture methodology of research and report writing, developed at Harvard University in the 1980s, for the study. "Portraiture uses all the rigor of scientific inquiry with the power of effective storytelling to share universal truths," she said. She added that the profiles of program participants help make the report's findings accessible to a wide range of stakeholders.

Watson, who taught ethnic studies in high school before earning her doctorate in administration, planning and social policy, is author of "Learning to Liberate: Community-Based Solutions to the Crisis in Urban Education," published in 2012.

To view "The Black Sonrise" report, the news release from the Oakland Unified School District and more, visit: http://ousd.k12.ca.us/Page/12267.