Seeking a Charter School in Oakland
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
- How hard is it to get into an Oakland charter school?
- Seeking small charter high school in Oakland
- Charter Schools in Oakland?
How hard is it to get into a charter school?
Sept 2010
We need to move before our kids start elementary school, but really only want to move once (i.e. want to select a place we can stay through high school). Problem is, we can't afford private, and would like to stay in Oakland. We've done a lot of research and I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about how difficult it is to get kids into any of the charter high schools in Oakland. I really know nothing about how to get into charter schools, how many applicants they get, etc. But, I can see that the charter high schools are much more highly regarded, in Oakland. What are our chances of getting in? Thanks so much
Charter schools accept students through a lottery. I believe the only exception to that in Oakland is the Oakland School for the Arts, where students must audition. Some schools like Lighthouse Community Charter are K-12, so students coming from the middle school are given preference. I would highly recommend Lighthouse. It's a great school and great community. If your children got in during elementary they'd be set all the way through!
Seeking small charter high school
Nov 2006
Does anyone have info on any of the new small autonomous or charter high schools in Oakland? We are trying to find a place for a kid who receives speech and resource support in middle school and does better in a small, relatively quiet environment.
anon
Recommended:
- Envision Academy
- Far West
Charter Schools in Oakland?
May 2003I'd like to find out more about charter schools in Oakland. Websites? Specific reccomendations? I've heard good things about Lighthouse in downtown Oakland, but that's it. We're interested in finding a school strong in both arts and academics. We're looking for Sept. of 2004. Are the waiting lists horrendous? Our daughter's been in a very relaxed Montessori school. Thanks Kaila I've heard of two others in Oakland, North Oakland Community School, and East Bay Conservation Corps School. They both have websites. I don't know anyone with kids at EBCCS, but do know folks who had kids at NOCCS and they were thrilled with it. It has a visionary parents group, and great parental support.
There was a study recently done by PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) which showed that Charter Schools frequently had less well prepared teachers and larger class sizes than public schools. Here's a link to the article from the Berkeley home page: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/04/08_charter.shtml
It's certainly worth looking at that, and the article in the New York Times recently about charter schools. Anon