MetWest High School
Student Voices: Read our Fall 2011 MetWest Mindset newsletter here!
See MetWest in Action!
Join us on December 9 from 8-10 AM for our next quarterly breakfast fundraiser featuring student exhibitions of their internship-linked learning.
Host a MetWest Intern at your workplace! Click here to read a one page description of our Learning Through Internship program. Click here to add your name and business to the list of priority internship sites for 2011.
2011-12 Open Houses!
• The first Wednesday of every month (8:30 - 10 AM): Open House for prospective students and parents. RSVP here. Check out our school calendar below for other important dates.
The MetWest Mindset
Check out our most recent newsletters to learn more about our internship program and the school in general.
• Fall 2011
• Winter 2010-11
• Spring 2010
• Fall 2009
Recent MetWest News
• The Piedmont Post recently featured a profile of 2011 MetWest graduate Marissa, who wrote a book called "F.I.T. - Financially Intelligent Teen," which grew out of her finance internship work at Edward Jones.
• New America Media features student article on MetWest: Click here to read a provocative article on the school written by 2010 graduate, Oscar Servellon.
• Senior Project on police - youth relations receives acclaim: Click here for the feature in Oakland Local. Click here for details on '10 grad, Tamara Lawrence's work.
• MetWest featured in the New York Times education Blog (6/23/10). Click here to read what the NYT has to say about our approach to college and career preparation.
• Obama praises the Met model! The president specifically highlighted the Met model of internship-based, personalized high schools at a recent speech about dropout prevention. Click here to view the clip.
• MetWest on ABC7! Click here to watch the piece, which highlights MetWest's innovative approach and high graduation rates.
• Check out Oakland Local's piece about our internship program here.
• MetWest is getting a new building! Check out the drawings for the new educational complex here. (Read about how our students have been involved in the planning on page 2 of the Spring 2009 MetWest Mindset.)
• Listen to KALW's piece about our college-essay writing night here.
• Edutopia: "Learning One on One: Teaching Kids to Pursue Their Dreams -- and More"
• San Francisco Chronicle: "Small, unorthodox school has big results"
MetWest is a member of the OSF Internship and Mentorship Collaborative Program.
314 E. 10th St.
Oakland, CA 94606 (Map & Directions)
510-451-5902
Sean McClung, Principal
info@metwest.org
"MetWest has changed me. School ends at 3:30, but I'm always here after that. I love this place." -- Paula Pereira, Class of 2006
Background
In 1999, committed teams of parents, educators, teachers and community organizations joined to address the overcrowded and under-performing schools that plagued the flatlands of Oakland. In 2000, in an attempt to tackle these disparities, the Oakland Unified School District adopted the New Small Autonomous Schools policy. Two years later, MetWest High School opened as one of the first "new small autonomous schools" in Oakland. Designed to foster student success through experiential learning and an extensive internship program, MetWest High School now serves 136 students and their families.
MetWest is one of forty public high schools around the country pioneering a model of internship-based education MetWest's 9th-12th graders travel to the campus from all corners of Oakland. The school's approach to learning is grounded in a commitment to educate one student at a time, in a tight-knit community of peers, family, teachers, and community mentors -- utilizing resources inside and outside the classroom. Students at MetWest are 50 percent Latino, 30 percent African American, seven percent White, and 13 percent Asian American. Seventy percent of the school's students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.
MetWest's innovative model of education—preparing all students for both college and the world of work through a unique marrying of coursework and internships—has yielded excellent results:
• Every member of the school's first graduating class ('06) was accepted to a four-year college.
• All of the school's students are engaged in meaningful internships related to a field of their choosing.
• MetWest has among the highest attendance rates, the highest California High School Exit Exam pass rates, and lowest suspension rates of all OUSD high schools.
• MetWest graduates have been offered more than $300,000 in scholarships towards college.
Essential to MetWest's student success has been the network of supporting adults that has been built around students through the school's internship program. In conjunction with their teacher-advisors and family members, each student designs a customized Learning Plan focused on their interests and passions. These Learning Plans incorporate two days each week spent at an internship in the community, as well as three days each week of academic study and project work on campus and across the street at Laney College. Students work with a mentor at an internship of their choosing, learning professional expectations, communicating effectively with adults from different backgrounds, and producing real world work. The internships give students a deep sense of how their interests play out in the adult world, and provide an authentic environment and audience for their work.
Partnerships
In the school's first five years, students have forged relationships with adults at more than 300 local businesses and organizations, including Chabot Space and Science Center, the Pasta Shop, UC Berkeley Geography Department (where a 14-year-old student became a trained cartographer and produced professional maps), Oakland Zoo, Charles Chocolates, Bret Harte Middle School, University Pet Hospital, Bay Area Legal Aid, the Museum of Children's Art, Youth Radio, Youth Outlook/New America Media, The ODC Dance Commons, Oakland Collision Autobody shop, Oliveto restaurant, Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Oakland City Council, HSM Real Estate, Mission Grafica screen-printing shop, La Raza Centro Legal, and the West Oakland Health Council.
MetWest is excited to serve as a model of high school education that is structured to provide the kinds of adult relationships and relevant work that will keep students in school, help them develop habits of life-long learning, and nurture the kinds of professional goals that will propel them into and through college.
SUPPORT METWEST
We have tremendous support of students' families, but we know that they suffer from the same financial limitations that the school does. Our students do not have access to things that many people take for granted: field trips, art supplies, science equipment, musical instruments, physical education supplies, a nurse, counselor, or even books to take home to read. We believe all young people should have the same educational opportunities. Like every public school in Oakland, though, MetWest must literally raise its own money to achieve this parity.
This year our greatest need is for an Internship Program Coordinator. We need this to be a full-time position to ensure the continuing quality of the program for the students and to maintain the important relationships with our business partners where our kids work two days per week. We need to raise $30,000 to supplement other funds for this position.
Because of a committed faculty, small class sizes, and a unique, individualized academic program that encourages real-world learning through our internship program and partnership with Laney College, MetWest has made demonstrable gains in student achievement, but there is so much more we need to do to level the playing field and support these underserved students in their full development. In a city where only one-third of freshmen graduate from high school, the vast majority of MetWest students report that they feel like scholars and will to go to college. 30 of 32 2007 graduates are attending college. You can help them realize their dreams.
PRESS
• From the San Francisco Chronicle: "Small Unorthodox School has Big Results"
• From the education journal, Edutopia: "High School's New Face"
• From Edutopia: "Learning One on One"
"MetWest High School in Oakland is a rebel in the world of public education that thrives on breaking the rules -- and succeeds." (San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, June 15th, 2006)