School Profile

Straightlaced: How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up
Five years ago, MetWest students collaborated with Groundspark Films on a documentary exploring the ways gender expectations and homophobia impact high school students. Groundspark will be distributing this new film, to schools and districts around the country as a part of their Respect for All Project. Click here to learn about the film and to watch the trailer!

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. 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.

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.