One hundred and eighty K-8
students from the diverse neighborhoods of Oakland come to the Arts Magnet
School for its unique curriculum, supportive community and excitement for
learning. For the past 3o years these
students and their families have brought their many different cultures to the
school to create an environment where the visual arts can flourish. Towards this effort faculty, parents
and students work in collaborations with the Oakland Unified School District,
the Alameda County Office of Education, the Oakland Museum of Children’s
Art (MOCHA) and the California College of Arts and Crafts. These partnerships are a vital part of
the schools ability to bring guest artists from many fields into our classrooms
as well as to develop a visual arts curriculum for the whole school.
Arts Magnet is a Bay Area
School Reform (BASRC) Leadership School and a networking school with the Bay
Area Coalition of Essential Schools (BayCES). Our focused effort as a learning community is to improve literacy
across the grade levels for all children.
BASRC and BayCES play key roles in our efforts to bridge the achievement
gap for traditionally underachieving students. As a community with the visual arts at its core we are
especially interested in exploring the connection between literacy and art.
Arts Magnet is a school of
choice for families in Oakland.
Children in the K-3 grades are selected through a district run lottery
system. Students in grades 4-8 submit
an art portfolio and are interviewed for admission.
“The Oakland Arts
Magnet provides students in grades K-8 with a solid academic foundation and an
excitement for learning. Students
acquire critical thinking, problem solving, and communications skills, while
developing self discipline and a respect for diversity. To accomplish this, the faculty
integrates the visual arts into every element of the curriculum and stresses
interactive and project based learning.
Arts is a multi-ethnic community of learners where students, parents,
and staff share a responsibility for fulfilling this mission.”
The school is traditionally very diverse since it draws its students from the whole city and not just one neighborhood. The typical racial demographic is 35% African American, 25% European American, 15% Latino, 10% Asian, and 15% Mixed Race. The economic mix is unique in Oakland schools. There are children who are homeless sitting next to children of doctors and lawyers. Approximately 30% of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunch in a typical school year. Test scores hover at the fiftieth percentile with an over representation of students of color in the lower percentiles. There are fewer ESL (English as a Second Language) learners at the school compared to other Oakland Schools. The ESL enrollment is typically 25% of the students (Spanish and South East Asian being the most frequently spoken languages). We have a higher than average number of students eligible for special education services (25%).
There are eight full time
faculty members K-8 and one part-time special education teacher K-8. Only one
teacher is working with an emergency credential. Five teachers are “veterans” with more than 10
years of teaching experience and three are new teachers. Four of the faculty are European
Americans, two are mixed race, one is African American and one is Chinese
American. There is one male
teacher. Four teachers have been
at the school more than seven years and four have been there less than two
years.