Oakland Adult Career and Education changes students lives and helps build a better community
Kim Jones likens adult school to a stepping stone. It’s a place where anyone can come, find their footing, and make the leap toward a new career, citizenship, a diploma or any number of goals. Regardless of where you’re coming from, adult school can help get you where you want to be.
“We provide opportunities and resources for people who want to go after their goals, whether that be a new job, learning English, or academic goals like high school diplomas. But the real benefit is to the community at large: We have an educated workforce that’s able to attract businesses to our community which provide economic advantages,” says Jones, director of Oakland Adult and Career Education (OACE). “Adult education programs offer hope, we offer a foundation for our students, considering a lot of our students are language learners.
“Adult education programs offer hope.”
Kim Jones, Director of Oakland Adult and Career Education
Finding acceptance and easy enrollment
Unlike similar public or private programs, OACE offers classes at little to no cost with virtually no barriers to enroll. For students without a high school diploma, there are classes to help you earn one. For those who want to learn English, there are teachers who can help. For people looking to start a new career, OACE offers several Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways that can take as little as one to three months to learn the basics for an entry-level job. For the few courses with costs, scholarships are available to current and former OACE students looking to continue their education. OACE’s flexible schedules offer classes during the day, evening, night and online, enabling students to fit school into their lives along with work, family and other obligations.
Support in and out of the classroom makes all the difference
Jones says understanding students’ individual needs is vital to their success. Teachers and staff work to meet them where they’re at, offer and connect them with appropriate support and provide a safe place for students to feel welcome.
“We literally have students who’ve walked here from Central America. … We’re asking people to come back to school, and in some cases come to school when school was never accessible,” he says. “It’s an amazing thing to watch as some of our students progress through our programs and go from ESL to high school diploma to job training. It’s a wonderful thing to see.”
Meeting students where they’re at often includes providing support outside the classroom. OACE partners with community organizations to provide employment connections, help continuing on to higher education, finding financial assistance and more. OACE Transition liasons connect students with support from Job Centers of America, re-entry programs, the Workforce Development Board and more.
The biggest support OACE provides students, however, is with quality instructors. All OACE educators are credentialed teachers and the district invests heavily in their professional development to ensure they’re up to date on material and best practices in the classroom.
“I think that our investment in professional development for our teachers is a huge component to our success. Our teachers are competent, they’re confident, and they rely heavily on each other,” Jones says. “We really go above and beyond I think — I don’t think we could ever go far enough — to help our students.”
For more information on how Oakland Adult Career and Education can help you achieve your goals, visit www.ousd.org/adult-and-career-education or call 510-879-1400.
Written by Anne Stokes
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| Bay Area California | Variety of Classes |
