Oakland Charter Academy (OCA) originally Jingletown Charter School, is a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

serving middle school students. Opened in 1994, it is the first and oldest charter school in Oakland and one of the first in California.History
Amethod Public Schools. Retrieved on May 27, 2017. After a dramatic turnaround, it became the second public school in Oakland to win the

National Blue Ribbon The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

award. The school was also given the Hart Vision Charter School of the Year Award for 2009 by the

California Charter Schools Association California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The Amethod Public Schools system grew out of Oakland Charter Academy, and now includes

Oakland Charter High School Oakland Charter High School is a charter school in Oakland, California serving high school students. It was established in 2007. The school mascot is the matador. It is part of the Amethod Public Schools system

and Downtown Charter Academy located in downtown Oakland. The system also operates Benito Juarez Elementary School, Richmond Charter Academy and John Henry High School in Richmond. Oakland Charter Academy was first housed at 30th Avenue and International Boulevard in Fruitvale, a section of Oakland that is predominantly Hispanic/Latino. It is now located on the corner of Foothill Blvd and 42nd Avenue.

History

In the fall 1993 the school opened as Jingletown Charter School. It was the first charter school in Oakland and one of the first in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Originally it had the test scores amongst the lowest in the state.Rauh, Grace.
Charter school movement finds a boomtown in Oakland
" ''

The Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the decli ...

''. September 17, 2006. Retrieved on September 13, 2011. In 2004, Jorge Lopez took control of the school. At the time, its

Academic Performance Index The Academic Performance Index (API) was a measurement of academic performance and progress of individual schools in California, United States. The API was one of the main components of the Public Schools Accountability Act passed by the Californ ...

(API) was 650. Lopez received guidance from Ben Chavis, head of the American Indian Model Schools, and established a system similar to the system of American Indian Public Charter School. In late September 2007, Oakland Charter Academy became the second public school in Oakland to win the

award.Murphy, Katy.
Oakland charter schools get high marks and skepticism
" ''

''. Monday November 3, 2008. Retrieved on September 13, 2011. In spring 2008, the Oakland Charter Academy received an API of 902. Its student body was mostly Hispanic, and the API was over 200 points higher than the average API of Hispanic/Latino middle school students in California. The Oakland Charter Academy API was also over 200 points above the overall scores of all of the middle schools in Oakland.

Operations

At Oakland Charter Academy every student received 70 (2019) minutes each of English and mathematics instructions. The day starts off with 30 minutes (Advisory) . In total there is 5 periods not including lunch. The classes included are Math, Science, English, P.E, and History. Furthermore, there is also art which students have once a week. The school requires its students to attend summer school. Katy Murphy of the ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the declin ...

'' said the work only intensifies during so-called school holidays." The school operates a tutoring and after-school program aimed at improving student performance. When the school first operated, the instructional language used in over half of the school day was

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Currently, most of its students are Hispanic/Latino but the school also serves

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

, Asian-American and

Arab-American Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. According to the Arab American Ins ...

students.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Education in Oakland, California Charter middle schools in California 1993 establishments in California