AIMS College Prep High

746 Grand Ave.

School District

Oakland Unified
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:23
Type

charter

School Map for Oakland Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 18, 2024

AIMS has been one of our families biggest regrets. Teachers are ever changing, low quality and highly inappropriate. When I hear about the interactions with teachers from students, it's hard to know if they are referring to a peer or adult. If you want your child to learn and be motivated about school, do not send them to AIMS.
Submitted by teacher on September 14, 2024

As a teacher who used to work at this school before moving away, I can truly say that it was the best teaching experience of my career. The students were eager to learn. They were kind and intelligent. Discipline issues were rare. Bullying was almost unheard of. The students had close relationships with each other, as they were taught in true cohorts in a relatively small school. This collegial environment allowed me to push the rigor level up to that of an elite private school, and the students were ready. I had never seen so many students be admitted to Harvard, Yale and other top schools from the same class since I worked there. It was heaven on earth for a teacher.
Submitted by student on December 03, 2022

I don't even know where to begin. This school is a huge mess. I am currently attending AIMS while writing this and this place is a sinking ship. In the beginning of the school year many classes didn't have a teacher so instead we had to use a progam called Acellus. You basicially just watch a video then do about 10 questions, however this is absurdly boring and I think I speak for alot of people when I say I don't learn anything from this. To add on many teachers have left since the beginning of the year(2 that I know of). Many teachers are also comtemplating on whether or not to leave because this school's principle believes that he knows how to teach every subject. Many teachers are forced to teach a certain way or forced to teach the students something even though the teacher doesn't believe the students need it. A teacher I know of can hardly teach and I know this doesn't mean much coming from the student. However I constantly pay attention in this class but somehow when I go to do homework sometimes there are questions that I know for a fact the teacher didn't teach us.
Submitted by student on November 27, 2022

I noticed that the people making reviews are commenting about the older version of AIMS. I am a student right now telling that this school is amazing! The staff teachers have humor, and would do anything to see a smile on a students face! They seem mean, but when you're on their good side.. trust me, they will be the best teachers ever. You have now clubs to participate in, and the principal has added fun activities! As a student, I advise you to please trust my advice. If you want your child to have an exciting, wild, amazing adventure then send your child to this school. I have childhood memories and friends from this school. And if your child's a troublemaker, send them here. They won't be any trouble anymore. By the way, if you're worried about your child's learning skills. AIMS is a must guarantee. I have had straight A's in this school since 1st grade.
Submitted by parent on June 11, 2021

This school doesn't care about teenagers' mental health at all.
Submitted by student on February 02, 2021

Let's see, where do I even begin?Hi, I am a straight As and Bs student at this high school. As a senior going to this school I would recommend that if you are considering going here, read this review first. You will be scraping by on your hands and knees with very little staff support. I ended up in the hospital trying to take my own life in my first semester of my senior year because of the pressure the school placed on me.Call me weak if you may, but how many 17 year olds do you know that can balance 5-6 AP classes, college applications, scholarships, SATs, a dual enrollment class, and an internship during a pandemic without intense stress? Yeah, not many. But that is what AIMS expects out of it's students. The impossible.HOMEWORK:Many do not want to learn anymore because of the homework requirements placed on teachers to assign to students. I had 86 homework assignments over a course of 4.5 weeks. That is all work for 5 AP classes I am forced to take by the school. I spend 4-5 hours a night doing homework and go to bed around 2 or 3am. The teachers are required by AIMS to assign a specific amount of work. We get lengthy assignments from all classes for breaks that have to be approved by admin before being assigned to students. I spent my Thanksgiving and Winter breaks doing work rather than spending time relaxing or doing things with family. AIMS new "requirement" to graduate is to take a dual enrollment class at a community college. I have several friends who's GPA's and grades tanked because of it.TEACHERS:At least 2-3 fired every year. Most of my good teachers are gone. Now I have 4 left where I actually understand what they're teaching. My Spanish class had no official teacher for the 2 years I took it.LEADERSHIP:Terrible, half of the time teachers, students, and parents do not know when events are happening until very last minute. Some students are told after the fact that they cannot graduate. They mistook me for my sister and made me do 2 months of summer school for no reason.CHARACTER:Favoritism is prevalent in admin, student and teacher concern is disregarded constantly. "Dog eat dog" mentality here academic-wise. "You should do better" is the pressure placed on students.LEARNING DIFFERENCES: Nope, the school didn't follow my sisters 504 plan and my teacher caused her to have a breakdown. The school counselor is not helpful.BULLYING:The most some students will get is a slap on the wrist.
Submitted by teacher on May 28, 2019

The students are the highlight of this school, overall they are dedicated to learning and well behaved. It is unfortunate that the students are the ones to suffer due to a lack of leadership and classrooms with ineffective teachers or near permanent substitute teachers since the school can't find qualified staff. The teachers that do a good job have to endure low pay, no retirement benefits, a lack of a union, and leadership that is not willing to listen or compromise. On top of that, the contracts are at-will so a teacher can be fired anytime for any reason, and fired they are.
Submitted by parent on September 11, 2018

just ew! I am rarely surprised these days. This school is impressively bad. Agree with last reviewer. Its like a money laundering front or something. All upper admin seem to be here for something that has nothing to do with teaching children. Teacher turnover says it all. Teachers routinely leave with no notice. It must be bad if a teacher chooses to abandon a class of kids with no replacement. This is commonplace here.
Submitted by parent on September 11, 2018

really bad. staff do not care about childrens growth. Everyone here seems like they are trying to cover up something - Maybe the fact that they have no idea what they are doing? Maybe that they dont like kids? something is way off here
Submitted by teacher on March 03, 2015

As a substitute teacher, this school is a pleasure to work at. The students are respectful and studious, with tons less behavior problems than many other schools, including richy private schools. One thing I observe here is a simple, clear behavior protocol that help kids make choices to succeed rather than act out and be bratty. This school does not confuse kids with permissiveness or coddling which I see so often elsewhere. After all, discipline is love and anything else is probably laziness. These kids know what's up and they self-correct in an amazing way. This creates a vibrant learning and teaching environment with room for a lot of joy in learning. Great job, staff, for helping students prepare for the real world and brilliant futures. (-:
Submitted by parent on May 06, 2014

Best school for challenging, rigorous work! It stresses academics. Don't wanna work hard, don't enroll-period!
Submitted by parent on January 16, 2014

This school really sucks. My son cant seem to put his grades up, Doesnt get the help he needs and worst of all, they have to sit in a classroom with no heater at all. All the teachers do is complain. they cant handle the children on their own and need to go to the principal.
Submitted by parent on December 18, 2013

This school has a militant backround, the children are stessed out. My son went from a fun loving child to a bitter angry student. He will not leave the school, because he does not want to quit anything he does. They do not provide lunches for the children nor breakfast, I do not beleive they children are getting nourished properly, they are not allowed to use the faculity facility to keep there food at a safe tempature.. There heating system has been broken for quite a while and the students are subjected to learn in 63 degree weather when it is cold outside. The Dean terminatd one of his teachers infront of the students. my sos has received detention for entering class 1 min late and another for not having his shoe tied. They confiscated our cell phone that is shared in the house hold for the remainder of the year and I am almost positive that is a felony violation, because the device is over 600 dollars also my son is one of my daughters primary careholders and now we can not communicate, when my husband and i went to retrieve the device we were told to withdraw my son if we needed the phone no matter what the factors were.