Oakland Technical High School

4351 BRd.way

School District

Oakland Unified
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

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 April 12, 2024

Both my sons attended Tech, and have enjoyed it. My oldest son is now getting ready to transfer to UC next fall and my younger son is currently a junior and enrolled in AP classes that are as challenging as any college class I’ve seen. I feel the curriculum has prepared both boys well for college. They’ve experienced no bullying, and have made great friends here and they’ve generally liked their teachers. Overall we’ve been happy with our kids attending Oakland Tech!
Submitted by parent on June 15, 2023

My son graduated from Oakland Tech in 2021. They prepared him for college and is doing well. He was part of the Race, Policy, and Law academy and had excellent teachers. My son had an IEP and his services were excellent. I'm disappointed in the review by the parent complaining about "labor strife." Very consistent with my experience with many of the families there. Truthfully, they were very rude and entitled. We support the teachers 100%.
Submitted by parent on April 11, 2023

There are some good teachers and the principal really cares about his students. Unfortunately, there are also too many bad teachers. For example, my child has had 3 bad math teachers who barely engage with the children and struggle to provide any feedback to their students. My child is otherwise a high achieving student, but has barely learned high school math. Due to teacher union rules, no one can hold bad teachers accountable for poor performance; they can't be removed or even re-trained and they don't leave until they retire. Additionally, there is too much labor strife. The teachers union has consistently used our children as bargaining chips in their salary negotiations with the district by refusing to show up to school. (We have literally had teachers tell our student to not show up for school during a "wildcat" strike, while the district asked them to attend so it could receive the attendance based funding from the state.) In three years we have had multiple "wildcat" strikes, not to mention the completely distastrous experience of remote non-learning during the Covid. Also, there is limited enforcement of basic school decorum, like allowing students to text during class, showing up late or leaving early. I could go on with the issues at this school, but, if we had to choose all over again, we would never send our children to public high school in Oakland.
Submitted by parent on January 19, 2023

See i love this school go to it it’s super fun
Submitted by student on August 07, 2018

My view on Oakland Tech is conflicted. I love and hate this school. Oakland Tech has great academics... for about 25% of the school. Oakland Tech has great teachers, but they are only 2 out of 5 teachers. I am entering my final year at Oakland Tech and I can say whole-heartedly that the OUSD administration is problematic and ineffective. Of course, there are some good administrators, but as a whole, the administration/school continues to waste money on unnecessary projects and fail to put in the time, effort, and money into the necessities. Oakland Tech is a divided community. You can see it in the classrooms and on campus especially during lunch. Students stick with people in the same academies. Oakland Tech might be one of the most diverse schools in California, but it fails to create equality in that diversity. The same students, who are in the "best" academies or in Paideia usually have the best teachers throughout their years at Tech allowing them to do well at school and then get into college. The students who do not take any special honors or advanced courses tend to have the worst teachers. (The math department especially is suffering). The normal, college prep classes normally have mediocre teachers, while the honors and AP classes have amazing teachers. Sadly, there just isn't enough room in those advanced classes for everyone at Tech. Students who don't want to have extra work and take those advanced classes, usually suffer with teachers who do not teach.The social scene at Tech is slightly desolate. Dances are barren, as well as the sports games. Students do not have a lot of school pride, I don't really know why. But the students themselves are great. Many are friendly and kind, it's not hard to make new friends, especially in the classroom. Finally, the counselors are inadequate. One counselor deals with 500 students. How is one counselor supposed to put in the time and attention when there are so many kids to be taken care of? As a result, the counselors are not helpful at all when it comes to changing classes, fixing grades, dealing with complaints about teachers, and giving important information about college readiness. This school has the resources that students need to succeed. However, the resources are inadequate for the population of Tech and poorly offered. You have to actively look for those resources and take advance of them.
Submitted by parent on October 16, 2017

We regret strongly sending our daughter to Oakland Tech. When we complained about issues we were having the principles ignored the issues brought to their attention. I guess that is a typical OUSD method of dealing with complaints. I am glad we transferred out of this terrible school. I give the administration 0 out of 5.
Submitted by parent on September 12, 2016

My ninth grader embraced this school from day 1. Many of the assignments were quite interesting (write election materials, draw propaganda posters). The math was challenging (Spanish wasn't). She joined several clubs, band, newspaper, and joined the Cross Country team , and ran miles and miles with lots of friends. The administrators are accessible, and clearly always working to improve their processes. They are open about weaknesses (which exist), but frame these as challenges which we can and should be able to improve on. This openness makes the school a community, not an us/them situation. OT is a community worth being a part of for a lot of reasons.
Submitted by other on September 04, 2013

Oakland Tech is hands down the best Public High School in Oakland. Offering a huge variety of interesting and engaging programs, such as its amazing humanities program "The Paideia Program", and a variety of career oriented acadamies, I would recommend this school to all potential students who are OK going to a large school. Most of the teachers are kind, professional, and interesting. With a wide variety of AP and other advanced classes on hand, Oakland Tech is optimal for students who aspire to go to top colleges, with some students in recent years even getting into Brown and Harvard. The reason why the school does not get a 5 star rating has more to do with the uneven quality of funding and school district support than anything else (erratic building support, etc.) Back on the plus side, Oakland Tech provides a variety of varisty athletic teams (including some unusual ones like ice hockey) and offers a plethora of clubs (including a school newspaper, debate club, multiple community service clubs, etc.). Although Tech is a big school, most students' experiences are what they make of it- so for many students they can feel like they are in a smaller school than in reality.
Submitted by student on August 01, 2013

This is a very awesome school. I've been here for only a year, but I like it a lot. I can't wait for my sophomore year. I like how there's a lot of awesome clubs, like buildOn. The classes and programs are cool, like for PE, we get to do swimming. I'm also in the health academy, which can help in the future. Any academy to be here. The only thing I didn't like though was there were some not nice people, but oh well. I have to deal with it, which I did and turned out well. I had a lot of great teachers, but only one I had a hard time with. The only thing that needs improvement is the method of teaching for students by only some teachers. I recommend it to all. They'll have the time of their lives. I did. I also met some awesome people. If you like swimming, try to join the team or PE. It's also very diverse. If your student is academically gifted, put them in tech. There are lots of AP classes. There are also fun events that happen.
Submitted by teacher on January 23, 2013

I feel like the kids here are not geting the education they should. Many of the classes are taught by teachers who have no idea how to teach. THey think teaching is having the kids read the book and answer the questions and that's it. Classroom managment is dismal in many, many cases. If your child gets into the Paiedia program they have a change at a good education but if they are in regular classes, forget it. The teachers should be turning in 6-week lesson plans and the administration should look at them all, especially the English and history classes, and they should be observing classes more.