Albany vs El Cerrito High School for incoming 11th grader
My daughter is Afro-Latina with ADHD and a 504 plan. She currently goes to a very small charter school in Oakland, project based and socio-emotionally focused. While she is not a high academic performer, she does enjoy learning when material is interesting to her and teachers know their students. In the past, managing a large school with all the socio-emotional drama that goes with it was challenging to the point of too difficult for her. However, she is now considering going to a local school for a variety of reasons -- she would like to have 1) friends nearby, 2) more and better after school sports, and 3) (relatively) stronger academics, as she is university bound. We recently moved to Albany, on the border with El Cerrito, so it is easy for her to get to either school on her own. One of our concerns is that it seems that at both schools, students know each other from elementary/middle school. Which school would be more welcoming to an incoming 11th grader who does not know anyone? Sense of community is very important to her. The other concern is that I have my doubts that her academic preparation to date is on par with these other schools. In the past, with support, she has been able to catch up academically, but then has gotten derailed by socio-emotional issues vs academic difficulties. I have reviewed past reviews on these schools. Thank you!
Parent Replies
I have a daughter who was at an independent school in Berkeley and just started at ECHS in 9th grade. So far so good! Lots of the kids do know each other already but my kid has been able to make friends and had a great start with the good natured cross country team and band. She knew a few people from club soccer and from El Cerrito Rec Department classes and camps over the years which helped too. I have a sense that ECHS would be welcoming to your 11th grader - particularly with sports connections like cross country. I don't have any direct experience with Albany but hope it would be similar! Best of luck to you and your daughter no matter which school she lands in. One idea would be to try to join up with some of the summer training programs for fall sports. I don't know what might happen with cross country but it could be a way to meet kids before classes get underway.
UPDATE -- (original poster here) We are now considering having her change schools mid-year 10th grade, to start this coming January. In case that changes any of your insights. Thank you!
Albany mom here. Yes, some kids have known each other since kindergarten. There are plenty of new kids every year though because of the UC Village student population.
I think a mid year change might be harder than waiting til August. If she waits til August she may make neighborhood friends this summer. Sports, music, dance, theater all help, too.
Random idea to consider: what about staying at the same school but taking a classe at a community college? This could start immediately. Should be something she’s really interested in and is not available at her current school. A way to explore more challenging classes without giving up everything you enjoy about her current school.
This is tough, but if your daughter is motivated enough to consider a midyear change, I'm assuming the current situation is not good. ECHS is very big, in the 2000 student range. Albany is around 1200. AHS doesn't field teams in every sport, but of course it only matters if they have the one(s) your child is interested in! I have a student at Albany and we have friends at EC. I think Albany is pretty hard to break into socially, unfortunately. I can't say about EC. The Albany math program uses a certain curriculum (CPM - College Prep Math) which I think would probably be close to impossible to pick up midway through high school (I don't know what they use at EC.) That said, other than math, our experience has been pretty easy academics at AHS, contrary to reputation, and teachers who are pretty engaged. AHS has open campus and ECHS has closed campus. Good luck to your daughter!
Not Albany High, imo. My daughter entered as a 9th grader from out of district and was lonely and miserable all four years. By the time she graduated she had a total of 1 friend. Very cliquey and kids can be extremely competitive with one another to the point of being toxic. My daughter also experienced bullying and not really given any resources to manage it. Based on our experience, I can not recommend it for a student coming in without a support/friend system already in place.
I had two kids on 504s at Albany High. Many teachers ignored them completely and were resistant to some accommodations when pressed. We were in the district since kindergarten, but my kids still found the social landscape to be inpenetrable at best, hostile at worst. The parent community is very cliquish as well. We had parents we had known since kindergarten days walk right by us at graduation.
AHS (and AMS to some degree) are great if your kid excels academically and/or athletically. The arts curriculum was gutted in favor of AP classes. Budget is available for a personal trainer for the football team, but not sufficient special education support. Your current school sounds lovely. As another commenter said, supplementing with.community college classes might be a great solution.