East Bay Innovation Academy
Community SubscriberOur Mission: To prepare a diverse group of students to be successful in college and to be thoughtful, engaged citizen who are leaders and innovators in a 21st century global world.
Our Vision: EBIA is rethinking how schools are run and structured, so that they better reflect the needs of a 21st century world. Most schools have not changed their structure, organization, facilities, or instruction in over 50 years. While schools have not changed, our world has, leaving many of our schools, even the "best" ones, behind. EBIA offers a powerful option for Oakland families and educators to build a diverse school that addresses the needs of the 21st century and beyond.
Our Learning Model: EBIA is a rigorous STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) school with a unique focus on the social and emotional skills students need to be leaders. Students learn to be problem solvers and strong advocates who work together and take responsibility for their own learning. Our model implements a mix of project based learning, blended learning, innovation and design thinking, and social emotional learning.
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.Our family has had a really positive experience at East Bay Innovation Academy for middle school. Our daughter will be entering 8th grade this year. The project based learning has really engaged her and she feels supported by her teachers. She has also enjoyed being involved in the school play, sports, and the Science Olympiad. The workload has felt fair. Feel free to reach out if you want to hear more.
I would recommend that you keep him in public, but find him a school that is doing a better job with this new format. Use the saved $$ for better bribing "toys!" LOL My 4th grader is at ASCEND and my 7th grader is at EBIA and both schools (both charters, in Oakland) are doing a fabulous job with this online format. Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss more. I'm no longer a teacher, but I used to be an elementary school teacher and I taught in both public and private.
Archived Q&A and Reviews
May 2015
I'm looking in to sending my child to East Bay Innovation Academy. This is their first year open and I was wondering if anyone has a child who attends that school to provide some feedback? Nikki
My 6th grade daughter is just finishing up the year at EBIA. There have been a few bumps along the way, but I would say it's been a successful. My older children went to Montera, so I can compare their experiences. EBIA offers a much more challenging curriculum. By far. There is a lot of homework (2 hours every night). And the expectations are high. Because of this, it's not always the right fit for a kid, and many transferred out through the course of the year.
EBIA's electronic learning platform is great, but takes training on the parent and student's part. It is a full scale, integrated platform, not just email and grade postings. The teachers are young and energetic and thoughtful. But they still have to contend with the various student outbursts as they come, with varying levels of success. The teaching:discipline ratio is significantly better at EBIA.
The community is solid, but as is the case with all schools, it struggles to keep parents engaged. The student body is diverse, open and accepting. We have seen very few negative social incidences.
Intersessions are a great way to learn something new, different, and to recharge batteries. We don't have many (any?) after school clubs or activities, but I know this is being addressed.
The Individualized Learning Plan that all students must do is the best thing I've ever been a part of in any public school. Ever. It accomplishes exactly what you need: Kids take ownership for their own academic careers, it offers the chance to review success and strategizes how to improve on weaknesses, parents have a full understanding of what/how their kid is doing and how they can better support. Seriously, I'd like to roll out the program at my job. Or in Congress!
Looking forward to seeing other responses. Soon to be 7th grade EBIA parent
One of my kids went to EBIA for 8th grade last year and I can give you some info on our experience. Would prefer to do that privately, so get in touch directly with me at my username below.
~Mailisha