About our Program
At Alternatives in Action High School we believe that learning best occurs when
Learning is made relevant to young people’s lives through real and meaningful experience
Learning is grounded in caring relationships
Youth have influence over their school and education, and are held accountable for it
Learning emphasizes depth of thinking over breadth of coverage
Learning is holistic, encompassing intellectual, emotional, civic, and social development
Balanced Learners
Developing Well Balanced Learners
At Alternatives in Action High School, we prepare our students to achieve a broad spectrum of Expected Schoolwide Learning Results. We believe a successful student must develop effective habits of thinking, feeling AND acting. Towards this end, we help cultivate our students’ Habits of the Mind, Habits of the Heart, and Habits of the Hand.
Special Programs
Special Programs
Because of the unique and diverse needs of our youth, Alternatives in Action High School has developed special programs and/or courses of study consistent with the provisions of our Charter. Examples of specialized programs and/or courses of study currently include,
but are not limited to:
After-school academic support programs
Concurrent Enrollment with Peralta Colleges & University of California College Preparation Program (UCCP)
Cyber High (a comprehensive electronic high school curriculum aligned with the California Content Standards and A-G requirements for the University of California system)
Apex (online learning)
Career Pathways in Multimedia & Digital Arts, Child Development,
and Youth Development & Education
The 7 R’s
Youth and staff are expected to embody and embrace these principles
The 7 R’s are core principles that Alternatives in Action stands by in building adult and youth partnerships in order to nurture positive changes in our communities. The 7 R’s include:
Realness – Honesty with yourself and others
Risk – Pushing yourself to grow by taking healthy chances
Rigor – Holding yourself to high standards in words, actions, and work
Respect – Being considerate of and caring for yourself, others, and the space around you
Responsibility – Taking ownership of actions and following through on commitments
Resilience – Having the strength to overcome challenges
Relationships – Connection with self, others, and the community
Our intention is that each of our graduates know what they think, know what they feel, know what they believe, and take meaningful action in the world.
We prepare youth for college, career, and community
by creating lots of chances for them to perform in a real world setting, to partner with caring adults, and to participate in activities that benefit others. We hope you will take the time learn more about our school day, after-school, and college & career program offerings. We also invite you to join us at an upcoming event and view the Seminary Neighborhood Community Programs pages. All of this will help give you a flavor of our community.
College, career and community prep
We have many unique and exciting opportunities for youth at Alternatives in Action High School. We prepare youth for college, career, and community by creating lots of chances for them to perform in a real world setting, to partner with caring adults, and to participate in activities that benefit others. We hope you will take the time learn more about our school day, after-school, and college & career program offerings. We also invite you to join us at an upcoming event and view the Seminary Neighborhood Community Programs pages. All of this will help give you a flavor of our community.
College Preparation
We support you in making your dreams a reality.
We offer:
A-G, Academic, and College advising for all students
College and Career Center
Concurrent Enrollment with Peralta Community Colleges
College Tours
SAT and ACT test preparation
After-school tutoring
Our graduates often visit to connect with their former coaches and share their experiences.
“Alternatives in Action High School gave me the push that I needed to prepare ahead of time for the SAT’s, apply for college, and seek a scholarship. As a result, I was accepted to all five colleges I applied to and decided to attend Cal State University East Bay where I am getting a $19,000 scholarship and passing all my classes. I feel proud that I am the first of my nuclear family to attend a four-year university.”
Career Preparation
We offer career preparation in multi-media, child development, and education studies.
Classes meet twice weekly after school. We also provide youth with exciting, real world internship opportunities and career classes. Internships expose youth to potential future careers and help them to develop marketable skills.
Every youth at Alternatives in Action High School is a member of a “Leadership Team.”
In Leadership Teams youth receive academic counseling and personal support, work on Pathway to Success Plans and Presentations of Learning, develop leadership skills, and build a community with an adult coach (our term for teachers) and students in every grade. Leadership Teams meet twice a week.
Community Impact Projects
Community Impact Projects are engaging social action projects
that our students design, plan, and implement. Youth have opportunities to complete projects that benefit the community and help prepare them to become community leaders.
Through the process of co-creating and implementing these projects, youth further develop core academic skills, habits of mind, and sense of self-efficacy. Projects are real and dramatic, have a meaningful impact on the community, and are designed to enhance and apply academic content.
To successfully complete a Community Impact Project, youth must develop and defend a project proposal, identify measures of success, and then self-evaluate and report on their success.
To date, Alternatives in Action High School students have completed over 30 exciting and meaningful Community Impact Projects, including:
The Alameda Point Community Garden
Project YouthView
Relocation and Renovation of the Woodstock Campus
College and Internship Fairs
Presentations of Learning (POLs)
Presentations of Learning provide opportunities for students to set annual goals for themselves, create a portfolio of their best work, and develop public speaking skills through year-end presentations to panels of community members. Presentations of Learning have three primary components:
Pathways to Success are youth-created documents that identify a young person’s starting point, goals, and plan of action for the year.
Portfolios are a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress, and achievement across the curriculum. Portfolios provide an opportunity for youth to collect and exhibit the evidence that they have achieved the required outcomes for their courses and that they have achieved the goals of their Pathways to Success.
Presentations of Learning require youth to present evidence that they have met their academic and personal goals to a panel of community members. This allows youth to showcase their best work. Also, the prospect of panelists from all different fields evaluating their work creates a real-world standard that provides urgency and relevance for youth as they work towards their goals over the course of the year.
Learning Lab
We provide an after school learning lab that through which students can access core academic support in the form of one-on-one and small group instruction and tutoring. Learning Lab is held from 3:45 – 4:45 pm, four days per week. The purpose of Learning Lab is to motivate students to succeed and to provide them with the necessary supports to do so.
Community Building
At the beginning of each school year, our high school students and faculty go to an overnight retreat. Youth get to know one another, learn more about our school, build a strong school community, and have fun! We play sports, swim, eat meals together, share a campfire, and learn together. By the time the retreat is over, youth have a clear picture of our school’s focus, expectations, and culture and feel connected to our community. We continue our fun and meaningful community traditions throughout the year. Every week, our school holds community wide meetings, which promote school pride and awareness of larger community issues and showcase youth and performances.