With its emphasis on community partnerships, Latitude considers the entire city of Oakland and the greater Bay Area as its classroom. Students experience a significant portion of learning outside the classroom. Starting in 9th grade, they visit over ten workplaces yearly to ignite their career interests and collaborate with professionals on real-world projects. For one project, 9th graders identified 15 social entrepreneurs who were making a big impact in the surrounding community—including Pastor Curtis Fleming, founder of Dignity Housing West, plus Xiomara Castro and Daniel Zarazua, founders of Pochino Press.¹ Class of 2022 graduate Alberto, who went on to Howard University in Washington, DC, said before the project he thought of changemakers as famous people. “But I started learning that you can make change in the world and impact your community in very different ways,” he explained.

For students at Latitude, these Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) connect them deeply with experts in and around the Bay Area. Through internships and field experiences, students have met with strategists at Apple, sustainable development professionals at Fair Trade USA, software engineers at YouTube, and Oakland small business owners, giving them greater exposure to various career options. Students also work closely with mentors to co-create an education plan aligned with their academic and life goals to develop relationships with trusted adults.

Latitude’s cross-curricular studios and workshops blend traditional academic disciplines with design thinking and social-emotional learning, allowing students to acquire the creative confidence they need to thrive in the knowledge economy. In these studios, students connect with community organizations to understand their problems. For example, students worked with Urban Famers in the East Bay to build and program tech equipment that could help farmers humanely control invasive pests and improve crop yields. Latitude graduates emerge with a mastery of a robust set of competencies that will enable them to become confident leaders prepared for college and career.

Student Outcomes

Latitude’s class of 2022 had an 88 percent graduation rate compared with 79 percent for the Oakland Unified School District and 87 percent statewide. They also had a strong rate of completing all “A-G” courses necessary to be eligible for admission to California’s four-year public universities, far exceeding 2022 rates in the Oakland Unified School District and statewide (81 versus 51 and 45 percent).

In XQ’s 2022 Senior Survey, nine in ten Latitude graduates reported feeling at least somewhat prepared for the future (92 percent), with three-quarters of those students citing collaborative skills as a key strength they developed at Latitude that will serve them well as adults. And even with the disruptions of Covid and remote schooling, 44 percent completed outside internships.