Our Mission

Newcomer Educational Support and Transition Program provides newly-arrived adolescent immigrants with a rigorous yet accessible curriculum. In conjunction with California Partnership Academies, we provide students with an education focused on 21st century skills, social emotional learning and preparation for college and career. Because student health and well being is the center of academic success, our program partners with families and community to foster students who are driven, critical thinkers, socially responsible and can advocate for themselves and their community.

Our Vision

The NEST program embodies the values of community, advocacy, high expectations and support. We serve newcomer students by creating a sense of belonging and providing full wrap around services. We stand as a model for newcomer educational programs across the state for college readiness, technical education and career. Our NEST students will feel empowered to be lifelong learners and educational advocates for their families and communities in the U.S. and abroad.

East Oakland Community Needs

Oakland has served as a hub for new immigrants from diverse places for several generations now. Given the turmoil occurring in Central America, there has been a large influx of immigrant minors arriving to the United States. Oakland has been and continues to be a critical center of arrival for these students, many of them high school aged. In the past two years, Oakland Unified School District, through the English Language Learner and Multilingual Achievement (ELLMA) office has developed a district wide roadmap to best serve these students. Fremont High School recognized these needs in East Oakland long before and has hosted a newcomer program for nine years now with great success.  

Location and Population

Fremont High school’s location, in the center of East Oakland, provides students living in the surrounding neighborhoods easy access to a quality education.  Fremont serves a diverse population of students, primarily Latino, African American, Southeast Asian, and Polynesian students. Currently, the Newcomer and English Learner population at Fremont in grade 9-12 stands at 250 students and is slated to continue growing. The Newcomer Program at Fremont currently accounts for close to 30% of the school population.

Personalized Education

The Newcomer and ELD program at Fremont High School currently offers courses for students with all educational levels across subject matter. The program specializes in instruction through a cohort model, the first in the city.  This model allows scheduling of cohorts by appropriate ELD level and supports an appropriate cohort for Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE). All students are exposed to grade level content using language specific teaching strategies that support both their development in English and their incoming skill level.  Students participate in courses eligible to fulfill the A-G graduation requirements while they acquire the language. Such course schedules have demonstrated great success shown by the high rates of CAHSEE passage in previous years and high percentages of students continuing their education at a Community College or 4 year universities.

Wrap-Around Services

Our program acknowledges that success for Newcomer students can not only be achieved through academics.  These students arrive to this country for many reasons and with many experiences. Abuse, trauma and culture shock are just a few of the issues these students need to confront so early in their lives.  As a full community service school, Fremont High has been able to provide wrap-around services that support these students as they deal with these hard issues. All students have access to a full service Health Clinic and various bilingual therapists on campus while unaccompanied minors are provided with a case manager and all students have access to Legal Services through various non-profits.