A Case Study of Oakland Technical High School Oakland, California It’s 8:25 in the morning, and students are streaming through the columned entrance of Oakland Technical High School. One of the city’s six comprehensive high schools, “Tech” sits on Broadway Avenue, a central artery that runs from the whiter, more middle-class north side, south through the resuscitated “Auto Row,” and on into downtown Oakland, California. The school’s impressive façade stretches along a whole city block; across the street, a variety of fast-food restaurants draw many Tech students throughout the day. A group of girls, primarily African Americans, stands outside talking before school begins. Although they live in the same neighborhood and attended the same middle school there, they will head in different directions once they walk through Tech’s doors. Two will spend most of the day together, along with a group of peers in the Computer Academy on the second floor, leaving only for art and PE. Another girl will be off campus for half the day at an internship for the Health Academy program. Two others are not affiliated with an academy and will move around the campus for classes, each of which will be with a different group of students. And a Latina student will spend part of her day attending classes in the bilingual program and the other part in the Business Academy. Real Changes, Persistent Challenges: Managing Multiple Reforms in an Urban High School By Tom Malarkey Reinventing High School: Six Journeys of Change 11