How Oakland Unified School District helps immigrant students fill education gaps

IN HER HOME country of Guatemala, Maribel attended a one-room schoolhouse for two years, but the teacher was often absent, causing class to be canceled. She never learned how to read. The school closed during COVID, and she never returned to class until last year, when she moved to Oakland.

Now 11 and enrolled in middle school, she is learning English and at the same time filling gaps in her education — how to read, interpret graphs and acquire other skills she never learned before.