History

Bay Area Educational Institute (BAEI) was founded for the purpose of starting an independent high school in the Bay Area and developing programs serving secondary students with learning differences. The only one of its kind in the East Bay, Bayhill High School opened its doors to its students in September of 2007 and expanded to include grades 7 and 8 in August of 2025. 

A Need For a Specialized High School

The need for schools that understand and support students with learning differences has always been at the heart of Bayhill's story. 

Many bright and capable students with dyslexia, ADHD, executive functioning challenges, and other learning differences struggle in traditional school settings that are not designed around the ways they learn. Historically, specialized options for these students- particularly at the high school level- have been limited in the Bay Area and especially in the East Bay. 

Bayhill was created to help fill that gap: a school where students with learning differences could receive the individualized instruction and support they need while participating in a challenging and engaging academic program. 

Building on what has come before…

The path to Bayhill grew directly out of the Raskob Institute and Day School, a program of Holy Names University in Oakland. Founded in 1953, the Raskob Institute became one of the Bay Area's longstanding resources for students with learning differences, and Raskob Day School was established in 1973 to provide full-time instruction. 

In 2005, Holy Names University expanded Raskob's program to include a high school, responding to a clear need for specialized secondary education in the East Bay. The program welcomes its first ninth-grade class the fall, with plans to add a grade each year. 

Several months later, however, the university determined that limited campus space would prevent the high school from continuing to expand. 

In response, Bay Area Educational Institute (BAEI) was incorporated as a California nonprofit in February 2006 with a mission to provide educational services to secondary students with learning differences. From that effort, Bayhill High School was born. 

Bayhill High School Begins

In only a few months, BAEI etablished Bayhill High School which opened its doors in September 2006 on a campus near Lake Merritt in Oakland. The school graduated its first class of seniors in June 2008. 

In 2015, Bayhill moved to its current home in Berkeley, providing more space for its growing academic program and school community. 

Opening to Grades 7 and 8

In 2022,  Raskob Day School closed its doors, leaving fewer specialized educational options for middle school students with learning differences in the East Bay. 

In the 2025-26 school year, Bayhill expanded to include grades 7 and 8, bringing our individualized approach to teaching and learning to younger students and beginning a new chapter in Bayhill's history.