East Side Adult Education

Historical records indicate that adult education has been servicing the residents of Californians for over 150 years and San Jose since the early 1870’s. This long history of service is indicative of the role that the program has played in the educational growth of our city.  Adult Education has grown and prospered over the decades meeting the ever changing need of our community with immigrant remediation, academic disciplines and career technical coursework.

In 1967 East Side Union High School District became one of four districts that formed the Metropolitan Adult Education Program (MAEP) consortium.  In January of 1987, the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) created its own separate education system and the East Side Union High School District Adult Education Program (ESAEP) began its independent operation in July of 1988.

Today the East Side Adult Education Program (ESAEP) is an integral part of the city of San Jose and of the ESUHSD’s educational program. 

The population of the greater San Jose area has shown tremendous growth in the past fifty years. From a sleepy but bustling area of 95,000 during the early 1950’s, it has grown to exceed 1,800,000 industrious souls. The city of San Jose is currently the third largest city in California (behind Los Angeles and San Diego) with a population of 925,000 (January, 2003). It is the 11th largest city in the United States. The self-reported ethnic breakdown of the city is as follows: 36.0% White, 38.2% Hispanic, 26.6% Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.3% African-American, and 3.9% Other.

The ESUHSD is a reflection of the city of San Jose. It has a diverse population of over 434,000 across a full spectrum of socio-economic strata. While the socio-economic groups are diverse, there remains a relatively large low-income population in the district. The ESUHSD is a district rich in cultural diversity. Over 75 separate ethnic groups are represented within its boundaries with over 80% of the population having a language other than English as its primary language. There are 56 native languages spoken by the residents of the East Side educational community and over 5,056 of its students are identified as limited English Language Learners (ELL). The ESAEP mirrors the district’s diversity, both demographically and socio-economically