User:Madeleinemoyer/sandbox

Article Evaluation - "Girl power"
[article for practice--not actually using as a selected Wikipedia article]

I felt that the article really focused the majority of its contents on the origins of the term as it related to musical groups rather than the meaning behind it and legacy that has persisted and changed over the years to represent a wider definition of feminism. It is also used quite colloquially. The article does a good job however of maintaining neutrality in objectively explaining the origin of the term because it mentions both the point of views of the musical groups that used the term as the image of their feminist argument as well as a criticism of it. Regarding the the citations, I found that a few of them didn't work (I was directed to an "internal error" page). Other than that though the citations appear to be relevant and come from either magazines, essays or journals. On the talk page, there were some dissenting opinions about feminism and its relationship (or lack thereof) with "Girl power." I guess this sort of argument going on behind the scenes shows the controversial nature of this topic, but it is also important to note that those comments were made eight years ago, and the times and opinions and many have changed since then. This article is a part of 3 WikiProjects, the Gender Studies, Feminism, and Women's History ones. On this article's WikiProjects, it was rated as C-Class for quality and high/medium-importance.

Sector - "Mentorship"
I chose this article because it corresponds directly to what I am doing every week for my PE: mentoring youth. Specifically speaking, I want to focus on the article's information about the history and techniques of mentorship, its effectiveness, and its role in education. I also want to expand upon the use of mentorship as a means for fostering resiliency among youth that come from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.

Area - "Berkeley High School (California)"
For this article I would like to focus on the demographics of Berkeley High School and, in using other articles and citations, include the information about the Achievement Gap that exists. On paper Berkeley High looks like it is doing very well and surpassing the California average for test scores, however in digging deeper one will find that there is a significant gap between students. I would like to add this information to the article to give more context to the data that is already provided, especially regarding what has been done to address the Achievement Gap through the implementation of placing students into small schools.

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1) Argente-Linares, Eva; Pérez-López, M. Carmen; Ordóñez-Solana, Celia (2016-10-19). "Practical Experience of Blended Mentoring in Higher Education". Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. 24 (5): 399–414. doi:10.1080/13611267.2016.1273449. ISSN 1361-1267. ===== link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13611267.2016.1273449

This article argues that using information technology (IT) concurrently with traditional forms of mentoring increases its effectiveness as a result of an increase in student satisfaction. The authors used this evidence to make a greater argument about the need to constantly be striving to improve mentoring programs while designing new forms of it. The research question at hand had to do with the differences between the traditional face-to-face approach to mentoring and the more recent use of IT, and whether one was more effective than the other. While both had their pros and cons, the relationship that can be developed between mentor and mentee in the individualized approach has been proved to be highly valuable and is not attainable through the online program. However the ease and efficiency of IT gives students more access to a wider variety of resources and services. This article is very relevant to my PE because it focuses very much so on the face-to-face form of mentoring the high school seniors applying for college with the guidance of YSP. But simultaneously while receiving direct guidance on applications and advice for college, this program also utilizes several different websites that are meant for larger groups as a means for communicating information and resources. Regarding the article I have selected, I will be able to use this information to elaborate on the different forms of mentoring and include the evidence found in support of using a blended form of mentoring rather than strictly one form or the other.

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2) Benzies, Karen; Mychasiuk, Richelle (2009-02). "Fostering family resiliency: a review of the key protective factors". Child & Family Social Work. 14 (1): 103–114. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00586.x. ISSN 1356-7500 ===== link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00586.x

Discussing the process of building "resiliency" in youth, this article makes an argument about the main protective factors that contribute the most to the development of that resiliency to the underlying risk factors that include drug abuse, alcohol addiction, gang involvement, dropping out of high school, teen pregnancy, etc. This article draws upon three separate environments--the family, the school, and the community--and identifies both the intersections between them as well as their unique preventative factors that contribute to creating the most effective overall model for building resiliency. This three-part framework adds to the article I have selected because instead of focusing solely on the method of mentorship in general, it is a specific technique within mentorship that addresses the fundamental reasons and issues that set some youth behind others and advocates for establishing mechanisms to prepare youth to be "resilient" to these environmental factors. This framework is unique because instead of focusing on fixing the issue, it focuses on mentoring youth and preparing them for that exposure to those risk factors. In applying this to my PE, building linkages between families and schools, and schools and communities is exactly what the Y-Scholars Program is working to achieve, through inviting the families of students to workshops and potlucks that inform parents of the college application process, as well as college and scholarship fairs that invite college representatives, students, families, and members of the community. In establishing a system of care and support, high expectations, and opportunities for participation this program has put together all of the characteristics of a successful protective factor that is laid out in this article.

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3) Hebert, Thomas P. (2002-06). "Educating Gifted Children From Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds: Creating Visions of a Hopeful Future". Exceptionality. 10(2): 127–138. doi:10.1207/s15327035ex1002_6. ISSN 0936-2835 ===== link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327035EX1002_6

Using the stories from three young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds to underline the main issues of education for students coming from these backgrounds, this article argues for the mentoring approach when working for students and stresses the importance of having high expectations for these students while emphasizing involvement in extracurricular activities. The benefits of an enriched teacher-student relationship is also brought to light as there are many opportunities that arise from these caring relationships when educators move beyond their strict roles and serve as mentors for their students as well. The study that was done for this article involved examining the lives and circumstances of three unique students from completely different living situations but who shared the same socioeconomic background. What was found in this study showed that despite each student having their own individual experiences growing up, the four main themes that were found were common to all three and enabled the educators to discuss the implications for educating children living in poverty. This is relevant for my article because it urges teachers to move beyond the confines of "educators" and also serve as mentors to create a much more overall effective approach to educating children in poverty and addressing the issues that expose them to those situations. With regards to my PE, the advisors in this program do serve as both educators and mentors in a sense, and also encourage the schools that the students in the program come from to participate in much more active and mentor-like roles with their students.

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4) M. Reis, Sally; Colbert, Robert; P. Hébert, Thomas (2004-12-01). "Understanding resilience in diverse, talented students in an urban high school". Roeper Review. 27: 110–120. doi:10.1080/02783190509554299. ===== link: https://gifted.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/961/2015/02/Understanding_Resilience.pdf

In conducting a three-year study on 35 students from a low socioeconomic background, this article identifies the protective factors of academically high-achieving students as well as the risk factors experienced by underachieving students. The protective factors that were identified by this study to help students achieve at high levels included participation in extracurriculars, support from adult relationships and relationships with other high-achieving students, the opportunity to take advanced courses, and methods to "cope with the negative aspects of their school and urban environment." The risk factors specific to the underachieving students included having older siblings or family members who dropped out of school or developed a drug and/or alcohol habit, and not developing the protective factors common to high-achieving students. Like some of these other articles, this one focuses heavily on fostering resilience within students, giving them the tools to deal with possible circumstances or situations they might experience due to their background and environment. This form of mentorship is especially important because it involves a much more holistic approach to tackling education among children in poverty. Within the Y-Scholars Program, we focus not just on making sure that students submit their college applications on time, we also focus on providing the tools they will need for life post-high school with solutions and advice to problems they might face and experiences they might encounter. This article provides a lot of useful information about what can be added to this PE in order to maximize its effectiveness and reach among students attending Berkeley High School.

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5) Walsh, Froma (2003-03). "Family Resilience: A Framework for Clinical Practice". Family Process. 42(1): 1–18. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2003.00001.x. ISSN 0014-7370. ===== link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2003.00001.x

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6) Shonkoff, Jack P.; Meisels, Samuel J. (2000-05-22). Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316583845. ===== link: https://books.google.com/books?id=otfLCgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA115&ots=QhrCq4sjyd&dq=protective%20factors&lr&pg=PA116#v=onepage&q&f=false

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7) Rutter, Michael (1985/12). "Resilience in the Face of Adversity: Protective Factors and Resistance to Psychiatric Disorder". The British Journal of Psychiatry. 147 (6): 598–611. doi:10.1192/bjp.147.6.598. ISSN 0007-1250. ===== link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/resilience-in-the-face-of-adversity/5DFD1650463B8F834D2C9E4239BCD5CB

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1) Noguera, Pedro A. "Ties That Bind, Forces That Divide: Berkeley High School and the Challenge of Integration," University of San Francisco Law Review vol. 29, no. 3 (Spring 1995): p. 719-740. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/usflr29&i=739 . ===== link: https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/usflr29&id=738&men_tab=srchresults

The author of this article is one of the authors who collaborated to write the previous source on closing the racial achievement gap in US public schools, and wrote this paper before publishing that book. In this article, Noguera argues about the forces that divide students of different races at Berkeley High School despite this school being dubbed "the most integrated high school in America" and being located in one of the most socially committed cities in the country. He points out that due to BHS being so diverse with students that come from all different socioeconomic, ethnic and racial backgrounds, there are existing social forces that polarize the student body based on these differences. This article also addresses the obstacles to integration efforts and sheds light on the influence of interracial conflict between not just students, but parents, teachers and administrators as well. The Y-Scholars Program works to directly address these differences among the student body that set some groups behind others and works towards giving those disadvantaged groups the tools they need to "catch up" to the high achieving groups. This article can elucidate some of the characteristics of this PE that might not be attaining the goals we have set out for ourselves and instead provide an alternative that is more effective at integration. Regarding the article I am focusing on, I want to write about the small schools within BHS, and this article gives useful and applicable information about how this aspect of BHS is instead polarizing the students instead of integrating them.

2) E., Snow, Catherine (2003). Adolescent literacy and the achievement gap : what do we know and where do we go from here?. Carnegie Corporation. OCLC 59671519.
link: https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/2a/92/2a924f5b-8130-4dc8-86c4-86ad71d2f08f/ccny_meeting_2003_gap.pdf

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3) Ladson-Billings, Gloria (2006-10). "From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools". Educational Researcher. 35 (7): 3–12. doi:10.3102/0013189x035007003. ISSN 0013-189X. ===== link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0013189X035007003

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4) Leithwood, Kenneth (2010-07-08). "Characteristics of School Districts that Are Exceptionally Effective in Closing the Achievement Gap". Leadership and Policy in Schools. 9 (3): 245–291. doi:10.1080/15700761003731500. ISSN 1570-0763. ===== link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15700761003731500?needAccess=true

use for moving forward section

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5) Rothstein, Richard (2014-11-06). "The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, and Segregated Neighborhoods: A Constitutional Insult". Race and Social Problems. 7 (1): 21–30. doi:10.1007/s12552-014-9134-1. ISSN 1867-1748. ===== link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12552-014-9134-1

use for housing information

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6) Lieberman, Ann; Miller, Lynne (2001). Teachers Caught in the Action: Professional Development that Matters. Teachers College Press. ISBN 9780807740996. ===== link: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WwPrUzCJe_YC&oi=fnd&pg=PA79&dq=Bay+Area++achievement+gap+&ots=mwwnKTncfg&sig=j4M94xXwszDtyRdHtTDFv_OhTO4#v=onepage&q&f=false

use for example of Bay Area initiation happening NOW, and also for moving forward section

7) "Berkeley High School, WASC Self-Study 2011-2012." Berkeley Unified School District. 2011-2012.
link: https://bhs.berkeleyschools.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bhswasc_selfstudy2012.pdf

** ask Clare if this is scholarly or not!

1) "Berkeley High taking action to close academic achievement gap | The Daily Californian". The Daily Californian. 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
link: http://www.dailycal.org/2016/05/17/berkeley-high-taking-action-close-academic-achievement-gap/

This article talks about what is currently being done to address the achievement gap at Berkeley High School, especially having to do with the learning communities freshmen must immediately chose to join (the small schools). It discusses the Berkeley High Design Team that meets regularly to talk about how to best redesign the ways students are organized in school so as to optimize schooling outcomes for all students regardless of their backgrounds.

2) Orenstein, Natalie (2017-03-23). "New state report card goes beyond test scores for Berkeley schools". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
link: https://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/03/23/new-state-report-card-goes-beyond-test-scores-berkeley-schools

With student achievement and disparities at Berkeley schools at the forefront of this informational article, the author talks about the new California School Dashboard that goes beyond standardized test scores and includes other measures that paint a more holistic image of student achievement. These measures include rankings broken down by student demographics, suspension rates, and English learner progress.

3) "EdData - School Profile - Berkeley High". www.ed-data.org. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
link: http://www.ed-data.org/school/Alameda/Berkeley-Unified/Berkeley-High

This is simply a database that has information about the Berkeley High School, including its enrollment size, number of students with free/reduced meals, number of English learners, its ethnic diversity, average class size, and performance broken down by demographics. This website provides a more objective and statistics-based account of the student body at BHS.

4) "BHS Universal 9th Grade | Berkeley High School". bhs.berkeleyschools.net. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
link: https://bhs.berkeleyschools.net/bhs-school-redesign-process/

5)
link: https://www.berkeleyschools.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/BHS_ChoicesEng2017-18aweb.pdf

Sector -- "Mentoring"       (reformatting and adding to "In education" section in existing article)
Mentoring involves a relationship between two people where the mentor plays a supportive and advisory role for the student, the mentee. This relationship promotes "the development and growth of the latter's skills and knowledge through the former's experience."

Resiliency
A specific focus of youth mentoring that addresses the issues that cause these students to underachieve while simultaneously preparing them to deal with future difficult circumstances that can affect their lives and alter their success is the fostering of resiliency. Resilience is "the ability to withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges" and has been found to be a very useful method when working with students of low socioeconomic backgrounds who often encounter crises or challenges and suffer specific traumas. Education and students' performance and achievement in school are directly affected by these challenges, so these certain negative psychological and environmental situations that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds disproportionately encounter provide a framework for explaining the achievement gap. Resiliency does not provide a solution to the struggles and trauma that these students are experiencing, but instead focuses on giving them the tools to adapt to these situations and respond to them in a way that avoids a negative outcome and enables them to emerge stronger learn from it.

Protective factors and risk factors
Protective factors "modify or transform responses to adverse events so that [students] avoid negative outcomes" and encourage the development of resiliency, while risk factors are circumstances that perpetuate these poor outcomes and prevent that student from acquiring resilience as a tool. The development of these protective factors enable students to apply them to challenges and engage in them in a positive manner that does not negatively affect their education, personal lives, and successes. Examples of these protective factors identified by Reis, Colbert and Hebert in their three-year study of economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse students include having "supportive adults, friendships with other achieving students, the opportunity to take honors and advanced classes, participation in multiple extracurricular activities both after school and during the summer, the development of a strong belief in the self, and ways to cope with the negative aspects of their school, urban and family environment." Risk factors, on the other hand, impede the student's ability to positively engage in their challenges and in many cases prevent these students from achieving at the same level as students who do not encounter the same situations. Risk factors can include family tragedy, having an older sibling who became involved in drugs and/or alcohol, family instability, personal pain and academic failure. "Just as risk factors and childhood stressors may co-occur within a particular population or within a particular developmental period, protective factors are also likely to occur together to some degree."

Counseling and guidance
Underachieving students who come from these certain, risk factor-filled environments often have little support, so the role of educators can be very beneficial for students if it extends beyond the basic structures within the classroom. In these environments, students are often exposed to coercive interactions, so positive, personal and harmonious interchanges between the student and some supportive figure can help develop adaptive qualities. Teachers who see students as talented and care about them as individuals by establishing a genuine relationship creates their additional roles as a mentor and advocate--an extra familial support system that can serve as an additional protective factor. A supportive adult (in this case, a teacher) can help reduce the negative impact of certain events and risk factors while strengthening the positive factors that help them cope effectively. Some of the components that facilitate this development of resilience when combined with the existence of a strong adult-student relationship include after school programs, more challenging classes, peer support programs, summer programs and gifted programs. In getting to know students better--especially their home life and individual circumstances--teachers and/or counselors can provide specific support to each student by looking beyond their disadvantaged backgrounds, recognizing their abilities, nurturing their strengths and maintaining high expectations rather than lower their expectations because of the circumstances.

Blended Mentoring
Blended mentoring is an implementation of information technology (IT) into the traditional mentoring program, intended to give to career counseling and development services the opportunity to adopt mentoring in their ordinary practice. Rather than a strict form of e-mentoring where all the communication between the mentor and mentee are done electronically, or simply the traditional model of face-to-face mentoring that has not adapted to the changing times, blended mentoring has been found to increase student satisfaction (which is inherently tied to effectiveness) by combining online group mentoring sessions with individual, face-to-face meetings with a mentor. In incorporating IT with the traditional mentoring method, students are able to benefit from the technologies of e-mentoring while also receiving direct and personal advice from the traditional method.

=== Area -- "Berkeley High School (California)"        (taking out "Demographics" section in existing article and updating it, adding to Administration and Organization section, switching up order of existing information)        Italics = original content from article ===

Demographics
Berkeley High demographics, as of the 2017-2018 school year, out of 3,118 enrolled students:


 * 463 (15%) African American or Black
 * 7 (0.2%) American Indian or Alaska Native
 * 251 (8%) Asian
 * 22 (0.7%) Filipino
 * 731 (23%) Hispanic or Latino
 * 11 (0.3%) Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian
 * 1,258 (40%) White, non-Hispanic
 * 375 (12%) identifying as two or more races
 * 949 (30%) received free/reduced meal, English learners or foster youth
 * 884 (28%) received free and reduced price meals
 * 177 (6%) English learners
 * 652 (21%) fluent English proficient

Achievement gap
The achievement gap refers to the academic disparity between certain groups, including African-Americans, Latinos, students whose first language is not English, and students living in poverty, that perform significantly below others. This gap extends beyond the results of standardized test scores and also applies to the disparity between certain groups regarding dropout rates, participation in honors classes and Advanced Placement (AP) exams, and numbers of students admitted to colleges. Due to Berkeley High School's racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse student population, it has been called the "most integrated high school in America." However an achievement gap continues to exist between the white students and black and Latino students. For example, for the 2017-18 school year, the percentages of white students who graduated with the requirements for the UC application fulfilled was 86%, compared to 40% of black students and 50% of Latino students. In 2015, the graduation rate for English learners was 68%--much lower than any other group. Beyond academics and looking at student performance and behavior, "white and hispanic students are suspended less frequently than African-American students," and black students are much more frequently expelled, drop out, are absent, and/or are enrolled in remedial classes and special education. Regarding post-graduation, "many white and Asian students graduate with honors and attend elite colleges and universities, while few blacks and Latino students follow a similar path."

Small schools
''In 2000, in an attempt to better serve its diverse community and close the achievement gap between white students and students of color, BHS began experimenting with the idea of small schools. In 2005, Berkeley High School officially established four small schools and a comprehensive program, Academic Choice.''

The small schools that began the 2005-06 school year that are comprised of 240 students were:


 * The Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA)
 * Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS)
 * Academy of Medicine and Public Service (AMPS)

In addition to the smaller schools, there are two Comprehensive Learning Communities which comprise nearly two-thirds of the student body, between 1000-1300 students''. Academic Choice (AC) and Berkeley International High School (BIHS) - part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program as of 2007 - make up this Comprehensive Learning Community.''


 * Academic Choice (AC)
 * Berkeley International High School (BIHS)

Prior to the Fall 2018 school year, upon enrolling at Berkeley High School incoming freshmen immediately chose to join one of the five learning communities that vary in size, academic emphasis and offerings. Taking into account these preferences as well as a student's zip code, a lottery system determined the student's placement in one of the small schools. However after several years it was clear that the learning communities model had made little progress in closing the academic achievement gap. A demographic breakdown of small schools from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Report from 2011-2012 reported that within AC was 12% Latino students, 19% African American students, and 41% white, and within IB was 11% Latino, 29% African American and 47% white; while within AMPS was 24% Latino, 51% African American and 9% white. Moreover, Green Academy (now discontinued) and AMPS were the learning communities with the most students who scored not proficient in Math and English California Standards Test (CST) scores.

Demographics and Math/English proficiency rates by learning community
The following demographics data was disaggregated by learning community by the BUSD WASC Self-Study of 2011-2012. Note that Green Academy and Life Academy have been discontinued.

BHS Demographics 2010-2011 ''The following California Standards Test (CST) data was disaggregated by learning community by the BUSD Department of Evaluation and compares the proficiency rates of Berkeley High School's six learning communities. Note that Green Academy has been discontinued.''

Percent of students "proficient or above" in Math and English California Standards Test (CST) scores

Possible explanations
A policy exists surrounding students who wish to be placed in IB or AC (the most rigorous of the small schools) that guarantees them spot in one of those small schools if they don't list any other choices. "The majority of white students and Asian students who come into school don't choose the small learning communities, they only choose IB or AC" and this policy hasn't been removed because parents have fought against students having to be placed in a small learning community if they did not want them to. Segregation among students is another possible explanation for the persistence of the achievement gap. A BHS teacher said that "freshmen often will decide their learning community based on stereotypes within the school." "Much of the segregation occurs during the nonstructural part of the school day: before and after school, during lunch and between classes." Segregation inside schools is directly influenced by segregation outside of school, and in Berkeley white students are more reported to be from middle and upper-middle class families living the Berkeley hills while minority students are more reported to come from lower income families in the more flatland neighborhoods.

Universal 9th Grade (taking existing information from small schools section and putting here; updating to current status at BHS)
''In 2015, administrators began discussions about reorganizing the high school. The Berkeley Redesign Project involved teachers, staff, students and parents. The first major change was to switch to a "universal 9th grade," in which freshmen will be placed into one of six or seven smaller, core groups, with the choice of learning community beginning in tenth grade. This is intended to counter the occurrence of freshmen choosing their learning community based on stereotypes within the school and give them the opportunity to learn what the communities are like first-hand before they decide which one to join by creating a "randomized and intentionally heterogeneous collection of students who would share a core group of teachers" that monitor the students and make sure none slip through the cracks. Originally slated to start in the fall of 2017, the program began in the fall of 2018.''  These core groups, called hives, are composed of about 120 students who share 4 teachers in their core subject areas: Math 1 (or Advanced Math 1), Physics 1, English, and Ethnic Studies/Social Living. Students also get to choose two electives. "At the end of ninth grade, students then have the opportunity to rank one of the five learning communities at Berkeley High School for their 10th-12th grade education." Upon after the BHS lottery process, students are required to fulfill each learning community's unique academic requirements and are able to choose additional courses from individual departments, like African American Studies, Math, Performing and Visual Arts, Physical Education, Science and World Language. If students prefer a more flexible and individualized education, they have the option of Berkeley Independent Study (BIS) as an alternative to the traditional classroom environment.

Moving Forward
More ideas addressing the achievement gap include implementing an additional period strictly for advising so as to provide not just academic support and guidance with course selection, but social and emotional support as well--especially with regards post-graduation plans. One worry, however, is the fact that because academic disparities among racial and socioeconomic groups are established in elementary and middle school, these programs aimed at closing the achievement gap at BHS won't make that much of a difference. The argument is then made for elementary and middle schools to make similar efforts in order to reduce those disparities more early on. To add, the development of interactive feedback loops would give districts the potential to continuously measure effectiveness and then implement alterations or modifications to its programs. A 5-year reform by the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) stresses the importance of adequate professional development for teachers to ensure they are fully prepared to implement school-wide programs for positive change, including teachers being treated as active learners through trainings and workshops and being empowered as professionals by each other and teacher educators.

Independent ratings
''Berkeley High School has been rated by several independent organizations. It currently receives a rating of 8/10 by GreatSchools, which utilizes test score, college readiness, course offering, equity, and discipline data to evaluate schools. It receives a grade of A+ by Niche, which utilizes public data and user reviews.''

Departments, parent and student organizations

 * African American Studies Department
 * Academic Choice Advisory Council
 * Athletics: basketball, badminton, crew, cross country, football, women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse
 * BHS Athletic Fund
 * Computer Technology
 * ESL/ELL
 * English and World Language
 * History
 * JSA
 * Mathematics
 * Journalism, which produces the locally prominent school newspaper, the Berkeley High Jacket
 * Physical Education
 * PTSA
 * Science
 * Special Education
 * Visual and Performing Arts: Jazz Ensemble
 * Youth & Government

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