A previous edition of the A+ News covered some of what's new with the Common Core math standards.  The Common Core is also effecting change in the teaching of literacy.  The Common Core Standards are based, in part, on the premise that non-fiction reading and writing are critical to strong literacy and language development.  Today's students must be able to engage with more complex language and non-fiction content than ever before. The Common Core Standards are structured to emphasize literacy and explicit academic language instruction in all subject areas. 

Teachers, literacy coaches, and principals are working across schools and in teams to articulate how the teaching of non-fiction reading and writing will be increased at all grade levels and in all subject areas in the coming school year.

Literacy coaches are already collecting and ordering new non-fiction instructional materials, teachers are beginning to collaborate on how to integrate more explicit teaching of academic language in subject area courses (History, Science, Math etc.), and report cards will be revised in the coming year to reflect the changing grade-level expectations.

You can also elevate the importance of non-fiction reading in your family!

• Model your own reading of non-fiction at home;
• Visit a museum and read the explanatory texts with your child(ren), or
• Encourage your child to read a how-to-manual and show you how to operate a device in your home. 

If you are a parent of a third or fourth grader at Emerson, Oxford, or Thousand Oaks, you may have heard your child talk about the "laptop carts" in use and/or the "pilot test" that happened in their classrooms this past week. One third-grader reflected on the experience saying, "We had to answer the question and then explain how we got to the answer.  We've been practicing using the computer and typing in class since a lot of us are still just using two fingers!"

The new Common Core State Standards will require a shift in the skills students are assessed on and how their learning is measured. The three Berkeley schools were chosen by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium to pilot the first practice version of new online tests that will replace the STAR tests in the Spring of 2015. 

With plans to fully implement these new standards in 2014-2015, this pilot allowed our teachers and students a chance to experience the basic functionality of the online test administration system, and provide feedback and data to work out kinks in implementation. Internally, teachers and administrators were able to gather information regarding the increasing demands for technology use by teachers and students, as well as the professional development that will be critical to a successful transition to the Common Core.

While our students gained experience and insight into the new test in preparation for full participation, there will be no achievement results from this pilot. We will, however, use the information gathered by students and teachers to inform our planning and implementation.

There is no shortage of talented actors at Berkeley High School.  Come out and support this year's Spring Musical: High School Musical.

Dates: Thurs. - Sat., May 1-3, and May 9-11
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston Way
Tickets at Door: $5/Student & Seniors; $10 General Admission

The ten applicants who applied to fill the open Board Director vacancy have been designated semi-finalists by the School Board. During a special School Board meeting on May 1 at 6:30 p.m. each candidate will be given 3 minutes to present their candidacy.  A 30 minute public comment period will be held prior to the candidate statements. The Board may choose to vote on a final candidate at this meeting or to allot additional presentation time to the May 8th meeting. The School Board intends to appoint the new Board Director no later than May 8th.

The ten candidates are: Ty Alper, Peter Bloomsburgh, Michael Bolgatz, Meleah Hall, Spencer Klein, Dan Lindheim, Satish Rao, Margit Roos-Collins, Julie Sinai, and Mark Zoidis.

Three members of the School Board and a delegation from Berkeley visited Hayward Unified School District this past Friday (April 26) as part of the final review of Dr. Donald Evan's candidacy for Superintendent.

The Board will conduct a follow-up debriefing on the visitation (April 29) and formalize its decision soon.

Through the Honor Roll School Program, California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) identifies and recognizes high performing, high poverty schools that are closing achievement gaps as well as those with honorable Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) proficiency.

Congratulations to the following Berkeley public school communities acknowledged as Honor Roll "Star Schools": Berkeley Arts Magnet, Jefferson, Malcolm X, Oxford, Rosa Parks, Longfellow and King.  Oxford Elementary School was also recognized as a STEM Honor Roll school with high performance in math and science.  More information here regarding CBEE.

Reminder:

Grades 2-8: May 6-13  

 

Make-ups for students absent from school during the test will be April 30 - May 3 for high school students, and May 14-17 for elementary and middle school students.