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<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red">PLEASE do not reply to
this email, contact Mark Coplan at <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:markcoplan@berkeley.net">markcoplan@berkeley.net</a><br>
</span></font></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">For
Immediate Release</span></b></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Thursday,
August 29, 2013</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Berkeley
Unified School District Shows Gains on the API and AYP</span></b></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Berkeley,
CA – August 29, 2013 - The California Department of Education
released the 2013 Accountability Progress Report today. This
annual report contains three sections: 1) the <b>state</b>
Academic Performance Index (API) measuring year-to-year growth
in academic achievement that a school or local educational
agency (LEA) has made, 2) <b>federal</b> Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) measuring how well a school meets minimum
performance targets, and 3) Four-year cohort graduation rate
data for the class of 2011–12.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Academic
Performance Index (API) - </span></b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Berkeley
Unified School District (BUSD) had an overall growth of 10
points resulting in a district-wide Academic Performance Index
(API) of 821. The greatest gains in academic achievement are
reflected in the 21-point increase in API for
Socio-Economically Disadvantaged students, 16-point increase
for African-American students, and 11-point growth for
Students with Disabilities (Special-Education students).
Further disaggregation by ethnicity shows smaller API
increases for Asian (3), Hispanic or Latino (6), and White (2)
students. In addition, thirteen out of fourteen of BUSD’s
elementary and middle schools continue to exceed the statewide
API target of 800 or above. Several district-wide initiatives
have contributed to the gains for these student groups
including the implementation of Response to Intervention and
Instruction (RTI<sup>2</sup>) in our K-8 schools, common
assessments in the high school, and focused professional
development for teachers. "During the transition to the Common
Core Standards, results varied by grade level, subject area
and student population, but the big picture reflects a focus
on growth over time, thus resulting in overall gains," said
Neil Smith, Assistant Superintendent.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Berkeley
High School’s API grew by 22-points last year, a total of
41-points over two years, for a school API of 757. In
addition, Berkeley High School made double-digit gains for
African-American (27), Hispanic or Latino (21)
Socio-Economically Disadvantaged students (24) and Students
with Disabilities (41). “We are encouraged by the improvements
in student performance that we see on these particular
measurements," said Principal Pasquale Scuderi. "We see these
gains in part as confirmation that the work we are doing
around curriculum alignment, lesson design, and school
culture, is moving us in a positive direction. These
improvements also strengthen our commitment to deepen and
expand our efforts, as while the news is no doubt positive, as
a professional community, we know that generating truly
equitable outcomes for all students on measures like these and
a host of others means that significant work remains."."</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) –</span></b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">AYP
targets become more difficult to reach as a higher percentage
of students are required to score proficient or advanced each
year. The AYP reports indicate that BUSD increased by 1.5%
for Mathematics to 71.6% and decreased by less than 1
percentage point in ELA to 68.7%. In Mathematics, Hispanic /
Latino and Socio-Economically Disadvantaged (SED) students
demonstrated the greatest gains with over 3% more students at
proficiency or higher. </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">Graduation
Rate – </span></b><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">The
Adequate Yearly Progress report includes a Cohort High-School
Graduation Rate. Berkeley Unified School District met all
graduation rate targets with more students in the Class of
2011-2012 graduating. The graduation rate increased from
79.62 the previous year to 82.99 showing a gain of over 3
points. In addition, all significant subgroups with the
exception of Students with Disabilities showed similar gains.
The greatest gains were made by Latino students with a 7.02
percentage point gain and English Learners with gains of more
than 5 points. Further sub-group analysis also shows gains
for Asian (3.04), White (2.13) and African-American (1.83)
students. While a difference between still remains between
the graduation rate of White students (89.83) and their
African-American (74.52) and Hispanic or Latino (82.02) peers,
the graduation rate for these sub-groups exceeds the state and
county rates and the gap between the two is far lower for
BUSD. </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">"The
long-standing disparity among student groups is our greatest
challenge,” stated new superintendent, Dr. Donald Evans.
“The new Common Core State Standards are designed to be both
rigorous and relevant for students, and the Local Control
Funding Formula will result in increased revenue for our
schools. I believe that both of these reforms have the
potential to have a significant impact on equitable outcomes
in student achievement. We want every student to experience
success, and graduate ready to enter college and/or the
workplace." </span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">The
BUSD Board of Education, District leadership, individual
school site leadership teams and staff, will continue to work
collaboratively to conduct a thorough analysis of test results
and other available data, because as new Superintendent Evans
opined, “Our work is far from finished. We now have to focus
targeted instruction and resources to the specific areas where
we know we can better serve our students.” A board
presentation on the most recent API, AYP, and graduation rate
data is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18, 2013.</span></p>
<p class="" style="line-height:13pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:'Bookman Old Style',serif">For
further information on the District and School API and AYP,
please go to: <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar/">http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ar/</a>
. </span></p>
</div>
-- <br>
Mark Coplan, Public Information Officer
<div>Berkeley Unified School District</div>
510-644-6320 Cell: 510-472-3811<br>
___<br>
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