Masha Albrecht Published in the "Mathematics Teacher"

Berkeley High School's own Masha Albrecht recently had a letter published in the December/January issue of "Mathematics Teacher".  Masha's letter praised MT for including letters from educators raising the issue of political influence on pedagogy. Additionally, she expressed concern about a number of missed opportunities for a more public discussion of topics ranging from educational funding, the privatization of education, the impact of standardized testing, and the new math standards.

Masha currently teaches Algebra 1B and AP Calculus. She is the author or co-author on three books including: 1) Navigating Through Measurement In Grades 9-12 (Principles and Standards For School Mathematics Navigations Series, 2) Discovering Geometry: With the Geometer's Sketchpad, and 3) SIMMS Integrated Mathematics: A Modeling Approach Technology Level 4

Keeping Academic Language in the Driver's Seat

John Becker modeling his compare-contrast lesson.

In my 14 years at Berkeley High, I have to say I have never seen a school-wide focus implemented with such consistency and fidelity as our efforts with academic language instruction.   Dave and I are so impressed with the level of passion and determination we have seen growing across learning communities and departments in this area.  From 20 new inductees into the Constructing Meaning program, to teachers consistently writing good learning/language objectives, to our improved CAHSEE results from last March - the evidence is everywhere that this focus is working for teachers and students.

The other day, I happened upon an excited Matt Carton who was teaching a lesson on style.  Now, those who have seen Mr. Carton in action know that excitement is not an unusual state for his classroom.  To say the man is passionate about his subject is an understatement.  But on this day, Matt was trying something new that he learned from his work with Heidi Ramirez-Weber, Tamara Friedman, and Heather Tugwell.  And I could tell that he was genuinely thrilled about the potential for student learning that was taking place.   I saw John Becker similarly thrilled the other day when he was teaching a lesson on comparison-contrast.   This is professional development - and it is academic language, but it's not just for English teachers.

Recently, Monique DeBrito Guedes gave a presentation to Academic Choice teachers on how she has used principles of academic language instruction in her science classes.   Sam Rosen, Aaron Glimme, and Nick Pleskac created templates for using academic language in speaking and writing about science, and teachers throughout the school have created posters of these for their own classrooms.  These and other curriculum ideas are shared in your google drive.

If you have any stories, curriculum or photos about academic language in action, please send them my way.  If you feel you have a good example of a learning objective, take a picture of your board and send that to me too.  We need to share these examples so that teachers can continue to grow and students can continue to develop these important skills.  Keep up the great work, BHS teachers!

"What I did this summer...."

Berkeley High Teachers continue to learn throughout the summer:

Allen Boltz conducted research to help improve the Berkeley Darfur Stove through the Berkeley National Laboratory.

Monique de Brito Guedes spent the summer working with the  HydroEcological Engineering Advanced Decision Support (HEADS) which develops models to manage wetlands in the San Joaquin Basin of California.

Principles of Instruction
Research-Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know

By Barak Rosenshine
This article presents 10 research-based principles of instruction, along with suggestions for classroom prac- tice. These principles come from three sources: (a) research in cognitive science, (b) research on master
teachers, and (c) research on cognitive supports. Each is briefly explained below.
A: Research in cognitive science: This research focuses on how our brains acquire and use information. This cognitive research also provides suggestions on how we might overcome the limita- tions of our working memory (i.e., the mental “space” in which thinking occurs) when learning new material.
B: Research on the classroom practices of master teachers: Mas- ter teachers are those teachers whose classrooms made the high- est gains on achievement tests. In a series of studies, a wide range of teachers were observed as they taught, and the investigators coded how they presented new material, how and whether they checked for student understanding, the types of support they provided to their students, and a number of other instructional activities. By also gathering student achievement data, research- ers were able to identify the ways in which the more and less effec- tive teachers differed.
read the rest of the article here.

Berkeley High Teacher/Activities Director Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

by Mark Coplan

Published in A+ News on May 9, 2012

Berkeley High School’s Student Activities Director Chris Young has won the “Distinguished Award in Teaching” offered by the Fulbright Program within the U.S. Department of State.
To win the award the educator must have at least five years teaching experience and a Master’s in Education.  Twelve educators from the U.S. are selected every year to travel abroad and twelve from abroad are selected to come to the US.  Each one proposes a three to six month educational action research project.  Mr. Young will be funded for a six month project of his design in Argentina from March to August, 2013.
Listen to a Flip Video of Chris Young explaining his plans.

BHS Student Activities Director with Sophomore Leaders

According to Chris, “I will be doing research on ‘Youth Learning and Leadership through Guided Action Research in Community Settings’.  In other words, I will be exploring how to most effectively help young people develop academic skills and social leadership abilities through their own self-developed social change projects that address issues or problems in their local to global community.”
Chris started teaching at Berkeley High School as a social studies teacher in 2004 and was one of the lead designers of BIHS and its first lead teacher in 2006-2007. After that he did informal research on peace education in South America in 2008 and helped evaluate and develop a joint microfinance-forest conservation project in Uganda in 2009 before returning to BHS as Director of Student Activities for the 2009-2010 school year.

Congratulations, Chris!  We are proud of you!

A Focus on Linking Assessment to Instruction at Berkeley High

We invite you to share your thoughts on the following position paper authored by BHS PD Leads. Please use the comment section below.  Anonymous or unprofessional comments will be deleted.

A Focus on Linking Assessment to Instruction at Berkeley High: 

Foundational Principles

Note: Some terms within this document require definition so that everyone is using them the same way.  Please see the BHS Assessment Glossary here.

The 2012-13 PD Calendar offers a structure that supports learning communities and departments in a focus on linking the results of assessment to instruction.  This calendar has been approved by both the PD Leaders Team and our Learning Community Leadership Team.  Much of the work of the PD Leads team in 2011-12 has focused on the rationale and methods used for this purpose as presented in Paul Bambrick-Santoyo’s Driven by Data.   In alignment with the Berkeley High School Action Plan, WASC visiting team recommendations, the 2020 Vision for Berkeley’s Children and Youth, and evidence-based practices that demonstrate high-leverage professional development experiences, the Professional Development Leadership team supports the following concerns and priorities to ensure that the focus is implemented effectively:

Need for Coherence

1.  As public school employees, we recognize our responsibility to teach to a common set of outcomes, known as the state standards.  However, we also recognize the problems inherent in the current standards, including their breadth and number.  We are hopeful that the new Common Core State Standards will address some of these issues.

2.  The art of teaching should be a combination of teacher skill, responsive pedagogy, and school goals. Teachers should have a wide range of tools which they can effectively use  to promote student learning.  Strong assessment skills need to be one of these tools.

Equity for our Diverse Student Body

3.   Calibrating instruction around common outcomes supports high standards for all students and supports our goal of a more equitable school.   Access to a curriculum aligned with the standards is a powerful equity strategy.  We believe that all students, in every classroom at Berkeley High, should be provided standards-based instruction.

4.  However, teachers must also be allowed a certain degree of latitude to respond to the challenges of our diverse student body.   Because it is also the responsibility of the teacher to address remediation, differentiation, and significant “teachable moments,” it must be understood that there are times when lessons must be tailored to meet the needs of the students, rather than solely driven by the standards. 

Fostering a Growth-Based Model

5.  Common formative (pre-, interim) and summative (final) assessments can be powerful tools for instructors to adjust instruction in order to meet students' learning needs. Supported by a strong professional learning community, these tools can highlight effective practices, identify those (students and teachers) in need of additional support, and help target instruction towards student progress on outcomes. A growth-based assessment model lets us be proud of our students’ efforts and see results in the same school year, rather than wait for scores after our students have moved on.

6.  Assessments are most effective when they support the identification of strengths and weaknesses and allow for teacher monitoring of student growth towards outcomes.

No Connection to Evaluation

7.  Data from common pre-, interim, and summative assessments should NEVER be used to evaluate teachers. Doing so will undermine any attempts to expand our use of what can be a powerful teaching and professional growth tool.

8.  Using a single summative assessment (common or not) is not an effective practice. Using data from a single summative common assessment to evaluate a student without having done a pre-assessment cannot be linked to meaningful feedback toward student growth or the effectiveness of teaching practices.

9.  Standard 5 of the California Standard for the Teaching Profession (CTSP) emphasizes how a teacher uses assessment and not the results of assessments themselves. We strongly support that teacher evaluations must recognize this critical distinction. This standard addresses teachers’ knowledge of different types of assessments, as well as how teachers use assessment data to inform instruction, involve students in their own assessment, and provide their students meaningful and timely feedback.

10.   This plan promotes autonomy by encouraging each learning community to develop consistent internal assessments that meet its goals and students’ needs.  These will be used in concert with common school-wide assessments.  This is a critical part of the plan, as too many variables in the master schedule prevent a balanced distribution of students’ academic skills to use single summative or CST assessment information to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching practices. 

We believe this pre-interim- post assessment inquiry cycle will be an ongoing process, encouraging reflection and enhancing opportunities for meaningful collaboration among staff.  By taking ownership of this process, teachers will ensure that its impact is on student achievement, where it belongs.

Dave Stevens and Susannah Bell, School-wide PD Co-Coordinators

Matt Carton, Angie Dean and Ben Sanoff, AC PD Leads

Mat Glaser, AHA PD Lead                          

Allen Boltz, AMPS PD Lead                                             

Matt Meyer and Nick Pleskac, BIHS PD Leads                    

Leah Katz, CAS PD Lead                                   

Andy Peck, Green Academy PD Lead 
Rachel Chodorow-Reich, LTEL Coordinator

Heidi Ramirez-Weber EL Newcomer PD Lead                                  

Amy Burke, Math PD Lead

Glenn Wolkenfeld, Science PD Lead

Eileen Jacobs, Special Ed. PD Lead

Tamara Friedman, World Language PD Lead

Below is a letter from Pasquale Scuderi outlining his support for voting in support of our current 8 days of advisory.  Please provide your own thoughts in the comments section below.

Rules for commenting: 
-All comments must include your name. Anonymous comments will be deleted.
-This is a forum for professional discourse.  We encourage a healthy debate but inappropriate language or personal attacks will result in comments being deleted.
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Colleagues:

Over the past two years, we have been implementing an advisory program as a means to accomplish what I believe are some very important goals for our students.  As a strategy, advisory has supported us in making sure that for the first time ever at BHS that all students have had the opportunity to sit down with an adult and their peers to consider their academic progress towards CSU-UC eligibility, post-secondary plans, course selection, and get and give advice across grade levels.

On Monday morning the entire BHS staff will gather in the library at 8:00 a.m. sharp to vote on advisory for the 12–13 school year. BFT will facilitate that vote

The current proposal jointly submitted by the teacher leadership and the administrative team is for a continuation of eight (8) days of advisory in the 2012-2013 school year.

I have often expressed my support and belief in both the current program and future potential of the advisory program here at Berkeley High School and so I will attempt to be brief in summarizing why I believe the current program should continue. (moved next two paragraphs to the end)

In the long term, Advisory is a strategy to impact four specific outcomes:

1.    Increase UC-CSU eligibility by helping students plan and monitor their academic progress.

2.    Increase graduation rates through increased personalization and academic progress monitoring and support.

3.    Increased rates of post-secondary education and training through goals 1 and 2 above as well as supporting students to take a multi-year look towards their futures each year.

4.    Increased personalization as a goal in and of itself. We know that a single strong relationship with an adult can have significant impact on a student’s future.

In addition to monitoring the annual goals of advisory, we will continue to measure progress on the long-range outcomes. 

The primary reason I continue to believe in our current program and its future promise and potential is that it offers a systemic rather than a fragmented way to convey essential information on post-secondary planning to all of our students regardless of their background, socioeconomic status, or level of academic readiness.

Depending on pockets or isolated programs in the school to get students and families the information they require and help them conduct the self-analysis and planning they are now getting in the advisory program is a fragmented strategy. With the advisory program, all of our kids get a guaranteed channel of access to the information and outcomes.  This is a systemic strategy, one with far more potential in terms of equity. 

Thus far, our program has given all students at BHS the opportunity to create an academic five-year plan. The program has also allowed us to reach out and ensure for the first time ever that all BHS students have the opportunity to understand A–G requirements, and to identify and analyze their progress towards meeting those requirements. The advisory program has also continued to calendar an annual designated time and place for students to go through the course catalog with an adult, and to discuss with that adult and their peers, their class choices for the following year. The program provides a space where students have a designated adult who can check in with them on a monthly basis, thus increasing personalization and furthering our efforts to have each of our students connected to at least one adult on campus.

As we did last year, we will incorporate the feedback we receive from surveys and individual teacher input into the design of the advisory lessons for 2012-13 and will continue to be mindful that our stated outcomes and objectives are properly designed and aligned with current capacities in mind. 

While we are realistic about the impact that eight advisory sessions can have, I believe that with fidelity of implementation, we will see measurable benefits. However limited an impact advisory can have in so few meetings, it does play a role in helping BHS become more comprehensive and confident in its ability to explicitly articulate where it has generated growth for students as well as be a welcoming, caring, and personalized place where all students stay connected.

In 2012-13, advisory will remain focused on four long-term school-wide measurable outcomes: increased personalization, increase graduation rates, increased UC/CSU eligibility and increased rates of post-secondary education and training.

As you consider and discuss your vote on advisory over the next few days please keep in mind that we are asking for your vote in support of not just advisory as a program, but to an ongoing commitment to making sure that a structure for communicating post-secondary planning, post-secondary requirements, and personalized connections to staff exists for all students on campus.

Pasquale Scuderi