Program Improvement | Berkeley Unified School District

Our District receives Federal funding (called Title I) on the condition that we adhere to the state standards in identifying for each grade level what a child should know and be able to do in English-Language Arts and Mathematics. In order to measure Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a state test is given each year to determine the percentage of students scoring at the “proficient’ or “advanced” level school wide and in each subgroup of students at each school. Additionally, 95% of the students in each school and in each subgroup must be tested. California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) scores and high school graduation rates are also measures of AYP. The Federal Government, under the No-Child-Left-Behind legislation, has set the expectation that all students in our country will reach “proficient” by the year 2014. In order to reach that goal, there are required annual benchmarks that each school must meet for students and their subgroups.

Like many California public schools, some Berkeley schools are identified as program improvement (PI) because a subgroup or subgroups did not meet participation or achievement targets. A subgroup is defined as “50 or more students who make up at least 15 percent of the total population.” Subgroups include English language learners (students who grew up speaking a language other than English), socio-economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and all students grouped by race/ethnicity.

Supplemental Educational Services General Application (bilingue)
Provider Matrix

As the targets for achievement rise significantly each year until 2014, more and more California schools are being identified each year as PI. The letter explaining this is posted below for each PI school.

Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School