2021-2022 Strategic Impact Grants
Berkeley Public Schools Fund – Spring Round
|
Project, Grantee, & Award Amount |
Sphere of Influence |
Schools Fund Priority Funding Area(s) |
Project Description |
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Grading for Equity at King Middle School |
Middle School |
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The entire King faculty will engage in a guided, year-long Grading for Equity study of how their grading systems and practices, both classroom and school-wide, may be reinforcing predictable academic outcomes that fall along racial/income lines. The goal is to collectively redesign a more consistently equitable grading culture and practices moving forward. |
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Parent Principal Learning Circles |
District- wide |
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This project is designed to build the capacity of BUSD leaders and Black/African American parents to re-shape Berkeley public schools to better serve Black students. This project first extends the TK-8 Learning Circles that launched during the pandemic year with a year 2 focus on next steps/actions for school sites. Second, it launches the Learning Circles work for the high school community. |
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Berkeley’s Pathway to Achieve Credentialed Teachers (BPACT) Georgia Wood, |
District- wide |
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Berkeley’s Pathway to Achieve Credentialed Teachers (BPACT) is the district’s “classified to credentialed” pathway which supports BUSD classified staff who are working toward a teaching credential in “hard-to-fill” positions (specifically, STEM fields or Special Education). This grant supports BPACT “Fellows” education-related expenses beyond tuition (i.e. laptops, parking fees, etc.). |
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Helping Struggling Students do a Math 180 |
Middle School |
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Willard Middle School was awarded funds to purchase and launch a new math intervention program, Math 180, for math students furthest below grade-level proficiency. Willard’s math intervention team commits to implement Math 180 to fidelity so that the other 2 Middle Schools in BUSD may consider using the program the following year, based on student results. |
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Grading for Equity in Middle School Math
|
Middle Schools |
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This project funds 7 experienced math teacher-leaders from all 3 middle schools to dive deeply into a pilot of the research-based Grading for Equity program. These teacher-leaders will share their findings during and following their pilot year with math departments at all 3 sites, for consideration of future adoption. |
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IRISE Writing Support Groups |
High Schools |
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RISE is an independent nonprofit that has, for years, run a wrap-around services and support program at Berkeley High and Berkeley Tech Academy for some of the district’s highest needs minority high school students. This grant helps launch IRISE, a new therapeutic writing class embedded in RISE. IRISE will engage students in exploring, writing, and publishing about current issues impacting their lives. |
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Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) Conference & Collaboration for Special Education Teachers Tracey Iglehart, |
Elem Schools |
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This project extends BUSD’s 5-year tradition of math professional development with the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) to the Special Education teachers who often receive limited math training. Grant funds will support 22 Special Education and Intervention teachers in attending (and collaborating around) five SVMI “Meetings” throughout the school year. |
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Support Groups at CAS @ Berkeley High (Communications Arts & Sciences) $12,870 |
High School |
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CAS (Communication Arts & Sciences) is a Small Learning Community (SLC) at Berkeley High. CAS piloted several affinity-based support groups during this pandemic year. This grant will continue and extend these support groups into ’21-22 with an emphasis on training group facilitators in trauma-informed practices and documenting support group implementation to share with other SLCs at Berkeley High the following year. |
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WritersCoach Connection (WCC) at Longfellow |
Middle School |
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This past pandemic year, the Berkeley Public Schools Fund supported 7th and 8th graders at Longfellow to participate in the WritersCoach Connection program. WCC’s program runs 10 weeks of one-on-one writing coaching. Coaching occurs during school hours (English class) and is led by trained, caring, community volunteers. Looking to the ’21-22 school year, BUSD is paying WritersCoach program fees for 8th graders across all 3 middle schools. This Schools Fund grant will pay for the continuation of the 7th grade cohort at Longfellow. |
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Chromebooks for Multilingual Program Students @ Berkeley High |
High Schools |
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This project brings digital equity to students in Berkeley High’s Multilingual Program (formerly known as English Learner Newcomer Program) by giving them use-at-home Chromebooks for the ’21-22 school year. Ongoing tech support will be provided by the BHS Tech Team and MLP staff will work to support families in accessing free home internet benefits for qualifying families. The Schools Fund is partnering with the Berkeley High Development Group to complete this funding request. |
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Playground Kings Summer Camp Scholarships |
Elem-aged |
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Playground Kings Camp (PGK) is a summer camp created by LEARNS Instructional Tech Greg Williams and Oxford Instructional Assistant Brandon Luckey (both BHS grads). PGK serves primarily high needs Thousand Oaks and Oxford students. This grant will provide 9 full-summer scholarships to the PGK summer camp, which aims to empower youth and encourage them to be positive forces for helping the planet. |
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Preschool Family Newsletter & Kindergarten Readiness Activities |
Pre- schools |
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This grant funds the development of a bilingual monthly preschool newsletter for the parents/caregivers of all 3 BUSD preschools. Each monthly newsletter will be designed around take-home, hands-on kindergarten readiness activities that students can engage in with their families. |