Berkeley's Most Improved Schools May Have a Lesson to Teach

The Berkeley Unified School District is . And while strides have been made across the board in the last few years, some Berkeley schools stand out from the crowd. 

After , the school board discussed looking to schools that were showing the most improvement and finding ways to emulate their success. 

"It's really about having teachers walk in to the classroom and have a high expectation for every student," said Debbi D'Angelo, Director of Evaluation and Assessment. 

Here are a few of the schools that caught the district's attention, according to D'Angelo:

 hit over 900 points on the API for the first time in 2010-11, making it the highest scoring school in the district. Jefferson also has the highest API score for socio-economically disadvantaged students.

 has the second highest API score in the district, and the highest API score for African American students at schools with a numerically significant subgroup.

 has one of the highest API scores for African American and socio-economically disadvantaged students in the district.

 met all of its test score targets for the first time in 2010-11, showing marked improvement from the previous year.

 met its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets for the first time. 

 also met its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets for the first time. 

Which schools, programs and people do you think the Berkeley Unified School District should look to for advice? Let us know in the comments.