Berkeley Community Opposed to Nov. 2009 Berkeley High School Redesign Schedule

Regarding the latest Berkeley High School Redesign Schedule proposal presented to the Berkeley High community by Principal Jim Slemp in November 2009 as an undated Schedule Design document titled Schedule Design Goals/Proposed Bell Schedules:

We, the undersigned parents, guardians, students, and community members in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) care deeply about academic achievement for all Berkeley High School students, and we care about closing the achievement gap. But we do not support the plan described in this Schedule Design document that will be presented to the Berkeley High School Governance Council on November 16, 2009 and subsequently subject to vote by the Berkeley School Board.

If the Schedule Design plan is implemented, academic instructional time will be reduced by 17\% to 37\% (depending on the bell schedule) in core subjects. We feel that this is too severe a drop in academic class time. We do not favor reducing the instructional time in year-long courses to two trimesters, nor do we support the elimination of two full-period science labs per week. We do not favor less academic instructional time for the students of Berkeley High School.

In addition, the Schedule Design recommendation that Berkeley High switch from the current semester schedule to a trimester schedule poses many practical and pedagogical problems. Most significantly, current year-long core academic classes would be taught in two trimesters (possibly not consecutive). Reduced instructional time and lack of teacher and/or curriculum continuity would result.

We do not support a plan in which any students academic instructional time is significantly reducedup to 37\%. Research shows that increased instructional time, not less, produces higher student achievement.
We think that different teachers for different trimesters of the same course will reduce, not increase, personalization.
We think that discontinuous trimesters of a course will negatively affect all students, particularly those who struggle at the bottom of the achievement gap.

We strongly urge the Berkeley High School Governance Council and the Berkeley School Board to reject the Schedule Design plan. These changes will shape Berkeley High for years to come. We urge you to reject the Schedule Design as it now stands, and any future plans or schedule designs that reduce academic instructional time.