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Alameda County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
Smart Voter

End the Fake Lottery at Berkeley High

By David Baggins

Candidate for School Director; City of Berkeley

This information is provided by the candidate
Berkeley High currently runs a fixed lottery based on neighborhood to place students. A city as bright as Berkeley surely can construct a more beneficial and less offensive system.
Children respond to challenges. It is much better to set up the conditions that allow a child to earn the right to high school placement than run a stacked lottery system that mocks both achievement and fairness. Surely we can achieve the level of administrative competence that allows programs to grow and shrink according to student preference. Student interest rather than administrative convenience should be the driving value.

I propose that every eighth grade child in the public school be allowed his or her first choice of schools in Berkeley High if all classes are passed with a grade of "C" and all state exams are passed with a score at least of "basic".

This encourages all of the desirable behaviors. Berkeley residents are encouraged to choose public school. Middle schools kids are rewarded for effort and achievement. Rewards are linked to accomplishment rather than lottery or special privilege.

Students who are entering the system or who do not achieve these standards are sent to private conference. The first priority is to determine if the student is entitled to district service. If not, the achievement gap is reduced by referring the parent to the appropriate home district. For decades the district has tried to reduce the achievement gap without success. A valid registration system for students entering Berkeley High should achieve previously elusive results.

If the student is entitled to service and is low achieving, the conference tries to ascertain with the parent the causes of low achievement. With a councilor the student and parent then co-choose a school. The councilor represents the district in assuring than no school become over-burdened with low achieving students.

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ca/alm Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 14, 2006 22:41
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