School Board Meeting Tonight: New Charter School, Drop-Out Rates and More

Wednesday's night's school board meeting will include a public hearing to consider the re-submitted petition from a charter school operator called Integrity Educational Center (IEC). The application from IEC was denied by the school board in June. 

The board is not expected to take any action on the charter school proposal until the Oct. 12 school board meeting. 

The meeting will also include a report from Debbi D'Angelo, BUSD's Director of Evaluation and Assessment, presenting the 2009-10 graduation and drop-out rates. The new data is the first to be calculated based on four-year cohort information for students grades nine through twelve, and "should not be compared to any rates from previous years because it is based on a different method of calculation," according to the report included in the meeting agenda packet. 

The new data released by the California Department of Education (CDE) show that Berkeley Unified had an 81.1 percent graduation rate, excelling beyond the 74.4 percent State-wide and 74.7 percent County-wide graduation rates. 

African American students are graduating at a higher rate in Berkeley's schools compared to the county and state rates, with 75.8 percent of Berkeley's African American students completing high school compared to 55.3 percent in Alameda County and 59 percent in California. Berkeley's Hispanic students are also surpassing state and county averages, with 81.5 percent graduating in 2009-10 compared to 65.1 percent countywide and 67.7 percent statewide. 

BUSD's drop-out rates tell a similar story, with fewer Berkeley students dropping out of school than the county and state averages. Although the drop-out rate for African American students is higher than the district's overall rate, the number of Hispanic students dropping out is lower. 

Berkeley Patch will be attending the school board meeting, with more updates to follow. Click on "interested in a follow-up to this article?" below, or follow Berkeley Patch on Facebook and Twitter.