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County releases API figures 

The Alameda County Office of Education released Academic Performance Index statistics for the Berkeley Unified School District on Monday. 

The index, calculated school by school, is based on students’ performance on the SAT 9 test. This year, eight of 16 Berkeley schools made improvements over last year’s API, but only two, Cragmont and John Muir, improved enough to qualify for the Governor’s Performance Award. 

This year, the award will provide eligible schools with about $75 per student. Each school will decide how to use the money, subject to the Berkeley Board of Education’s approval.  

In order to qualify for the award, schools must hit overall performance targets, and targets set for racial and socio-economically disadvantaged subgroups. 

Foundation awards $165,000 in teacher grants 

The Berkeley Public Education Foundation awarded nearly $165,000 in grants to local teachers in a ceremony at the Haas clubhouse on the UC Berkeley campus Friday afternoon. 

The grants, awarded to teachers at every school in the district, will fund take-home books for first graders, fourth-grade field trips to Sierra Gold rush sites and family math nights, among other things. 

“These grants reward the many dedicated teachers who are thinking creatively about ways to teach better, and they let teachers and their students know this community supports all their best efforts,” said Carolyn Weinberger, chair of the foundation’s grants committee. 

The foundation has awarded grants to teachers every year since its inception in 1983. This year, the organization funded 226 of the 246 proposals submitted by Berkeley teachers. 

Students collect money for Afghan children 

Students from Berkeley High School’s Communications Arts and Sciences school-within-a-school will be collecting money in BHS classrooms this afternoon to fund youth programs in Afghanistan and provide relief for the families of Sept. 11 victims in New York City. 

The pupils collecting money are part of a “student action group,” one of several such groups formed at CAS in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Other action groups are focusing on research, poetry and art. 

Students will go from room to room during sixth period collecting funds. According to Rick Ayers, a CAS teacher, money for Afghan children will go to the United Nations Children’s Fund, and donations for American victims will go to the United Way. 

E-mail David Scharfenberg at scharfenberg@ berkeleydailyplanet.net with school news for “Class Notes,”appearing every Thursday.