Northlake Middle highlights reading, attendance and SEL gains; board adopts calendar and two policies

Northlake Middle School staff told the Berkeley School District 87 Board of Education on a school-improvement update that the school has increased reading and math benchmark attainment, expanded social-emotional learning (SEL) activities and sharply reduced chronic absenteeism.

The presentation, delivered by Northlake teachers and counselors and introduced by district staff, said reading-level proficiency rose from about 15% on Oct. 1 to 39% on the latest measure, and that 24 additional students are now at grade level in math on recent assessments. The school reported that 58% of students had already met or exceeded their annual target growth on MAP as of the day of the presentation; the building goal is 70% by spring testing. Presenters described classroom practices that supported the gains, including daily sustained independent reading (30 minutes at school plus time at home), schoolwide small-group conferencing cycles and a requirement that all math classes begin with 15 minutes of targeted small-group instruction.

Presenters outlined Northlake’s SEL work, including use of the Second Step curriculum, advisory circles three times weekly, Panorama and Alyssa’s Mission screening and a system of teacher and student referrals to counselors and the social worker. Staff said they held intentional community-building “circles” both as proactive SEL practice and as restorative responses after incidents; a district observer described a restorative circle that left participants “thankful, relieved and hopeful.” The school also described…