CPA Support Services
Our student support network aims to help all students make the most of their time while in CPA. Given our smaller learning environment, we are able to make an honest effort to address the individual needs of each student. There are four major areas of service:
Academic Tutoring
We have academic tutoring support for all classes. Help is tailored to the needs of each individual student. Perodically, staff has grade level meetings to identify those students who are having problems with a course. A subsequent one-on-one meeting is set up to find out what the problem is and, then usually, a tutor is assigned. We use the proximity of UC Berkeley to obtain first rate college students for help. If a student is not in too much academic trouble, they usually meet with their tutor once a week, after-school on Tuesdays. However, if the problems are of a more serious nature, a more ambitious course of action is taken.
Personal and Career Counseling
Our school counselor is Ms Caren Ohlson. She is located in H215 and can help with a myriad of problems including scheduling. Click here for her coordinates. In all of our core english/history classes, we have an advisory curriculum where we take the time to talk to our students about achievement and the different anxieties/problems associated with it. We also discuss possible careers and some of the associated problems as well as social and individual problems associated with high school. We have a mentor program where again, we use the largess of UC Berkeley college students. We also have a partnership with the Berkeley High School on-campus health center which gives our students access to a variety of health benefits.
College Counseling
CP Academy would like all of our students to go to college. It is one of the best ways to ensure our children will acquire the proper tools to live life on their terms. It is very important to understand the college preparation/application/admission process for this to happen. We are a college preparatory small school. We look at college as a two stage process. First, you must get accepted to the college of your choice, and second, you must find the money to go. We consider a successful application as a weighted sum of good grades, good standardized test scores, great recommendations and at least one extra-curricular activity. As soon as our students are freshmen, we help them with all aspects of applying to the to the college of their choice. We help them explore possible career choices through workshops and class time; we monitor their four-year plan so that they have the required courses, and we have a class that seniors take to deal with the mechanics of applying to the college of their choice. Last but not least, we interface with the College and Career Counseling Center at BHS to ensure that our students receive all of the benefits that Berkeley High has to offer. We also have a grade by grade guide for the college application process developed by the BHS College and Career Center as well as a video of the BHS College Advisor, Ilene Abrams talking about all aspects of the college application process. This video was filmed at the college info session sponsored by the Parent Council of CP Academy in March of 2007.
Computer Lab email and internet access
Flora Russ has made available her room of H202 for CPA students to have computer access (internet and email) before the start of school, as well as after school is over. Students, please fill out a "Student Stay in Touch" form to receive timely email from CP Academy.
Participation in Conferences and Field Trips
With our internships and senior projects, we have found that significant learning can take place off campus as
well as on. In addition, CPA also sponsors a number of innovative
field trips. Examples include an overnight stay in the Marin
Headlands
for marine life
analysis and The Ropes Course for team development. This year,
while reading Their Eyes
Were
Watching God, the juniors were able to attend The Berkeley
Rep to see another Zora Neal Hurston play, Polk County. The live
action gave the
students a tremendous appreciation for her use of the vernacular and
for the strength of the culture she sought to represent in her
stories. Students also
regularly take part in
local, regional and national conferences - the most recent being the
2005 Alameda County Health Conference.For general information about Berkeley High School please click here; for information about The Berkeley High School PTSA please click here.