Berkeley High -- BIHS

This is just a huge topic and you will get as many answers as there are students in the program. I believe that you can find many past posts that will cover this topic if you search BPN. Personally, we have two kids in BIHS, a senior and a sophomore, and it has been a good experience for both of them. They have had challenging and interesting classes, appreciate and have benefitted from the international perspective offered in many classes, have not had any issues with the distribution requirements and have thrived. Students are able to take different levels of classes in math, science and language. The school is working hard to attract and, more importantly retain, students of color. I have heard that bubbling the IB requirements and jazz and/or orchestra and still get the IB Diploma can be a challenge. That was not an issue for my kids. They have both participated in sports in and out of school as well as other time-intensive BHS activities. Each student will vary of course in how much they can and want to handle in terms of level of courses and additional activities. There are a few teachers that have been a bummer - in English, math (which is not just a BIHS issues) and one in Spanish. This problem transcends anything particular to BIHS. On the other hand, they have also had some just fantastic teachers in science and the humanities. As you ask around you will hear countless answers. Know your kid, look at the online data and know each person will have their own experience. It has been quite good for my kids.