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On Feb. 21, WriterCoach Connection at Berkeley, the UC/Berkeley student organization representing WCC, hosted a symposium on the achievement gap, a challenge that has long-plagued public education and continues to elude facile solutions. 

"Achievement gap" refers to the disparities in academic achievement among different groups of students. Across the U.S., gaps in academic achievement persist between ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and genders. These gaps are one of the most pressing education-policy challenges that schools currently face, and directly affect the future of our nation. How did these gaps originate, and how can we bridge them? 

The symposium's three panelists discussed various aspects of literacy, the literacy landscape in local school districts, and the nature of instruction in California secondary schools, and fielded a lively set of questions from the audience after their presentations. The panelists included:

     * Carrie Donovan - Director of BUILD (Berkeley United in Literacy Development), UC Berkeley 
     * Andrew Dubin - Professor, Graduate College of Education, San Francisco State University 
     * Stephanie Sisk-Hilton - Professor, Graduate College of Education, San Francisco State University

The Achievement Gap Symposium was co-sponsored by WriterCoach Connection at Berkeley, the Moffitt Library, and the Free Speech Movement Café. We are indebted for an enlightening evening to our distinguished panelists; to Heather Thams, Reference and Instruction Librarian at UC Berkeley; to our WCC UC Bonner Leader, Caitlin Carnes; and to WCCB Chairperson Farah Kader and her hard-working and dedicated student colleagues.

WriterCoach Connection is getting bigger again in West Contra Costa County next fall, with a pilot program at Richmond High School. As part of its expanding role in West County, Community Alliance for Learning, the nonprofit parent of WriterCoach Connection, is participating in a range of education initiatives with the school district and with other nonprofit organizations. 

One of those initiatives in an active role in the new West County College Access Network (WCCAN), a broad consortium of organizations and programs brought together by the West Contra Costa Public Education Fund (The Ed. Fund). WCCAN is formulating a variety of strategies to support improved access to post-secondary education for West County students.

Because of CAFL's expanding role in West County, WCC volunteers have opportunties to offer direct help to West County students beyond writer coaching. Last year, several of our coaches attended a Scholar's Workshop, sponsored by The Ed. Fund, at which we helped students craft personal statements in support of scholarships from donors. This year, we'll be inviting our coaches to help students prepare personal statements for college applications at the District's Getting Ready for College and Career Conference on Saturday, March 17.

Our presence in West Contra Costa County was a long time coming and it means a great deal to us. We relish the opportunity to engage West County students and teachers in a variety of productive ways.

First Person Singular, the renowned literary series, is once again hosting a benefit for WriterCoach Connection, and it'll be here before we know it, on Feb. 26.

Following last year's smash February fundraiser (titled "I'm with Cupid") on behalf of WCC at Pegasus Books on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, Pegasus chieftain Joe Christiano will team up again with vocalist Theresa Kelly and pianist Joshua Raoul Brady and, this year, with The All-a-Quiver Chorus for "I'm with Cupid 2: New Wave Pleasures and Post-Punk Paens." 

The fun will fill the upstairs parish hall of St. Alban's Church in Albany starting at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26. The parish hall is adjacent to St. Alban's Church at 1501 Washington Street (a block from Solano Avenue) in Albany. This space is renowned for its superb accoustics and there will be more room at this year's First Person Singular fundraiser for WCC, with plenty of seating. Suggested donation to WCC will be $10.

We're so grateful to First Person Singular and to St. Alban's for offering us this gracious Valentine once again. We hope you'll check out the full calendar of monthly First Person Singular events  and that you'll visit any or all of the three Pegasus locations: 5560 College Avenue in Oakland, or 2349 Shattuck Avenue and 1855 Solano Avenue in Berkeley. Meantime, of course, we hope to see you for "I'm with Cupid 2" on Feb. 26!