About BERK12

Greater Efficiencies | Greater Access, Opportunity, and Equity | Greater Effectiveness

We bring school and community partners together

Nonprofit
Monthly Meetings
Focus on K-12

Our Mission

Berkshire Educational Resources K-12 (BERK12) brings together districts and community partners to ensure access to high-quality educational experiences across Western Massachusetts.

Our mission is to support Berkshire County school districts and educators by collaboratively offering solutions to short and long-term issues, in order to promote high quality public education, which all children deserve, regardless of background or circumstance.

Pediatric Same-Day, Weekend Sick Visits, Chicago, IL

Where We're Going

Our mission may have changed, but our goals have not. We have always viewed our role in helping schools succeed across the region as one of helping, not directing. Now we’re expanding the way we help – we are becoming doers as well as helpers.

The environment the COVID-19 pandemic created introduced new challenges that we were uniquely positioned to address in a more active manner. We created the Berkshire Remote Learning Initiative to ensure equitable access to high quality online/remote learning for students across the Berkshires during times when they could not be in a classroom. We developed the Portrait of a Graduate that is being adopted in the region - customized for participating districts based on their unique populations - to help them map out how high school students can achieve success beyond school walls.

Based on those experiences and the work we continue to do, we are now in a position to do even more. The actions of BERK12 will now center around these areas:

Research towards Partnerships
Collaborative Projects
Professional Development
Networking and Advocacy

In the past, our primary focus was on regionalization across Berkshire County to help meet the challenges in the cost of education, so that teachers, staff, and administrators could focus on delivering the best available educational opportunities to our students. While some of our research will continue to support districts seeking regionalization, we are opening the resources we’ve developed to all, especially those in Berkshire County, so that school districts can use the knowledge we have to make the best decisions for their districts. Our continuing mission will be to provide research and organizational assistance to single and collaborating districts to help them address public education needs.

Our Vision: Why We Exist

In light of declining enrollment and stretched resources (people and dollars), we believe that connecting partners is imperative to improving student outcomes and the social, cultural, and economic conditions throughout Berkshire County.

We have always believed that our schools are precious community assets. We further believe that markedly improving the educational programming and opportunities for all Berkshire County students is the key to revitalizing the social, cultural, and economic conditions throughout Berkshire County.

We believe that every Berkshire child deserves a high-quality PK-12 education.

We believe that strengthening our public schools is essential for:

Raising the college attendance of all aspiring Berkshire students
Providing students with meaningful vocational and career-preparatory experiences
Ensuring that our students can succeed no matter what path they choose after high school

We seek to increase district capacity to ensure all children are provided with a broad array of high-quality and developmentally-appropriate educational opportunities that will enable them to successfully complete post-secondary degrees and/or become productive members of the workforce and citizens in a democratic society.

Our mission mobilizes the energies and talents of local communities to develop the innovative, sustainable, place-based solutions the Berkshires need to advance educational excellence for all students across our region.

Our mission and vision in action are ongoing, starting with the Portrait of a Graduate and the Berkshire Remote Learning Initiative (BRLI).

Current 2020 efforts are focused on research, planning, and modeling related to educational quality and finance, as we conduct public outreach and engagement. Additional detail can be found by linking to subcommittee efforts, click here to learn more.

Get to Know Us

Why We Exist
Over at least the last 20 years, Berkshire County public school districts have been faced with the following challenges:
- A sharp decline in student enrollment,
- Rising operational costs (i.e. benefits, special education, technology, unfunded mandates, deferred maintenance),
- Declining/flat revenues leading to additional financial burden to towns and municipalities, with some at or approaching their levy ceiling,
- Reductions in the diversity and range of educational programs and supports available to students in response to rising costs that are outpacing state aid and local contributions.
BCETF envisions the Berkshire County public school system as exemplifying both excellence and equity in 21st century education through:
- High quality delivery of academic services
- Rich programs offering a variety of the arts, music, drama, sports (assuring a broader spectrum of offerings than currently available)
- Comprehensive student support services
- Fostering school environments promoting respect, acceptance, and civility
This will occur through collaborative and cooperative efforts across communities, providing sustainable programming that ensures all students have access and can achieve their higher education and career aspirations.
Our Vision
BCETF believes that strengthening our public schools is essential:
- To raising the college attendance aspirations of all Berkshire students
- To provide students with meaningful vocational and career-preparatory experiences
- To ensure that our students can succeed no matter what path they choose after high school
Our Efforts
Our work has been organized into three phases so far:
- Phase I: Organizing for impact, clarification of problem and context, benchmarking and inventorying, data collection, development of preliminary organizational models, stakeholder information, and engagement. A University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute Phase I study provided data confirmation and forecasting
- Phase II: Deeper dive into modeling and priority analysis. District Management Group (DMG) supported a Phase II modeling study that led to the aspirational commitment to a single county district
- Phase III: Additional community outreach, including a deeper understanding of educational quality priorities and considerations. The study was completed with the support of DMG and Dr. Cynthia Brown.
Our Engagement
Throughout our work, BCETF members have met with a variety of stakeholders including:
- The Governor
- The Secretary of Education
- The Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
- The Co-Chair of the MA Legislative Education Subcommittee
- All members of the Berkshire Legislative Delegation
- All School Committees
- Town Select Boards across the County
- The two city councils
- Additionally, we hosted sub-regional “open” meetings and presentations have been ongoing to stakeholder groups (1 Berkshire, MASC Region 6, Business Roundtable)
Funding

To date, BCETF has been funded through public or private partnerships, grants through the DESE, legislative earmarks, and foundation grants. Approximately $424,000 has been raised to date, with an additional $250,000 secured through the Barr Foundation to support a cross-district “Portrait of a Graduate” proposal.