Lloyd V. Berkner High School is a high school in Richardson, in the U.S. state of Texas, with a 2008 enrollment of 2,755 and a student/teacher ratio of 16.7. It is one of four high schools in the Richardson Independent School District.
History
The school was founded in 1969 and is named for U.S. physicist and founding president of the University of Texas at Dallas (actually in Richardson), Lloyd Berkner.
For the first year, students were housed on the campus of the now-closed Richardson Junior High School. The current facility on Spring Valley Road opened for the 1970–1971 school year; it served grades 9–11 in its opening year. Grades 10–12 were then served until the end of the 2004–2005 school year.
During the 1974–1975 school year, Berkner served Freshmen in order to relieve overcrowding at Richardson Jr. High while the new Liberty Jr. High was completed for the following Fall. From 1976 to 1979, Berkner again served Freshman in order to relieve overcrowding at Liberty Jr. High. A massive expansion and renovation gave way to the addition of ninth grade in the 2005–2006 school year.
Statistics (per 2011) The attendance rate for students at the school is 95%, compared with a state average of 96%. 44% of the students at Berkner are economically disadvantaged, 17% enroll in special education, 4% enroll in gifted and talented programs, 24% are enrolled in career and technology programs, and 21% are considered "limited English proficient."
The ethnic makeup of the school is 23.58% Hispanic, 27.76% African American, 27.62% White, non-Hispanic, 16.01% Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% Native American.
The average class sizes at Berkner are 25 students for English, 21 for foreign language, 27 for math, 23 for science, and 24 for social studies.
Teachers at the school carry, on average, 10 years of teaching experience, and 7% of the teachers on staff are first-year teachers.
Awards
In 2007 the school won the Excellence in Education Award for the state of Texas. It was honored by the Texas Successful School Awards System in 2000 and 2001. Berkner was also named a National Blue Ribbon School in 1988–1989.
Berkner is ranked #1017 in the Top 1300 high schools in the U.S. by Newsweek magazine.
Academics
Berkner ranks its students based on a weighted GPA, in which Advanced Placement classes and Pre-AP classes add 10 and 5 points, respectively, to each student's final average in that class. In contrast to a decision by a selection committee, the valedictorian and salutatorian are the first and second highest averages of each graduating class, with the Top 10 receiving special gratitude at a reception dinner.
Extracurricular activities
Berkner's mascot is the Ram and the team shares Ram-Wildcat Stadium (capacity 11,000) with Lake Highlands High School. The athletics program has improved in recent years, as in 2005, BHS had the best football season in school history, finishing 12–1 after a loss to A&M Consolidated High School in the quarterfinals of the Class 5A division. In the spring of 2006, the boys' basketball team made the state semifinals for the first time in school history.
Berkner prides itself on its fine arts programs. The marching band has received 50 consecutive first Division ratings in University Interscholastic League marching contests. The Orchestra Program has won the TMEA Honor String Orchestra award in 1987 under Ruth Kurtis – and most recently won the same award in 2007 under Craig Needham. The theatre program provides one of the area's only technical theatre programs. The school's student newspaper is the Berkner Rampage. The inter-school radio and television station is KRAM-FM and KRAM-TV Channel 6.