10th grade Physics Midterm II Benchmark Exam results – Newtonian Mechanics

Students were tested on the following standards:
Students know how to solve problems involving conservation of energy in simple systems with various sources of potential energy, such as capacitors and springs.
Students know how to solve problems involving elastic and inelastic collisions in one dimension by using the principles of conservation of momentum and energy.
Students know how to calculate momentum as the product mv.
Students know how to solve problems involving conservation of energy in simple systems, such as falling objects.
Students know how to calculate kinetic energy by using the formula E = (1/2)mv².
Students know how to calculate changes in gravitational potential energy near Earth by using the formula (change in potential energy) = mgh (h is the change in the elevation).
Students know how to apply the law F = ma to solve one-dimensional motion problems that involve constant forces (Newton’s second law).

75% of students tested Advanced and Proficient!

15 juniors are currently on a college tour to the central California coast, visiting UC Santa Barbara, CSU Cal Poly and Hearst Castle. The trip started Wednesday November 30th and wraps up on, Friday, December 2nd. The students visited the UCSB campus on Wednesday and will receive a tour, as well as hear from Unity graduates who are currently UCSB students. On Thursday morning they drove to CSU Cal Poly to tour the campus and then spent the afternoon at the beach and exploring the local farmers’ market. On Friday, they will tour Hearst Castle before returning back home. The students are really excited for the tour. It’s their first overnight college tour, and they’ve heard many good things about both campuses. Both campuses offer a variety of top academic departments, great athletics, and undergraduate and graduate minor and degree programs.-Carolina Burciaga

Educate California Ballot Initiative – “Tax to Fund Free State Resident Tuition at UC and CSU”

Oakland Unity High School’s class of 2011, in collaboration with students from Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, recently submitted a proposed initiative to the Attorney Generals office that would provide free tuition for four years to all California residents at UC and CSUs provided that, each academic year he or she 1) maintains a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or performs 70 hours of community service. This initiative would be paid for by increasing the income tax from 9.3% to 10% for individuals making over $250,000 and 11% for individuals making greater than $500,000. This initiative is the result of months of hard work, research, and collaboration on the part of the American Government and Economics students at both schools. This initiative would be a constitutional amendment, so once the initiative has been processed by the Attorney Generals office in the next month, the students will need to collect the signatures of 807,615 registered voters by April 20, 2012. If they are able to do this, their initiative will be on the November 6, 2012 ballot. If you are interested in helping get this initiative on the Nov 2012 ballot or would like to learn more about it, please contact Kara Duros.

Congratulations to our seniors! 95% submit applications to California State University, University of California, and private schools.