Beverly Hills Unified School District

Beverly Hills Unified School District (USD) is located in an urban setting in Los Angeles County. There are four K–8 schools and one high school. The average class size is 25 students, with an average teacher-to-student ratio of 1 to 18.4. Beverly Hills USD has a good service-learning program, developed and sustained by CalServe service learning grants. Parent and community partner involvement is significant in this district. The district is serviced by the City of Beverly Hills for refuse and recycled materials collection.

Beverly Hills USD participated in year one of the Unified Education Strategy (UES) grant program. Three sixth-grade science teachers, each from a different school, collaborated to design the student-led waste audits and cross-curricular standards-based lessons. Students participating in the program experienced a "guided discovery" of waste generated in the classroom and on the school grounds. The teachers incorporated instruction in mathematics, English-language arts, and science skills into their instructional plans. Students wrote essays about their experiences and received awards for their efforts. One science class constructed miniature landfills in soda pop bottles and charted observations for the duration of the project.

The findings during the waste audits motivated the students, but the students were disappointed at not being able to immediately implement changes in recycling at their school sites. Changes in the city-sponsored program were, however, planned as the city prepared to renegotiate its hauling contract to include improved recycling at the school sites.

Although the district did not participate in year two, the lead teacher planned to use parts of the curriculum and waste audit developed in the first year to create an instructional kit. This kit would be used by sixth-grade science classes to teach waste reduction and recycling to the K–5 students.

Opportunities and Obstacles

• Even though the Beverly Hills USD team did not apply for Phase Two funding, during the exit interviews the participants shared that activities begun under the UES program would serve as the basis for related efforts in the future.
• Discussions were initiated to provide service-learning connections to special education classes.

Lessons Created