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Student Assignment System (SAS) Redesign

SFUSD is actively working toward defining a new Student Assignment System to be implemented Fall 2010.

Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco
Statement Regarding Student Assignment Redesign
February 2, 2010

Good evening. I’m Matthew Kelemen, President of the Board of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco. PPS, as you know, is a growing network of diverse public school parents who together are building community, defying grim budget and media constraints, staying positive about our cherished public schools, and getting involved at every level to ensure that all of our children are getting a quality education.

As an organization committed to parent voice in San Francisco, we have been honored to partner with the Parent Advisory Council in developing the report that was presented tonight. We believe that parents have spoken eloquently and cogently about what needs to happen to improve our schools and how student assignment policy could better support education for our children. We are especially proud that the report reflects the voices of parents whom the Board and the district often struggles to engage in your own outreach. Based on our healthy collaboration with district staff, we know that the Board and district will take these recommendations seriously as you evaluate the specific options so ably described by staff this evening.

PPS is also an organization that has ten years experience working with parents throughout San Francisco on the public school enrollment process.  Thousands of parents in all communities see PPS as a source of information and guidance because we’re parents helping parents navigate the enrollment process and understand their options.

Based on that experience, I want to amplify and extend two points that are in the recommendations.

First, parents are clamoring for quality schools. As the report said, “Parents perceive deep inequities between schools in different neighborhoods – related to teacher quality, the condition of school and community facilities, resources that families bring to schools, and enrichment opportunities available to children both inside and out of the classroom.” This is the real story of our findings and recommendations and it is a story that aligns with the district’s strategic plan. We know that district staff is hard at work developing and implementing strategies to create quality schools in all parts of the city. But, we believe that it is time – no, past time – for the Board to give the same visibility, urgency, and consistent attention to that conversation as it has given student assignment. We call on the Board and the district to create a focused and visible process for engaging the community around the plan for creating quality schools.

Second, parents want to make informed choices, whether they are selecting their own schools or lending their voice to the conversation about student assignment redesign. Indeed, it is our firm belief that many schools in this city have improved dramatically through the informed choices of parents selecting those schools and committing to their improvement. So, with respect to the student assignment redesign process, we share the concern expressed by so many parents and community members that “they were not given more complete information about the options or the opportunity to weigh in on an actual proposal for a new system.” We call on the Board and district to finish the decision-making process with strong community engagement based on data about the implications of the student assignment models. The same needs to hold true for implementation of any new system.

On both of these fronts, PPS stands ready to help.

###

Schedule

All BOE meetings are held in the Board Room at 555 Franklin unless otherwise noted. BOE meetings will be webcast live on SFGTV. See the district website for updates on the decision-making process.

Monday, January 25, 6pm- BOE Ad Hoc Committee Meeting
Topic: Presentation of data simulations based on 6 options being considered (pdf). Please note that the last two slides are incorrect and we will post the corrected slides when we get it.

Tuesday, February 2, 6pm - BOE Committee of the Whole
Presentation by PPS and PAC on findings from community focus groups
Findings in English (pdf)
Findings in Spanish (pdf)
Findings in Chinese (pdf)

Recommendations in English (pdf)
Recommendations in Spanish (pdf)
Recommendations in Chinese (pdf)

District Staff presentation of recommendations in English (pdf)

Tuesday, February 9, 6pm - BOE Meeting
Topic: 1st Reading of Superintendent's proposal for a new student assignment system

Friday, February 12, 9:30-10:30am - PPS Coffee Chat
Join PPS Staff and Members to discuss the BOE Resolution on Student Assignment. Children are welcome at this informal discussion. Location: PPS Office, The Women's Building, 3543 18th Street bet. Guerrero and Valencia

Friday, February 12, 10:00am - 12pm - PPS-SF Latino Parent Club *in Spanish*
Monthly Latino Parent Club Meeting will discuss the BOE Resolution on Student Assignment as one of its agenda items. Location: The Women's Building, 3543 18th Street bet. Guerrero and Valencia. For more information, please contact Daisy Hernandez at daisy@ppssf.org or 861-7077.

Wednesday, February 17, 6pm - Ad Hoc Committee
-Detailed description of how the proposed student assignment mechanism would
work (scenarios and technical description)

-Implementation plan and budget

Tuesday, March 9, 6pm - BOE Meeting
Topic: Final approval of Resolution for Student Assignment

 

Give your input into this process. 

1. Attend the Ad Hoc Committee meetings and give a statement/testimony.
   
   
2. Write your thoughts in an email: studentassignmentideas@sfusd.edu
   
   
3. Complete an Online survey

Past meeting notes and presentations:

Video on Demand from the SFGTV website has archived meeting webcasts.

December 14, 2009
Report on data of racial achievement in high concentration vs. low concentration of various ethnic groups in schools in SFUSD.

November 13, 2009
Update and information on models being presented at Town Hall and Input Meetings - pdfs in English, Spanish and Chinese.

October 19, 2009
Presentation by consultants (pdf) on necessary assumptions and methodology used in order to create various simulations.
Presentation by Orla O'Keeffe (pdf) on 6 models being considered.
See Commmissioner Rachel Norton's blog on the meeting and school choice issue

September 14, 2009
Presentation by Orla O'Keeffe (pdf) on possible models and assumptions to base simulations on. Decision on specific models to run simulations on was put off by the board so that they could get more information.
- See Commissioner Rachel Norton's summary of the meeting on her blog at rachelnorton.com.

December 8, 2008: Ad Hoc Committee on Student Assignment.
Powerpoint presentation (pdf, 118kb): progress to date, process and schedule.

January 12, 2009: Ad Hoc Committee* on Student Assignment 6-8 p.m. at 555 Franklin Street in the Board Room.   This committee meeting will review timelines, and hearing from Professor Goodwin Liu, Associate Dean and Professor of Law from Berkeley Law School, speaking on the topic of Data on the Achievement Gap and the Relationship between Diversity and Equity.  See the meeting on KALW sfgtv.
Powerpoint presentation (pdf, 233kb): progress to date and presentation by Prof. Goodwin Liu on demographics and achievement gap

January 29, 2009: Ad Hoc Committee* on Student Assignment 6-8 p.m. at 555 Franklin Street in the Board Room.  This committee meeting will be a discussion of options and models as well as the data that the board commissioners requested.  The public is invited to comment and ask questions. See the meeting on KALW sfgtv.
Powerpoint presentation (pdf, 219kb) on zip code, diversity and distance for enrolled students

February 12, 2009: Committee of the Whole** on Student Assignment 6-6:30 p.m. at 555 Franklin Street in the Board Room. Briefly provide an update on the process and timeline, and provide a limited amount of time for public input.

March 9, 2009: Ad Hoc Committee* on Student Assignment 6-8 p.m. at Dr. Charles Drew Elementary, 50 Pomona Avenue.
See the powerpoint presentation (1.12mb,pdf)on student density patterns, guidelines and assumptions for proposed simulations.

April 13, 2009, 6pm: Ad Hoc Committee* on Student Assignment at Washington High School, 600 32nd Avenue. Powerpoint presentation (158kb,pdf)

May 11, 2009: Committee of the Whole Meeting at Denman Middle School, 241 Oneida Avenue

June 8, 2009: Ad Hoc Committee* on Student Assignment at Board Room, 555 Franklin Street.

Changes to the Assessment, Counseling, and Language Program Placement Process for English Learners Presentation (543kb,pdf)

Feedback from Community Conversations: A Presentation from the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and Parents for Public Schools (PPS)
Summary English (207kb,pdf)
Full Report English (356kb,pdf), Spanish (610kb,pdf), Chinese (848kb,pdf)
This was the last Committee Meeting until Fall 2009. Future meetings TBA.

*The Ad Hoc Committee consists of the following Board of Education Commissioners:  Jill Wynns, Kim-Shree Maufas, and Jane Kim.  Hydra Mendoza is an alternate.

**The Committee of the Whole consists of all Board of Education Commissioners.

 

What do parents think about SF public schools? The SERR Report: Community Outreach Findings and Recommendations

Thank you to all of the parents and community members who participated in the Community Outreach done by the Parent Advisory Council (PAC), the San Francisco Education Fund and the SFUSD and supported by PPS-SF. Communities throughout San Francisco were reached in various languages, through small groups. The findings and recommendations were presented at the April 21 2007 PPS-SF Annual General and Community Meeting.

Findings: English (939kb,pdf)
Spanish (960kb,pdf)
Chinese (1.42mb,pdf)

Recommendations: English (114kb,pdf)
Spanish (132kb,pdf)
Chinese (140kb,pdf)

Executive Summary
District Recommendations to BOE (pdf from SFUSD site)
Recommendations put together by the SFUSD District Staff to address declining enrollment in SFUSD.

Report on 2006 PAC Outreach Campaign
From January thru May 2006, the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) conducted a Community Outreach Campaign, emphasizing questions on Student Assignment. This outreach campaign focused on communities that are not normally heard from in education policy debates.
Summary Report on Findings
Appendix: Student Assignment Policies

 

Why is our Student Assignment Method so complicated?

Learn about the history of how the Diversity Index was created and the goals of the SFUSD in implementing its current enrollment process. See the Nov 28, 2006 presentation to the BOE (356kb,pdf) made by Orla O'Keefe, former head of the Educational Placement Center, to explain the background for the current student assignment process, analysis of the current conditions, and recommendations for next steps to determine how to make changes in the future.

Using Race as a factor in Student Assignment

The Board of Education's proposed Resolution on Modifications to the Student Assignment Method has been a hot topic on the PPS-SF listserv. The resolution was scheduled for a first reading at the Nov. 14 2006 Board of Education meeting, but was withdrawn until a later date.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund's page on the Supreme Court case has links to a number of resources, including legal briefs for both sides of the debate on using race as a factor in enrollment and background information on the issues.

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