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Student Enrollment Recruitment and Retention (SERR)

 

Enrollment Series in Beyond Chron

See the series on enrollment in the School Beat, by Lisa Schiff, PPS National Board Member.

1) Finding Schools and Evaluating the Assignment Process; Lisa Schiff; Sept. 18, 2008

2) Can SFUSD Take Away Your Child’s School Assignment? In a Word, Yes. ; Kim Green; Sept. 25, 2008

3) Say What? SFUSD’s Painful Communication Gaps ; Lisa Schiff; Oct. 2, 2008

4) SFUSD’s School Assignment Process Needs Transparency, Equity and Reliability; Lisa Schiff‚ Oct. 16‚ 2008

 

Resolution submitted by Supervisor Carmen Chu to urge the SFUSD to incorporate neighborhood into their assignment criteria.

Read the entire resolution here (English 34kb,pdf)

Civil Grand Jury Report on Student Assignment System

Report and recommendations. (English,pdf)

SFUSD Response (English, pdf)

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.

PPS-SF listserv discussion on diversity

PPS-SF listserv members debated whether diversity is a distraction from the ultimate goal of improving the educational opportunities available to all children - some argued that the focus should be on making every school a quality school, and that diversity, while important, should be a secondary consideration. Other posters pointed out that our district doesn't really have a choice whether to desegregate or not. Until 2006, the district has operated under a court order that was issued after the NAACP sued the district in the 1970s for offering students of color unequal educational opportunities.

Several posters wondered: “Why are we doing this now? The Supreme Court will be issuing a ruling on the use of race in student assignment policies this Spring.” (see Press articles about Supreme Court rulings)

Board of Education Commissioner (and PPS-SF member) Eric Mar explained that "The resolution before the board allows the district to go forward with a 'race-neutral' desegregation/student assignment plan if the Supreme Court sometime in the Spring bars the use of race . . . It is our 'fallback' plan which is built into the resolution."

Commissioner Mar also said the resolution also emphasizes the need for much better community education and recruitment efforts because placement data show that low-income families, and African American families in particular, are not participating in our choice system. "I am glad the board is finally dealing with these racial and economic justice issues re desegregation and student assignment after punting the ball around for way too long," Commissioner Mar wrote.

Some perspectives from the discussion:

• "We should focus on quality at every school and making sure each child gets a good education should be first and foremost. It's naive to believe that we will end the achievement gap simply by sending poor children to schools primarily attended by wealthier children and then just hoping for the best. It's just as unrealistic to say that you will end racism simply by putting children of different races together. Racism begins at home. I can make the world a better place without sending my child to a school I did not choose."
• "Separate but equal has been ruled to be fundamentally unjust and society has a responsibility to address inequities where they are found, particularly in our public institutions like schools. Why should where you live entitle you to "own" a piece of a public institution, like a right to a particular public school? We have to stop believing that we can make all schools better without addressing race and class. "
• "Every economically and ethnically diverse school system has pockets of inequality. "Making all schools better" is not an easy thing to do, and it's not as if our school district is the only one struggling with this issue."

Join the discussions on the PPS listserv!
Current PPS-SF members are invited to join the PPS-SF Members-only listserv to network and share ideas with other PPS-SF members. Join online now!

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