Student Assignment Policy Redesign: What We Learned in Last Week's Info Sessions
Last week SFUSD hosted information sessions on YouTube and Facebook Live to explain proposed changes to the way students in the district are assigned to elementary schools.
For those who missed last week’s events, good news! The information sessions are all posted on SFUSD’s YouTube channel, and SFUSD is still accepting questions and feedback through the Thoughtexchange platform through November 16th. Participate in the Thoughtexchange by using the QR code or visiting tejoin.com and entering the 9-digit code in the image below.
Aim your phone camera at the QR Code and tap the pop-up that appears to share feedback on the proposed student assignment redesign in Thoughtexchange. You can also go to tejoin.com and enter the 9 digit code above to participate.
Comments will be shared with the Board of Education prior to their vote on the new policy on December 8, 2020, and will also inform SFUSD staff as they work to implement the new policy (map zones, develop transportation routes, etc.).
Though we highly recommend viewing the information session to gain a more complete understanding of the proposed changes, here is a snapshot summary of why the policy is being redesigned, what outcomes SFUSD hopes to achieve, and some key elements of the proposed change.
Why Change the System?
The Board of Education passed a resolution calling on SFUSD staff to create a new “community based student assignment system” in December 2018. The resolution identified several areas of concern and noted that the current system is not working as intended. Among the concerns listed in the resolution were the following:
Schools continue to be segregated by income and race/ethnicity
The current assignment system is complicated for families, and it isn’t predictable or transparent enough
The current choice system is seen as increasing inequities because meaningful ability to choose is inequitably distributed
A system that requires families to travel across the city is a barrier to strong community connections
What are the Goals of the Proposed New Assignment System?
SFUSD hopes that the new system will more effectively meet the goals that were articulated for the current system and that continue to be held up as the highest priorities for the Board of Education: diversity, predictability, and proximity.
Source: SFUSD
How Would the New System Work?
Zones
The new policy would move away from district-wide choice and instead, SFUSD would develop zones and allow families to choose from elementary schools in the zone that they live in. The hope is that creating zones will help make the assignment process much more predictable for families and will create stronger community connections. Each family will have access to all of the different types of programs they're eligible for (e.g. language pathways, K-8 school, special education programs) though they will have fewer choices within each type of program. For example, your “Spanish immersion zone” may include 1 or 2 Spanish immersion programs, not all programs in the city. The key difference is that families will choose from a smaller list of schools to make the choice process simpler, easier, and more predictable. To apply, families would rank the schools in their zone in the order that they prefer them. After families rank the schools in their zone and submit their choices to SFUSD, every student will end up being assigned to one of the schools in their zone.
Source: SFUSD
Source: SFUSD
How Will Zones Be Drawn?
If the new policy is adopted, SFUSD will spend the next year and a half working with demographers and other experts to create zones (probably 7-8 total). The policy guidelines set out several objectives for the new zones. Zones should ideally:
Reflect the diversity of the city - socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, English proficiency, disability, and academic performance
Have capacity to accommodate all residents
Limit the number of schools included in each zone
Cover a reasonable geographic distance
Consider accessibility to public transit, topography, traffic patterns, and the implications for yellow bus transportation
Tiebreakers
Once a student submits their request for student assignment, the system will try to match everyone with one of their top choices. As long as there is available space, that's where the student will be assigned. If there are more requests for a school than there are open spaces, the system will use tiebreakers to give preferences to some applicants. This is similar to the way the current system works. In the new system the tiebreakers will be slightly different. Proposed tie-breakers are 1) Sibling, 2) Equity, and 3) PreK. See the image below for descriptions of these tiebreakers.
Source: SFUSD
Diversity Categories
Diversity categories will help make sure that each school reflects the diversity of the zone that it's in. To achieve this, first, every block in San Francisco will be assigned to a diversity category based on some key features. These might include the average household income of the residents on that block, race and ethnicity of residents, or the average academic achievement of the residents on that block. SFUSD will look at census data as well as state test data to create categories. Families will not be asked to report data as all diversity categories would be assigned based on geographic blocks, not individual students. During the assignment process, each school in a zone would have a certain number of spaces for students from each diversity category, with the goal being that the percentage of students in each diversity category at any school in a zone would be the same as the percentage of students in that diversity category in the zone as a whole.
Source: SFUSD
Source: SFUSD
When Would This Policy Start?
It is anticipated that this policy if adopted, would be in effect for students entering elementary school in the 2023-2024 school year.
If This Policy Goes Into Effect And My Student Is Enrolled in a School that is Not in Our Zone, Will They Have to Switch?
Some ideas shared in Thoughtexchange during the SFUSD English information session last week. The recording of this session, as well as a session in Cantonese and one in Spanish are available to view on SFUSD’s Youtube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/sfunified
No, students already assigned to a school would not have to move schools and their younger siblings would still be able to use the sibling tiebreaker to remain at the same school, even if it is not in the assigned zone. It is anticipated that although feeder middle schools will likely change as zones are redrawn, those new feeder patterns will phase in so current students will not face a change in their feeder middle school.
How Can I Get More Information?
Watch an info session video on the SFUSD YouTube channel and share feedback via Thoughtexchange.
Sign up for the Student Assignment newsletter and find lots of resources on the district’s Student Assignment Policy Web Page.
Attend the Board of Education meetings on December 1, 2020 (Committee of the Whole) and December 8, 2020 (Regular Meeting). The policy will be discussed at each and the vote is on December 8. There will be opportunities for public comment. Agendas are published here 72 hours before each meeting.