Deeper Learning

Deeper Learning is the spiraling of experiences that enable students to honor identity and community, build proficiency, and create with purpose - in order to achieve the graduate profile. 

In SFUSD we have recognized the inequitable resources and opportunities for students rooted in structural and systemic racism that most clearly manifest in shamefully predictable low academic outcomes and persistent sense of alienation within schools for Brown and Black students, English Language Learners, and low income students. We have worked to find meaningful ways to recognize and honor the experiences and perspectives of all students. We have moved towards a curriculum that focuses on exposing the social/political context that students experience... We have identified pedagogical practices focused on the affective and cognitive aspects of teaching and learning in order to build resilience and the academic mindsets required to push back against the persistent oppressive narratives about people of color. We identify, we work, we move towards, and still, the inequities persist.
 

This, of course, is not the whole story. Inequities persist, but we see pockets within our SFUSD community where gaps are narrowing and historically underserved and under-resourced student populations are reporting a greater sense of agency and belonging. What we see happening in these pockets aligns with what we are learning about deeper learning.

SFUSD has an aspirational document for all of our students, the Graduate Profile, that offers us a vision of what we want to offer to each and every one of our students.

Eight years ago, SFUSD engaged in a community process to identify the six competencies of our Graduate Profile. In 2019, SFUSD began the process of bringing our Profile to life. Through clarifying the skills of each competency, vertically articulating the performance outcomes at key grade levels, and raising awareness across the district of this vision for our young people, we have begun operationalizing the Profile for all of our young people.

We operate within a larger context & system that still prioritizes traditional assessments, which drives traditional learning, and has traditionally led to...traditional outcomes. We have an opportunity to disrupt this across our district by operationalizing the Graduate Profile.

Here are the links to the iLab’s EdTalk slide deck and our Learning Academy slide deck that has the activities for developing familiarity and engagement with the Graduate Profile. Here are examples of where the Graduate Profile is thriving across SFUSD. Here is a list of openers and community builders using the Graduate Profile. Here are tactile cards that describe the concrete skills associated with each graduate profile competency.