Data for African American Students, Families, and Staff in SFUSD

Over the past five school years, we see positive trends in African American achievement and mindsets. Specifically, the percentage of African American students with a favorable growth mindset grew from 57% to 68%. Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) scores in ELA and math have increased or remained relatively stable for African American students during the past five school years, with the exception of 11th grade SBAC – ELA scores which saw a slight decline. The positive trend in 3rd and 8th grade SBAC scores is complemented by the increasing 4-year cohort graduation rate for African American students. 

Gains in academic outcomes for African American students are tempered by the steady increase in chronic absenteeism rates for African American students. Across the various grade levels, the high school grades have seen the greatest increase in chronic absenteeism rates for African American students, rising from 24% in 2014-2015 to 44% in the 2019-2020 school year.

During distance learning in Spring 2019, wellness checks reached the majority of African American families in the district, and the majority who responded reported doing “pretty good” or “great.” Online engagement data for African American students varies by grade level, with elementary school students demonstrating higher online engagement than middle and high school students. ParentVue logins vary by grade level, with higher shares of families of middle grade African American students logging into ParentVue compared to the other grade spans.