Superintendent’s Innovation Fellowship

In 2022-23, the third year of SIF, the iLab, in partnership with C&I, expanded our focus to SFUSD’s vision of instructional coherence and corresponding curriculum resources and guidance for teachers through a Deeper Learning framework for all disciplines and generally (new teacher support, pedagogical support, instructional minutes and schedules, engaging families, building classroom community, etc.). The instructional guides are organized by the core instructional indicators of Culture of Learning, Essential Content, Academic Ownership, and Demonstration of Learning. SFUSD’s vision is to ensure every student experiences instruction grounded in the pedagogy and practices of Deeper Learning so that on any given day, in every single classroom, each student is engaged, (as evidenced by the SFUSD Core Instruction Rubric), in the lesson from start to finish, demonstrating a sense of belonging, learning content appropriate for their grade level and subject area, responsible for doing the thinking in the classroom, and able to demonstrate their learning.

The Superintendent’s Innovation Fellowship has focused on supporting 21st Century teaching including project-based learning and personalized learning by engaging students and teachers in a design process to realize their ideal classroom environments.  By engaging in a student and teacher-centered design process, the 7 SIF schools redesigned their learning environments to directly address the learning needs of their students. These re-designed spaces have more flexible uses, foster student projects and collaboration, and are more inclusive and accessible to a variety of learners. Over the course of 4 years, 7 schools and 27 classrooms were redesigned.  In addition, 16 classrooms received redesign microgrants, and, in 2022-23, 5 special education classrooms received microgrants.  

The SIF Fellows have been incredibly passionate, committed, and grateful for their classroom designs as is evident in the SIF Case Study 2019-23 and SIF Photo Gallery.