Oct. 15 Board of Education Workshop

In May 2022, the board and incoming Superintendent Wayne began a wholesale effort to improve our governance effectiveness. Our first step is to clarify the district’s priorities through adopting a new vision, values, goals, and guardrails. After creating a draft in July, we did something unprecedented in San Francisco’s recent history–over the course of six weeks, all seven board members conducted an extensive community listening campaign to better understand the community’s vision and values.

Supported by the board office staff, we facilitated 20+ in-person and virtual listening sessions, conducted an online survey, and reviewed recent advisory council and committee recommendations (see below). Overall, we collected almost 4,000 pieces of input across 988 individuals. Most importantly, parents, grandparents, guardians, staff, students, and community members took time to share their perspectives. We are incredibly grateful for everyone’s time and input. 

In-Person Sessions

• 13 in-person listening session in all 11 San Francisco supervisorial districts (one session held in Spanish and one in Chinese)
• Sessions were open to the entire community, with weekday and weekend opportunities
• Attendees signed up via SFUSD website or walk-in on the day of the event
• 1-3 commissioners facilitated each meeting
• Translation services, food, and childcare were provided

Virtual Sessions

• 7 virtual listening sessions
• 1-2 commissioners facilitated each meeting
• 47 community groups were invited to attend; registration was not limited to these groups
• Translation services were provided

Community Survey

• Anonymous online survey in English, Spanish, and Chinese
• Advertised via the SFUSD homepage, SFUSD employee homepage, ParentVUE, social media, text message to all staff and families, Family Announcement Bulletin, and OASIS

Prior Reports

• 29 publicly available reports were reviewed by CGCS
• Reports stated or implied perspectives on the district's vision, values, goals, and guardrails
• Many included recommendations that fall under the superintendent's responsibility. From these recommendations, CGCS inferred desired vision, values, goals, and guardrails

Note: The Board also received a Community Voice Summary in June.

We then asked the Council of the Great City Schools to independently analyze the community input. Here are the results of this analysis:

• High level summary
• Full analysis
• Raw data

We used that analysis to refine the district’s vision, values, goals and guardrails at our Oct. 15 workshop.

San Francisco is a diverse community. Our board is similarly diverse–we have different lived experiences and perspectives, and we may disagree on issues. However our responsibility is to adopt a vision, values, goals, and guardrails that best represents the community. It’s also our responsibility to model behavior we expect from students–to come prepared, state our positions, listen to colleagues, and be willing to compromise. At our Oct. 15 workshop, we hope we did just that. 

We made three main changes from our July 17 draft:

• Increased focus: We reduced the number of goals from four to three.
• Increased clarity: We made revisions to clarify ambiguous ideas and words.
• Increased ambition: We set more aggressive goals than originally drafted.

Below are the drafts that we hope to approve on Oct. 25. View changes from the July 17 version.

Vision

Our vision describes the community’s long-term (10+ year) expectations for what SFUSD students will know and be able to do.

Our updated vision:

• All SFUSD students will graduate as independent thinkers with a sense of agency who have attained academic and creative skills to lead productive lives and contribute to our community.

Goals

Goals are the community’s mid-term (5-year) expectations for what SFUSD students will know and be able to do.

Our updated goals:

• Third-grade literacy: The percentage of all third-grade students reading at grade level as measured by state tests (SBAC ELA) will increase from 52% proficiency rate in October 2022 to 70% proficiency by October 2027.
• 8th-grade math: The percentage of all eighth-grade students performing math at grade level as measured by the state tests (SBAC Math) will increase from 42% proficiency rate in October 2022 to 65% proficiency by October 2027.
• College/career readiness: The percentage of all high school 12th graders who are “college/career ready“ as defined by the California Department of Education will increase from 57.5% in June 2020 to 70% by June 2027.

Values

Values are the community’s global non-negotiables that must be honored while in pursuit of the vision.

Our draft values:

• Student-centered: We put students' needs first with a focus on the whole child.
• Fearless: We persist through challenges with humility, transparency, and a growth mindset.
• United: We celebrate and build on each other's strengths and differences to collectively achieve excellence as a district.
• Social justice: We stand with those who are most impacted by systems of oppression and actively change those systems within our district.
• Diversity-driven: We respect and seek to understand each person to be an inclusive and anti-racist district.

Guardrails

Guardrails are the community’s specific non-negotiables that the superintendent must honor while in pursuit of the goals.

Our updated guardrails:

• Effective decision-making: The superintendent will not make major decisions without utilizing a process — that includes meaningful consultation with the parents/guardians, students, and staff who will be impacted by those decisions — at the inception, adoption, and review.
• Serving the whole child: The superintendent will not take approaches which neglect the cognitive and academic development, social and emotional development, identity development, physical and mental well-being, or ethical and moral development of students.
• Curriculum and instruction: The superintendent will not allow curriculum and instruction that is not rooted in excellence, challenging and engaging, student-centered and culturally-responsive, and is differentiated to meet the academic needs of all students.
• Resource allocation: The superintendent will not allow resources to be allocated without transparently communicating how the allocations are baseline sufficient to operate all schools while addressing inequitable inputs and creating more equity and excellence in student outcomes.
• Strategic partnerships: The superintendent will not impede collaboration with the City of San Francisco, state, and federal, community based organizations, philanthropy, and business community to advance the District’s goals and values.