蜜桃影视

San Francisco, despite its reputation for unabashed progressivism and rapidly growing wealth, has a public school system with gapingly large achievement gaps and a more pronounced failure to serve low-income black and Latino students than other California districts, a says.

鈥淭he current results should raise deep questions about the will of district and city leaders to recognize the problem and do what鈥檚 necessary to fix it. A school system that leaves so many children behind should be held accountable,鈥� Innovate Public Schools, an education reform advocacy group in the Bay Area, said in its report released Thursday. It will also be presented to leaders at City Hall.

The achievement gap in San Francisco looms as large as 69 points, as judged by proficiency on English tests. In the 2016鈥�17 school year, 83 percent of white students who were not low-income scored at proficient levels, compared with just 14 percent of low-income African-Americans. Slightly more, 22 percent, of low-income Latino students tested at proficient levels.

鈥淪an Francisco has always been a progressive city, but our numbers, as far as education, do not mirror that,鈥� Geraldine Anderson, a parent activist, told 蜜桃影视.

Anderson鈥檚 older son, Xavier, went to a district elementary school before transferring to a KIPP school for middle grades and is now a freshman at a boarding school in East Palo Alto, where he received a full scholarship. Her younger son, Kingston, is a first-grader at a district elementary school, and while she鈥檚 generally pleased with his school, data from test results 鈥渟cared me into wanting to make changes,鈥� she said.

The San Francisco results aren鈥檛 the norm among California districts serving comparable numbers of students with similar demographics.

Riverside Unified, for example, had 5 percent low-income African-American students in 2016鈥�17, compared with San Francisco鈥檚 6 percent. But in Riverside, 32 percent of those students tested as proficient in English and 20 percent in math, compared with 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively, in San Francisco.

Among 16 similar districts, the highest ranking San Francisco achieved was 11th, on math proficiency for Latino students. On that test, 16 percent of Latino students tested proficient, less than half the statewide average of 38 percent.

San Francisco鈥檚 results also aren鈥檛 typical statewide. In 96 percent of California districts low-income African-American students scored better on their 2016鈥�17 English tests than those living in the affluent Bay Area city.

San Francisco Unified in 136 schools, 14 of which are charters. The student body is 40 percent Asian, Filipino, or Pacific Islander; 27 percent Latino; 7 percent black; 14 percent white, and less than 1 percent Native American. Another 4 percent are multiracial, and 8 percent declined to identify their race. A little more than half, 55 percent, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of poverty, and 24 percent are English language learners.

Cyn Bivens said her daughter Jacqueline didn鈥檛 have a good experience in San Francisco public schools, beginning with the Spanish immersion school she started attending in kindergarten.

Bivens said she transferred Jacqueline to another San Francisco public school for the second half of fourth grade after a series of negative incidents, including inappropriate discipline by teachers and a contentious relationship with the school鈥檚 principal.

鈥淭he system treats black parents like they don鈥檛 know how to take care of their children,鈥� Bivens told 蜜桃影视.

Jacqueline enrolled in a KIPP school last year; she鈥檚 now a sixth-grader there. It鈥檚 not perfect, but a far better alternative than the district schools, her mother said.

鈥淥ur children need many avenues to education. I don鈥檛 care if it鈥檚 public, Montessori, charter, or private school,鈥� Bivens said. 鈥淲hatever avenue a child takes to get what they need in the way of education, I think is a positive thing.鈥�

Beyond charters, San Francisco does offer district-run school choice.

The district鈥檚 current system, which began in 2011, attempts to balance the desire to end racial and economic isolation with families鈥� preference to attend schools near where they live. It isn鈥檛 working, though, according to Innovate, for reasons including the clustering of top-performing schools in wealthier neighborhoods, transportation concerns, a small supply of good schools, and a difficult-to-understand choice system.

Many wealthy families choose to simply bypass public schools. One in 4 children in San Francisco attends private school, compared with 1 in 10 statewide, according to the report, which roughly mirrors who are enrolled in private school nationally.

The lack of educational opportunities means many of the city鈥檚 prime job opportunities, including those in the signature tech industry, are out of reach. Just 37 percent of Latino students and 31 percent of African-American students in San Francisco meet eligibility requirements for admission to the state鈥檚 public universities. Workers with advanced degrees earn more in careers across the board.

鈥淭aken together, this information raises deep questions about who we are as a city. The huge divides in wealth and education are making it harder and harder for working-class African-American and Latino communities to survive here,鈥� the report says. 鈥淭hat should trouble the conscience of every single San Franciscan.鈥�

In the short term, the report urges San Francisco leaders to work on school turnaround, and suggests models that give strong school leaders more autonomy, like the Mastery schools in Philadelphia. The group also suggests opening new schools and, long term, adopting 鈥渨hole-district change鈥� through strong district leadership, a new emphasis on instruction, and other efforts that have worked in other districts.

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