Board Begins Process to Revise Student Assignment
Board Begins Process to Revise Student Assignment
4.18.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
The district's controversial student assignment process – and how to amend it now that the district is no longer required by Federal court order to follow it – was the subject of a free-flowing discussing by the School Board's Committee of the Whole Tuesday night. No decisions were made, but board members did broadly sketch out their positions on student assignment and what they hope to achieve by revising the system. The Board will decide on a new student enrollment process for SY 07/08 this June.
Commissioners' comments indicated a majority support on the Board for revising race as a factor in deciding who should get the slots at highly sought-after schools. The district held a series of meetings with legal counsel in closed session to discuss the issues around using race as a factor, according to one board member.
4.18.06
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
The district's controversial student assignment process – and how to amend it now that the district is no longer required by Federal court order to follow it – was the subject of a free-flowing discussing by the School Board's Committee of the Whole Tuesday night. No decisions were made, but board members did broadly sketch out their positions on student assignment and what they hope to achieve by revising the system. The Board will decide on a new student enrollment process for SY 07/08 this June.
Commissioners' comments indicated a majority support on the Board for revising race as a factor in deciding who should get the slots at highly sought-after schools. The district held a series of meetings with legal counsel in closed session to discuss the issues around using race as a factor, according to one board member.
The district stopped using race as a factor in 1999 in response to a legal challenge, and since then, its schools have become largely resegregated, according to numerous reports. In place of race it has used a Diversity Index linked to a range of socioeconomic factors such as household income, language spoken at home and the mother's education level. The Diversity Index only comes into play in cases where there are more students applying to a school than the number of seats available. As many noted at the meeting, the current student assignment process does nothing to increase the diversity at under-enrolled schools, many of which are overwhelmingly African-American or Latino.
At the meeting Tuesday, the Board sought comment from a Community Advisory Committee established two years ago to gather public input and make suggestions for revising student assignment. The Committee submitted a report to the board more than a year ago containing recommendations for three possible options for student assignment.
They were: *Option 1: 50 percent of seats would go to students residing within the attendance area and 50 percent to students outside it. Students within the attendance area would be selected by lottery; those outside of it on an index of factors linked to academic achievement. *Option 2: 60 percent of seats would go to students residing within the assignment area and 40 percent to students outside it. Both groups would be selected by random lottery. *Option 3: All school assignments would be determined through lottery.
The CAC also underscored the need to focus resources and quality programs on under-enrolled schools and to raise the quality of schools throughout the district.
Board members thanked the Committee for the its time and input, but also indicated the recommendations would be taken as one piece of a larger puzzle. The district recently hired experts to study the issue of student assignment and how other districts have handled it successfully. The experts' report is due out in May.
Commissioner Dan Kelly was one of several calling for a need to address race overtly. "It's not in our interest or the city's interest to give preference to choices that increase segregation." Kelly called for lessening the reliance on assignment boundaries, especially for high school. He also said the district needed to increase language immersion programs, which have become highly successful and sought after. This year, 1,400 children applied for 500 slots in immersion programs at various schools.
Commissioner Jill Wynns said she also believed race needed to be used as a factor in some cases. She cautioned that student assignment discussions needed to take into account the fact that the district is closing schools, bringing the number of slots available much closer to the total number of students in the district. "That is going to limit choice and flexibility. That tightening is going to make it harder to balance choice with the principles of diversity."
"I am sensitive to not wanting to push middle class families to leave San Francisco, but my concern is with the students who haven't had an equal opportunity to learn," said Commissioner Eric Mar, who said he favored Options 1 and 2 of the CAC's proposal.
Commissioner Mark Sanchez agreed that establishing diversity was a greater driving force than keeping affluent families in the district. He also cautioned against the trend toward segregation within the schools that is occurring in some places, for example, in cases where there are bilingual programs. He also said it was time to reevaluate admission to Lowell and SOTA, where students are selected based on merit rather than going through the general assignment process.
Board President Norman Yee expressed his support for the CAC's Option 2. "I wrote a resolution in support of that that has been put on hold. I've since been convinced by my colleagues that maybe 60/40 isn't the best for all schools," he said.
A representative of the Parents Advisory Committee said it will be holding outreach meetings in the Mission on May 4 and in Bayview/Hunters Point on May 12 to collect more public input on student assignment from these communities. She said zip codes gathered during previous focus groups showed members of these neighborhoods had not been well represented.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
At the meeting Tuesday, the Board sought comment from a Community Advisory Committee established two years ago to gather public input and make suggestions for revising student assignment. The Committee submitted a report to the board more than a year ago containing recommendations for three possible options for student assignment.
They were: *Option 1: 50 percent of seats would go to students residing within the attendance area and 50 percent to students outside it. Students within the attendance area would be selected by lottery; those outside of it on an index of factors linked to academic achievement. *Option 2: 60 percent of seats would go to students residing within the assignment area and 40 percent to students outside it. Both groups would be selected by random lottery. *Option 3: All school assignments would be determined through lottery.
The CAC also underscored the need to focus resources and quality programs on under-enrolled schools and to raise the quality of schools throughout the district.
Board members thanked the Committee for the its time and input, but also indicated the recommendations would be taken as one piece of a larger puzzle. The district recently hired experts to study the issue of student assignment and how other districts have handled it successfully. The experts' report is due out in May.
Commissioner Dan Kelly was one of several calling for a need to address race overtly. "It's not in our interest or the city's interest to give preference to choices that increase segregation." Kelly called for lessening the reliance on assignment boundaries, especially for high school. He also said the district needed to increase language immersion programs, which have become highly successful and sought after. This year, 1,400 children applied for 500 slots in immersion programs at various schools.
Commissioner Jill Wynns said she also believed race needed to be used as a factor in some cases. She cautioned that student assignment discussions needed to take into account the fact that the district is closing schools, bringing the number of slots available much closer to the total number of students in the district. "That is going to limit choice and flexibility. That tightening is going to make it harder to balance choice with the principles of diversity."
"I am sensitive to not wanting to push middle class families to leave San Francisco, but my concern is with the students who haven't had an equal opportunity to learn," said Commissioner Eric Mar, who said he favored Options 1 and 2 of the CAC's proposal.
Commissioner Mark Sanchez agreed that establishing diversity was a greater driving force than keeping affluent families in the district. He also cautioned against the trend toward segregation within the schools that is occurring in some places, for example, in cases where there are bilingual programs. He also said it was time to reevaluate admission to Lowell and SOTA, where students are selected based on merit rather than going through the general assignment process.
Board President Norman Yee expressed his support for the CAC's Option 2. "I wrote a resolution in support of that that has been put on hold. I've since been convinced by my colleagues that maybe 60/40 isn't the best for all schools," he said.
A representative of the Parents Advisory Committee said it will be holding outreach meetings in the Mission on May 4 and in Bayview/Hunters Point on May 12 to collect more public input on student assignment from these communities. She said zip codes gathered during previous focus groups showed members of these neighborhoods had not been well represented.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
Labels: SFUSD Politics
1 Comments:
The meeting was also important as well because the Community Advisory Committee were finally given an opportunity to explain their findings and dialogue also with the Board of Education.
eric
http://edjustice.blogspot.com
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