Elementary School Student Assignment

San Francisco Unified School District and County Office of Education

Board Policy 5101.2

Elementary School Student Assignment

 

This Board Policy applies to the San Francisco Unified School District.

 

Background

The Board of Education strongly believes that students are best served in learning environments that are racially and socioeconomically integrated and has, since 1971, implemented a series of court-mandated and voluntary student assignment plans designed to support integrated learning environments in District schools.

 

There is a robust body of research that demonstrates benefits for all students from diversity — academic, cognitive, and social. Integrated learning environments have been shown to improve creativity, critical thinking, leadership, empathy, and collaboration — skills the District believes are critical for students to thrive in the 21st century. Integrated learning environments have also been shown to reduce bias, counter stereotypes, and foster meaningful relationships across difference — outcomes the District believes are vital to the overall well-being of the District’s students and community. Lastly, research has demonstrated that school integration can help close racial achievement gaps — an outcome that is aligned with the District’s core belief that the achievement gap is the greatest civil rights issue facing the District.

 

The District is defined by its core values — Student-centered, Fearless, United, Social justice, and Diversity-driven. The District is also committed to equity, which is defined as the work of eliminating oppression, ending biases and ensuring equally high outcomes for all participants through the creation of multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic, and multiracial practices and conditions; as well as removing the predictability of success or failure that currently correlates with any social or cultural factor. Integrated schools and classrooms, where students learn together across race, class, language, and ability are essential to living the District’s values and advancing equity in San Francisco.

 

In December 2018, the Board passed Resolution 189-25A1 “Developing a Community Based Student Assignment System for SFUSD” to address concerns that the current district-wide choice school assignment system has not reversed the trend of racial isolation, is complicated for families to navigate, and is not sufficiently predictable or transparent. 

 

Definitions

 

Academic Programs: Educational programs that are available at a limited number of elementary schools; clearly defined and listed on the District application form as a discrete choice; and have a separate enrollment capacity with seats reserved specifically for students enrolled in the program. Some academic programs may have eligibility requirements.

 

Assignment: A placement offer for a specific school or program made to an applicant by the District.

 

Diversity: Diversity in the District refers to the presence of the many identities, experiences, ways of making meaning and perspectives of students, families, community, and staff in the District. These include differences in background, thought, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, language, national origin, ability, and other socially constructed characteristics. Diversity is greatest when a range of identities, experiences, ways of making meaning, and perspectives are present in a school, classroom, or workplace.

 

Diversity Category: Diversity categories are neighborhood characteristics such as household income, race/ethnicity, and academic achievement that are attributed to a student based on their residence. Diversity categories assist with assigning students throughout a zone so that each elementary school or academic program’s enrollment reflects the diversity of its zone. Individual students’ characteristics will not be considered when assigning students to a diversity category.

 

Designation: An assignment to a school or program that was not requested during choice.

 

Enrolled: Students are enrolled in a school or program if they have accepted an assignment to and actually begun attending that school or program.

 

Equity Tiebreaker: A tiebreaker based on a student’s residence. The equity tiebreaker will be applied to applicants who either reside in Federal public housing or in historically underserved areas of San Francisco. Individual students’ demographic characteristics will not be considered.

 

Historically Underserved Area: Historically underserved areas will be determined using a composite measure that considers multiple neighborhood characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement.

 

Integrated School: An integrated school is diverse, facilitates positive interaction across difference, and provides equitable access to resources and opportunities that exist within the school.

 

PreK Tiebreaker: A tiebreaker for students who are enrolled in the District PreK programs co-located at District elementary schools and who are applying to TK or K at the same school

 

Sibling: Students who have the same parent/guardian and reside in the same household.

 

Sibling Tiebreaker: A tiebreaker used in student assignment for younger siblings of students who are currently enrolled in and will be attending the same school.

 

Tiebreaker: A preference used to assign students to schools when the number of requests for that school is greater than the number of spaces available.

Zones: Boundaries drawn around one or more elementary schools or academic programs.

 

Goals

The Board is committed to three main goals that the District’s elementary school student assignment system strives to achieve. The goals are prioritized in the following order:

1. Diversity: Create integrated elementary schools that provide students with the opportunity to experience the rich diversity of the city of San Francisco.
2. Predictability: Offer families of elementary school students a high degree of predictability about where their children will be enrolled in school.
3. Proximity: Create strong community connections to local schools and facilitate enrollment in an elementary school within a reasonable geographic distance.

Method for Allocating Seats

The Superintendent or designee will design a simple process for families to apply and enroll in schools. Families will have the ability to request schools before receiving an assignment. Incoming students will apply within a timeframe established by the Superintendent prior to the school year of enrollment. To apply, applicants will submit a ranked list of choices for schools in their zone. The assignment system will assign each student to a school based on their ranked list of choices, diversity category, and tiebreakers.

 

Applicants who are not assigned to one of their requested schools will be designated to the elementary school in their zone closest to where they live that has openings in their diversity category. Applicants may request to be designated to specific academic programs such as Newcomer programs or Language Pathways for which they are eligible.
 

Zones

Zones are boundaries drawn around one or more elementary schools and their various academic programs. Each elementary school and its academic programs will be incorporated into a zone. Zones will be used to determine which schools and programs students are eligible to apply for based on the student’s residence.

 

The Superintendent or designee may draw separate zones for different academic programs in order for applicants to have an equitable opportunity to apply to the range of academic programs offered in the District.

 

The following guidelines will be used to create zones:

1. Each zone will reflect the diversity of the city of San Francisco’s students as a whole. Specifically, each zone will be:
   1. ​​​​​​​​​​Socioeconomically diverse by remaining within fifteen percent (15%) of the District’s average for Free and Reduced Price Meal eligibility (FRPM);
   2. Conscious of other measurable characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, English proficiency, disability, and student academic performance.
2. Elementary schools in each zone will have sufficient capacity to accommodate all residents.
3. The District will consider enrollment projections and include additional capacity in zones where enrollment is expected to increase.
4. The number of elementary schools in each zone will be limited in order to make the assignment process more predictable.
5. Zones will reduce the distance students must travel to attend any school within them.
6. Zones will balance proximity with the need to expand beyond traditional neighborhood boundaries in order to facilitate diverse enrollments.
7. Zones will account for accessibility to public transit, topography, traffic patterns, and yellow bus transportation.
8. The Superintendent or designee may revise zone boundaries to meet the criteria listed above.

Diversity Categories

The elementary school student assignment system will assign applicants to schools in each zone so that each elementary school or academic program’s enrollment reflects the overall diversity of its zone. To accomplish this, the District will construct diversity categories using aggregate measures, and attribute them to each applicant based on their residence. Diversity categories will be applied alongside the applicant’s ranked choices during the assignment process. The characteristics of the individual applicant will not be considered when assigning students to schools.

 

Diversity categories will:

1. Consider multiple neighborhood characteristics. This may include race/ethnicity, household income, student academic performance, adult educational attainment, English proficiency, disability, and other factors that contribute to enhancing the educational experience for a school community.
2. Consider available, reliable, and geographically precise data to account for students living in relatively close proximity to one another whose access to resources and neighborhood experience varies.
3. The Superintendent or designee may revise diversity categories to meet the criteria listed above when the demographics and neighborhood characteristics within the diversity category no longer accurately reflect the diversity of the city of San Francisco.

Tiebreakers

When more students request a particular school than there are seats available, the assignment process will use a series of tiebreakers and random numbers to assign students to the school.

 

Tiebreakers will apply in the following order:

1. Sibling: Younger siblings of students who are currently enrolled in and will be attending the same school.
2. Equity: Students who either reside in Federal public housing or in historically underserved areas of San Francisco.
3. PreK: Students who are enrolled in the District PreK programs co-located at District elementary schools and who are applying to TK or K at the same school

Special Education

A student’s Individual Education Program (“IEP”) will describe the appropriate placement for students eligible for special education. To the extent possible, students receiving special education and related services will participate in the same student assignment process as students participating in general education.

Children of Site-based Staff

Children who reside with permanent, site-based staff in San Francisco will be eligible to apply to the elementary school where the parent /guardian currently works, regardless of which zone the family resides in. A priority in the school assignment appeals process will be provided to permanent, site-based staff who live in San Francisco and who wish to have their child attend the school where they currently work.

 

Community Engagement
Decisions about zones and diversity categories will be made in partnership with staff, District advisory bodies, families, and the community. Specifically, representatives of the aforementioned stakeholders will be part of the team recommending zones and diversity categories to the Superintendent. The approach to developing zones and diversity categories will be an active, conscious, and non-neutral process focused on the proactive counteraction of race inequities.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Superintendent or designee will conduct an assessment of the student assignment system and develop an annual report that will be presented to the Board that includes any adjustments that will be made in order for the assignment system to better achieve the goals and objectives of this policy.

 

The assessment will also evaluate whether the theory of action is achieving its desired outcomes.

 

Theory of Action

In adopting this policy, the Board subscribes to the following theory of action:

 

If the student assignment system:

• Creates assignment zones that are socioeconomically, racially/ethnically, linguistically, and academically diverse; and
• Limits the number of schools included in each zone and reduces the distance students must travel to attend any school in their zone; and
• Ensures every zone has sufficient capacity to accommodate all residents; and
• Is supported by transportation services designed to support zone assignments; and
• Gives all students access to the range of programs in the District; and
• Prioritizes students who reside in Federal public housing or historically underserved areas of San Francisco; and
• Assigns students so that every school mirrors the diversity of its zone; and
• Offers a simple process that makes it easy for families to apply and enroll.

Then the District will achieve these outcomes in the short-term:

• Student assignment will provide students with equitable access to the range of options in the District; and
• Student assignment will help create more diverse enrollment and will help increase enrollment in currently under-enrolled schools; and
• Elementary schools will have the opportunity to facilitate positive interaction across difference and provide equitable access to resources and opportunities that exist within the school; and
• All students will have certainty that they can be enrolled in a school in their zone; and
• All students will have the opportunity to live within a reasonable geographic distance to school.

And therefore the long term impact will be that:

• Each and every elementary school is socioeconomically representative of the District.  Specifically, every elementary school falls within a 15% range of the District’s average for FRPM; and
• The District’s focal students are enrolled in elementary schools with similar poverty rates (as measured by FRPM) as non-focal students; and
• Integrated schools and classrooms will help narrow the opportunity and achievement gap in the District; and
• Each and every student will receive the quality instruction and equitable support required to thrive in the 21st century.

The Superintendent shall develop administrative regulations to implement and support the goals and objectives of this policy. ​​​​​​​

 

Please note that compare references, or “cf”, refer to CSBA model policies and do not necessarily indicate that the San Francisco Unified School District has adopted the referenced policy.