Student Assignment This Policy Contains an Attachment.

This Board Policy applies to the San Francisco Unified School District and the County Office of Education.

Introduction

In December 2008, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board of Education convened an Ad Hoc Committee on Student Assignment to provide a regular and public way for the Board of Education to conduct public policy discussions with staff about the redesign of student assignment.  The Board of Education established the following priorities for the redesign of student assignment:

1. Reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school;
2. Provide equitable access to the range of opportunities offered to students; and
3. Provide transparency at every stage of the assignment process.

Between December 2008 and January 2010, the Board of Education held monthly Ad Hoc Committee meetings, and staff, with assistance from local and national partners and guidance from the Board of Education, analyzed current conditions, explored different student assignment options, and gathered feedback from the community.

Complex Challenges

Key findings from the research and analysis illustrate the complexity of designing a student assignment system that will meet the Board’s goal of reversing the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school.

• Neighborhood schools are limited in their ability to reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school, although some schools may be less racially concentrated than they are today, and many schools would have a more robust enrollment.
   
• Different choice systems are limited in their ability to reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school because the applicant pools for individual schools are racially isolated, and all families do not have the same opportunity to understand which schools they like and to submit their choices on­time for the assignment process.
   
• To reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school through student assignment alone, the Board of Education would need to assign students to schools they have not historically requested and to schools far from where they live.  For example, some students living on the west side of the city and in the north of the city would need to be assigned to schools on the east side of the city and the southeast side of the city, and vice­versa.

The diversity index lottery, a mandatory choice system with limited connection to where students live, has resulted in the dispersion of students throughout the city.  This dispersion of students and lack of predictability regarding enrollments makes it very difficult for the District to develop projections for strategic planning purposes, to use facilities efficiently, and to cost­effectively create PreK­12 instructional coherence and equitable access to programs and services. 

Many schools are currently operating under capacity, despite the fact that they are located in densely populated neighborhoods. The District is constrained in its ability to efficiently provide under­ enrolled schools with access to the variety of programs and services available at robustly enrolled schools.

Conclusion and Theory of Action

Staff concluded that a new student assignment system is one part of creating educational environments in which all students can flourish.  School quality is the paramount concern, and a student assignment system alone cannot ensure school quality, although it does have a role to play in creating diverse learning environments and robust enrollments in all SFUSD schools.

Five things together need to be in place to have a strong enough effect to have an impact on reversing the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school, and closing the achievement gap.

If the SFUSD has:

1. a student assignment system that is aligned with and supports other initiatives within SFUSD that are designed to create and support diverse enrollments and quality schools in every neighborhood
2. a human capital allocation system that ensures quality teaching and instructional leadership and promotes diversity among the faculty at each school;
3. strong and effective programs that attract a diverse student body and meet the needs of the students within each school;
4. professional development focused on culturally and linguistically responsive instruction and strategies to support integrated learning environments within each school; and
5. an equitable distribution of resources designed to promote and support diverse enrollments and quality schools in every neighborhood

then the SFUSD can:

• reverse the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school;
• provide equitable access to the range of opportunities offered to students;
• provide transparency at every stage of the assignment process;

and this will dramatically accelerate the achievement of those who are currently less academically successful, and increase the achievement of already high performing students.

Goals for the Student Assignment Policy

This Student Assignment Policy is designed to be flexible so it can be easily monitored and adjusted if it is not accomplishing the goals set forth below.

1. Facilitate student diversity within the parameters of current law.
2. Work in alignment with other District initiatives designed to avoid racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school.
3. Support the strategic use of limited resources to provide PreK­12 program pathways and quality schools in every neighborhood.
4. Provide equitable access to the range of opportunities offered to students.
5. Create robust enrollments at all schools.
6. Be simple and easy to understand, and provide transparency at every stage of the assignment process.
7. Offer families a degree of predictability regarding where their children will attend school.
8. Minimize the degree of effort families must invest to enroll their children in school.
9. Permit the efficient and cost­effective use of school facilities and transportation.
10. Be cost effective to implement and sustain over time.

Definitions

The following definitions apply to terms used in this Student Assignment Policy (hereinafter “Policy”).

Attendance Areas: Boundaries drawn around individual schools.

Elementary City­Wide Schools: Elementary schools (TK/K­5, and TK/K­8 schools) that do not have an attendance area and therefore do not offer any local preference to students.  The purpose of the city­wide school designation is to facilitate equitable access to the range of opportunities offered by SFUSD.  The Superintendent will have the authority to designate city­wide schools as attendance area schools, and vice versa.  The Superintendent shall notify the Board of Education about any modifications or adjustments to city­wide designations at a properly noticed Board meeting.

Elementary City­Wide Programs:  Programs that are (a) clearly defined and listed on the SFUSD application form as a discrete choice, (b) are available at a limited number of elementary attendance area schools, and (c) have a separate enrollment capacity with seats reserved specifically for students enrolled in the program (for example, the Cantonese Immersion program at West Portal), may be designated city­wide programs, which do not offer any local preference to students.  The purpose of the city­wide program designation is to facilitate equitable access to the range of opportunities offered by SFUSD.  The Superintendent will have the authority to designate programs as city­wide, and shall notify the Board of Education about any modifications or adjustments to city­wide designations at a properly noticed Board meeting. 

Standalone Early Education Schools: SFUSD Early Education Schools that offer PreK and/or Transitional Kindergarten programs, but not Kindergarten or other Elementary School grades. Students who complete TK at these schools starting in the 26-27 school year will be automatically promoted to Kindergarten at the feeder elementary school for that TK Feeder Pattern in the same pathway starting in the 27-28 school year.

TK Feeder Pattern: Designation of which Standalone Early Education Schools feed into which elementary schools. TK students attending an Early Education School will be automatically promoted to the elementary school corresponding to their TK feeder pattern, regardless of their residence. The TK-to-elementary school feeder patterns that will be used in assignment of students shall be determined by the Superintendent, who has the authority to adjust feeder patterns as more TK classes are added. The TK feeder patterns that will be used for assignment of TK students beginning with the 2026-27 school year are attached to this Policy as Appendix C. Note that a Standalone Early Education School may be part of multiple TK feeder patterns; when applying to TK at the Standalone Early Education School, families will need to apply to a specific elementary feeder pattern within the Early Education School. TK students completing TK at a Standalone Early Education School in the 26-27 school year and beyond will be automatically promoted to Kindergarten in the same pathway at the corresponding feeder elementary school, though these students are able to apply to other Kindergarten programs.

Program Pathway: A program that is listed as a discrete choice on the SFUSD enrollment form and continues from pre­K/TK to kindergarten, elementary to middle school, and/or middle school to high school.  Spanish Immersion is an example of a program pathway.  General Education is not considered a program pathway.

Service Attendance Areas: Boundaries drawn around one or more schools based on the location of services and programs that are not available at every school (for example, Special Day Classes). Because there may be different service attendance areas for different types of programs, an individual school may be in more than one service attendance area.

Transitional Grades: Grades that serve as the entry year of enrollment to a school or grade span. For these grades, students must submit an application in order to receive a school assignment. The following grades are Transitional Grades: (a) Transitional Kindergarten; (b) Kindergarten (unless the student participated in Transitional Kindergarten at the same site); (c) 6th grade at middle schools, not K-8s; (d) 9th grade. Beginning with the 2024-2025 enrollment cycle, TK will become the Transitional Grade at many school sites with Kindergarten. For example, students who apply for TK enrollment in

2024-2025 will matriculate directly into their on-site K in the 2025-2026 school year.

Non-Transitional Grades: Grades that are not the entry year of enrollment to a school or grade span. For these grades, students who are previously enrolled do not need to submit an application in order to remain enrolled in the same school and program for the next year. For example, in elementary school, first grade is a non-transitional grade, because students who complete Kindergarten can move automatically into first grade the next year.

Combined Census Tracts: Geographic areas containing one or more adjacent census tracts from the federal decennial Census.   These combined census tracts shall be approved by the Superintendent, who has the authority to change the combined census tracts in response to any adjustments the US Census Bureau may make to the current configuration of San Francisco’s 176 census tracts, and to ensure that the combined Census tracts have substantial numbers of students living in them, minimizing the effects of random variation.

Local Preference (“LP”): A preference in program or school assignment for students who live in the attendance area of a school or the service attendance area for programs and services not available at every school.

Census Tract Integration Preference (“CTIP”): A preference in program or school assignment based on a demographic value that is assigned to each combined census tract.  This preference is designed to facilitate attendance at the same schools by students who live in demographically different areas of the city.  In the first year of implementation of the Student Assignment Policy, the CTIP value will be based on average K­12 California Standards Test (“CST”) scores of students who reside in the combined census tract.  Following the first year of implementation, the Superintendent may recommend that the Board of Education use different demographic data to assign CTIP values to combined census tracts in order to better fulfill the goals of the Student Assignment Policy.  Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education would be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

CTIP1 and CTIP2 Tracts: For the first year of Policy implementation, an average K­12 CST score will be computed for each combined census tract, and those combined census tracts will be divided into quintiles based on average CST scores so that approximately 20% of all SFUSD students live within each quintile.  CTIP1 tracts will be the quintile with the lowest average CST scores, and CTIP2 tracts will be the four remaining quintiles.  Following the first year of implementation, the Superintendent may recommend changes to the quintile method, adjustments to the definitions of CTIP1 and CTIP2, the creation of additional CTIP categories, priority for different CTIP categories in different schools, and/or splitting capacities so each school has a preference for both CTIP1 and CTIP2.  Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education would be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

English Learner (“EL”): Students who are in the process of acquiring English as a second language and have not yet reached Fully English Proficient (“FEP”) status.

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

Incoming Student: A student who is (a) applying to SFUSD without a current active SFUSD enrollment, or (b) applying to a new SFUSD school for a transitional grade.

Racial Isolation: Although the SFUSD enrollment is diverse and does not have a majority group, in CBEDS 2008 twenty­five schools (which is approximately a quarter of all K12 schools) had more than 60% of a single racial/ethnic group, ten schools had more than 70% of a single racial/ethnic group, three schools had more than 80% of a single racial/ethnic group, and fifteen schools had more than 60% of a single racial/ethnic group coupled with an Academic Performance of 1, 2, or 3. The Board considers such schools racially isolated, and a goal of this policy is to reduce the number of racially isolated schools.

Underserved Students: Students performing Below Basic or Far Below Basic on the California Standards Test and other equivalent assessments administered by the District

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

Superintendent: The Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District (“SFUSD”).

Board of Education (“Board”): The SFUSD Board of Education.
 

Bayview Preference: Preference category used in student assignment for middle school based on students’ fifth grade enrollment in one of four elementary schools:  Dr. George Washington Carver, Dr. Charles Drew, Bret Harte, Malcolm X Academy.

94124 Preference: A preference category used in student assignment for Willie L. Brown, Jr. middle school based on residence in the 94124 zip code.

Brown Preference: A preference category used in student assignment for students who were enrolled in and attended Willie L. Brown, Jr., middle school in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade when they transition from eighth to ninth grade.

Student Assignment Method

This policy shall not supersede any assignment or enrollment priority required by state or federal law and Board Policy.

Attendance Area Boundaries

In drawing attendance and/or revising area boundaries, the following factors will be taken into account: neighborhood demographics (with the goal of maximizing racial diversity); where students live now and where enrollment changes are expected in the future; availability of facilities; traffic patterns; location of programs (for example, pre­K, special education, and language pathways); and coherence of pre­K to TK or kindergarten and elementary to middle school pathways.

Elementary attendance areas will be contiguous.

Attendance area boundaries will change over time.  On an annual basis, SFUSD staff will review attendance area boundaries and make recommendations to the Superintendent as to whether modifications are needed.  The Superintendent shall have authority to adjust attendance area boundaries.  The Superintendent shall notify the Board of Education about any modifications or adjustments to attendance area boundaries at a properly noticed Board meeting.

Service Attendance Areas

Service attendance areas may be created for programs that are not available at every school (for example, Special Day Classes).  The Superintendent will have the authority to approve service attendance area boundaries.

In drawing these boundaries, the following factors will be considered: program location, neighborhood demographics (with the goal of maximizing racial diversity), where students live now and where enrollment changes are expected in the future, availability of facilities, traffic patterns, and coherence of pre­K to TK to kindergarten and elementary to middle school pathways.

On an annual basis, SFUSD staff may review service attendance area boundaries and make recommendations to the Superintendent as to whether modifications are needed.  The Superintendent shall have authority to adjust service attendance area boundaries.  The Superintendent shall notify the Board of Education about any modifications or adjustments to service area boundaries at a properly noticed Board meeting.

Attendance Area Elementary Schools: At the beginning of the enrollment process, SFUSD PreK students will receive an application form and a packet of information describing the enrollment process, the timelines, and the SFUSD elementary school options available to them.  This packet of information will include details about resources available to assist families learn more about SFUSD elementary school options and the programs available at each elementary school.

Each year, the Superintendent will evaluate the impact of the order and nature of preference priorities and may recommend adjustments to the Board of Education for implementation in subsequent years. Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education will be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

For the 2026-27 school year only, for PK students currently enrolled in Early Education Schools who are applying to TK at the same Early Education School, the student assignment process will include a tiebreaker between #2 and #3:

    2. 5   students enrolled in an SFUSD PreK program at the city­wide Early Education 

         School.

This one-year tiebreaker is designed to ensure that students currently enrolled in Pre-K at an Early Education School who are too young to attend TK in school year 2025-26 do not lose their tiebreaker to TK at their Early Education School. After the 2026-27 school year, students entering Pre-K will have started Pre-K with the new policy in place. Enrollment Center staff will remove this paragraph and the previous paragraph on June 30, 2026, to prevent confusion in future years.

Middle Schools:  All elementary schools will feed into a particular middle school.  The elementary­to­middle school feeder patterns that will be used in assignment of students beginning with the 2012­-2013 school year are attached to this Policy as Appendix B.  Students enrolled in K­8 schools may participate in the middle school choice process, and their K­8 school will be considered their feeder middle school.

The Superintendent shall have the authority to adjust or modify feeder patterns, including when necessary due to school closures or openings.  In making any modifications to feeder patterns that are prompted by school closures or openings, the Superintendent shall consider the following factors: current enrollment patterns and expected future enrollment changes balancing the size of enrollment at various schools; the diversity of enrollment in various schools the availability of facilities the locations of programs and schools and the coherence of elementary to middle school pathways.  The Superintendent shall notify the Board of Education about any adjustments or modifications to feeder patterns at a properly noticed Board meeting.

Each year, the Superintendent will evaluate the impact of the order and nature of preference priorities that are used in the choice process and may recommend adjustments to the Board of Education for implementation in subsequent years.  Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education will be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

Incoming sixth graders will need to apply for middle school by a deadline established by the Superintendent. When submitting their applications, students will be able to request their feeder school or any other middle school.  All requests will be processed at the same time, and all applicants will receive a single assignment offer according to the deadlines established by the Superintendent. When middle schools offer more than one program (for example, General Education and Immersion), students will need to indicate which program(s) they are applying for, and may apply for more than one program at a particular school.  Students enrolled in fifth grade in a K­8 school will not need to apply or otherwise participate in this process in order to enter sixth grade at their K­8 school, but may elect to participate if they want to attend a different middle school.

If a middle school offers more than one program, students will need to indicate which program(s) they are applying for.  The student assignment process will give preference to applicants in transitional years (i.e., students entering sixth grade) in the following order, except that students applying for programs that have eligibility requirements must meet the applicable requirements for those programs:

1. siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the applying sibling requests attendance;
2. students enrolled in an elementary school that feeds into the requested middle school (middle school feeder tiebreaker);
3. students attending Kindergarten through 5th grade at one of the following four elementary schools: Dr. George Washington Carver, Dr. Charles Drew, Bret Harte, Malcolm X Academy (Bayview preference);
4. students who reside in CTIP1 census tracts;
5. all other students.

Fifth grade students who are enrolled in an elementary ­to ­middle school program pathway (for example Spanish Immersion to Spanish Secondary Dual Language Pathway) will have priority over other students who are otherwise in the same preference category.  Assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of preferences outlined above in hierarchical order, and if those preferences do not resolve ties then seats will be allocated by random lottery.

Students who are not assigned to one of their choices will be assigned to their middle school feeder school if it has openings after the choice process; otherwise they will be assigned to the school closest to where they live that has openings.  On the application form, applicants can elect to be assigned to the closest language or newcomer pathway with openings if none of their choices are available instead of being assigned to their feeder school or the school closest to where they live that has openings.

For non­transitional grades, the preferences will be modified by the Superintendent as appropriate to address the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”), the Open Enrollment Act (“OEA”), their successors, and any applicable state or federal requirements.  All of the applicable preferences previously listed will otherwise apply.

Willie L. Brown, Jr. Middle School

This section of the policy governs the enrollment of students into Willie L. Brown, Jr. (Brown) middle school.

The student assignment process will give preference to Brown applicants in the following order:

1. siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the aaplying sibling requests attendance;
2. students attending kindergarten through 5th grade at one of the following four elementary schools: Dr. George Washington Carver, Dr. Charles Drew, Bret Harte, Malcolm X Academy (Bayview preference);
3. students who reside in 94124 (94124 preference);
4. students who reside in CTIP1 census tracts;
5. all other students.

Assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of preferences outlined above in hierarchal order, and if those preferences do not resolve ties then seats will be allocated by random lottery.

Students who are not assigned to one of their choices will be assigned to their middle school feeder school if it has openings after the choice process; otherwise they will be assigned to the school closest to where they live that has openings.

For non­transitional grades, the preferences will be modified by the Superintendent as appropriate to address the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”), the Open Enrollment Act (“OEA”), their successors, and any applicable state or federal requirements.  All of the applicable preferences previously listed will otherwise apply.

5th grade students enrolled in the four schools receiving the Bayview preference will maintain their middle school feeder tiebreaker (see Appendix B).

Middle School City-Wide Programs

When middle schools offer more than one program (for example, General Education and Secondary Dual Language Pathway), students will need to indicate which program(s) they are applying for, and may apply for more than one program at a particular school.

Through the choice process, for middle schools, the process will give preference to applicants in transitional years (i.e., students transitioning from fifth to sixth grade) in the following order, except that students applying for programs that have eligibility requirements must meet the applicable requirements for those programs:

1. students who received an initial assignment to attend that school (this middle school feeder tiebreaker will apply when a student is enrolled in the school but not in the desired program at the school);
2. siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the applying sibling requests attendance;
3. students attending Kindergarten through 5th grade at one of the following four elementary schools: Dr. George Washington Carver, Dr. Charles Drew, Bret Harte, Malcolm X Academy (Bayview preference);
4. students who reside in CTIP1 census tracts;
5. all other students.

Fifth grade students who are enrolled in an elementary-­to­-middle school program pathway (for example Spanish Immersion to Spanish Secondary Dual Language Pathway) will have priority over other students who are otherwise in the same preference category.  Assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of preferences outlined above in hierarchical order, and if those preferences do not resolve ties then seats will be allocated by random lottery.  This preference order will govern the choice process for SFUSD fifth graders, and for non-­SFUSD students seeking to enroll in middle school in transitional grades.

Students who are not assigned to one of their choices will be assigned to their middle school feeder school if it has openings after the choice process; otherwise they will be assigned to the school closest to where they live that has openings.  On the application form, applicants can elect to be assigned to the closest language or newcomer pathway with openings if none of their choices are available instead of being assigned to their feeder school or the school closest to where they live that has openings.

Each year, the Superintendent will evaluate the impact of the order and nature of preference priorities and may recommend adjustments to the Board of Education for implementation in subsequent years. Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education will be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

High Schools: At the beginning of the enrollment process, SFUSD eighth graders will receive an application form and a packet of information describing the enrollment process, the timelines, and the SFUSD high school options available to them. The packet of information will include details about resources available to assist them learn more about SFUSD high school options and the programs available at each high school.

Incoming ninth graders will need to apply for high school by a deadline established by the Superintendent.  When high schools offer more than one program (for example, General Education and Secondary Dual Language Pathway), students will need to indicate which program(s) they are applying for, and may apply for more than one program at a particular school.

For high schools the choice process will give preference to applicants in transitional years (i.e., students transitioning from eighth to ninth grade) in the following order, except that students applying for programs that have eligibility requirements must meet the applicable requirements for those programs:

1. siblings of students who are enrolled in and will be attending the school during the year for which the applying sibling requests attendance;
    
2. students graduating from Willie L. Brown, Jr., Middle School (Brown) who were enrolled in and attended Brown in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade (Brown preference);
    
3. CTIP1, with a minimum of 20% of seats reserved at each high school for students who live in CTIP1 census tracts;
    
4. all other students

Eighth grade students who are enrolled in a middle­to­high school program pathway (for example Secondary Dual Language Pathway) will have priority over other students who are otherwise in the same preference category.  Assignments will be made by looking to all the possible combinations of preferences outlined above in hierarchical order, and if those preferences do not resolve ties then seats will be allocated by random lottery.

If there are fewer requests than reserved seats for CTIP1 students, the Superintendent shall have discretion to determine whether and when to release reserved seats to other students.  The administrative regulations will set forth factors to guide the Superintendent’s decision making process regarding whether and when to release reserved seats to other students.

Students who are not assigned to one of their choices will be assigned to the high school closest to where they live that has openings.  On the application form, applicants can elect to be assigned to the closest language or newcomer pathway with openings if none of their choices are available instead of being assigned to the school closest to where they live that has openings.

Each year, the Superintendent will evaluate the impact of the order and nature of preference priorities and may recommend adjustments to the Board of Education for implementation in subsequent years.  Any recommended changes approved by the Board of Education will be incorporated into this Student Assignment Policy.

Special Education:  The Individual Education Program (“IEP”) team will determine appropriate placement for special education students.  To the extent possible, given the unique needs of students as outlined in their IEP, the student assignment process used to assign general education students will be used to assign special education students.

The Superintendent shall establish service attendance area boundaries for special education programs not available at every school.

Staff Priority: A priority in the school assignment appeals process will be provided to permanent, full-time site-based staff who live in San Francisco and who wish to have their child attend the school where they currently work.

Infrastructure Support for Student Assignment Policy

Transportation

The transportation policy that supports this Student Assignment Policy is set forth in Resolution 108­24Sp1.

Program Placement, Outreach and Recruitment

In order to effectively use choice as a tactic to reduce racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students at the same school, and to accomplish other objectives, the Superintendent will undertake the following measures.

1. By August 2010, develop a timeline to place high quality and attractive programs at schools with high concentrations of underserved students and schools with a lack of diversity built into surrounding residential patterns;
    
2. Change the current configuration of programs and services to ensure equitable access, to facilitate pre­K­12 instructional coherence, and to attract a diverse group of students;
    
3. Develop and implement an outreach and recruitment campaign to encourage students across differences in language, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic background to attend schools that students from their backgrounds have not historically requested and that may be located outside their neighborhoods.
    
4. Develop a targeted recruitment campaign to help SFUSD eighth graders navigate the high school choice system and learn about their SFUSD high school options.
    
5. Strategically recruit diverse faculty across SFUSD.
    
6. Evaluate the PreK/TK assignment process and explore ways to align it with the kindergarten assignment process.
    
7. Investigate the accuracy of home addresses and where appropriate pursue criminal and/or civil action against individuals who submit fraudulent information.  Investigations shall in no way be used to determine the legal status of the student or the family.  Should investigations conclude that fraudulent information was submitted, the Superintendent shall have the right to revoke the assignment.

Monitoring and Implementation Regulations

Monitoring

The Superintendent will convene a group of experts with the skills, knowledge, and ability to review and analyze data.  Before November 2010, the Superintendent, with the group of experts, will establish specific goals and an infrastructure for monitoring student assignment, and will bring the specific goals back to the Board for review and approval.

The Superintendent will conduct an annual assessment of the student assignment system and develop an annual report that will be presented to the Board of Education no later than January each year beginning with January 2012.  This report will include analysis and a review of information concerning connections among the portfolio of schools and programs, student achievement, and student assignment, such as:

1.   SFUSD’s portfolio of schools and programs:

• progress towards the placement of high quality programs at schools with high concentrations of underserved students
• changes to the configuration of programs and services to ensure equitable access, to facilitate preK­12 instructional coherence, and to attract a racially/ethnically diverse group of students to schools with a lack of diversity built into surrounding residential patterns
• percent of special education students and English Learner students at each school
• profile of schools enrolled at less than 80% of their building’s capacity

2.   Racial/ethnic diversity, the concentration of underserved students, and the achievement gap;
 

3.   Choice patterns and enrollment diversity:

• application and enrollment patterns by race/ethnicity and CTIP category for city­wide schools, city­wide programs, and attendance area schools;
• characteristics common to schools with diverse applicant pools, and characteristics common to schools with racially isolated applicant pools and/or high concentrations of underserved students
• application and enrollment patterns at schools with an API score of less than 700;
• feeder patterns from middle school to high school that develop through the choice process for high school;
• outreach and recruitment infrastructure

4.   Student assignment and racial/ethnic diversity:

• siblings
• CTIP
• attendance areas
• elementary to middle school feeder patterns;
• city­wide designation

The Superintendent’s annual report to the Board may include recommend changes to the Student Assignment Policy itself.  In particular, the Superintendent may recommend that the Board of Education change some of the following aspects of the student assignment policy:

• the order of preference for siblings, CTIP 1 students, and attendance area students;
• the percentage of seats reserved and/or available for each of the preferences;
• the demographic information used to assign CTIP values;
• which CTIP values are granted priority;
• whether to keep surplus seats at schools open in order to maintain desired CTIP percentages; and
• whether the CTIP and/or local preferences should vary among different schools or different types of schools.

If the annual reports show that SFUSD is not making progress each year on its goal of reversing the trend of racial isolation and the concentration of underserved students in the same school and closing the achievement gap, the Superintendent shall recommend changes to one or more of the above aspects of the student assignment policy and the Board shall consider such recommendations.

Revisions to this student assignment policy requiring Board approval will be approved at least three months before SFUSD begins accepting applications for any given year, unless otherwise authorized by the Board.  For example, if SFUSD begins accepting applications in November, any revisions to this student assignment policy would have to be approved by August.

Implementation Regulations

Following adoption of this Student Assignment Policy, SFUSD staff will develop administrative regulations to support the goals and objectives of the Policy.  These regulations will address the following among other subjects:

• guidelines for establishing and managing enrollment capacity;
• enrollment guidelines for residents and non­residents of San Francisco;
• key dates and the enrollment timeline;
• enrollment guidelines for students new to the District, Special Education students, English Learners, and students enrolled in uniquely configured schools;
• language assessment procedures;
• age of first enrollment;
• aged out students;
• proof of address;
• change of address;
• transfers including NCLB transfers;
• proof of guardianship or custodianship;
• documentation required for enrollment;
• appeals; and
• waiting pools.

Following adoption of this Student Assignment Policy, SFUSD staff will develop aggressive procedures for verifying student addresses and for verifying siblings.

Timing and Implementation

The Student Assignment Policy set forth herein will take several years to implement and will begin with students entering transitional grades in Fall 2011.

The transition from the current Policy to the new assignment policy will provide stability for students attending a school outside their newly defined attendance area school.  All currently enrolled students may remain at their current school.  Currently enrolled students interested in attending their newly defined attendance area school can submit a request to transfer to their attendance area school, but transfers will only be processed when feasible or where required by law.

This Student Assignment Policy overrides all terms in Board policies, resolutions, and administrative regulations that are inconsistent with any of its provisions, including but not limited to P5100, P5117, P5110, and P5110.1 and Resolution 108­24Sp2.

APPENDIX B: ELEMENTARY­TO­MIDDLE SCHOOL FEEDER PATTERNS Adjusted: 5/27/2014 for use starting with the enrollment cycle for the 2015­16 school year. Board Agenda: Other Information Items, page 24

APPENDIX C: EARLY EDUCATION TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FEEDER PATTERNS Adjusted: 4/22/2025 for use starting with the enrollment cycle for the 2026-27 school year. 

Adjustments to feeder patterns will be published at the beginning of the enrollment cycle in October each year, to accommodate additional TK classrooms and program changes.

As noted in Board Policy, “The TK-to-elementary school feeder patterns that will be used in assignment of students shall be determined by the Superintendent, who has the authority to adjust feeder patterns as more TK classes are added.”

• Pending facility updates at Chin to add TK