A Dream Deferred:
How San Francisco schools leave behind the most vulnerable students
San Francisco has long stood as a place of progressive ideals – a place that not only welcomes everyone, especially the vulnerable, but supports its people and nurtures their individual gifts.
There have always been tensions between this vision and reality.
But rarely has that tension been deeper than today — and nowhere is that clearer than in the city’s schools. San Francisco isn’t the only city where life is hard for working-class and poor people, but it stands out.
The simple, disturbing fact is this:
Among similar districts across California, San Francisco ranks near the bottom in learning outcomes for low-income African American and Latino children.
Three Contradictions
San Francisco’s educational challenges take the form of three contradictions, which this report explores.
Together, these three realities amount to an indictment of how the district serves its most vulnerable children — and a powerful case for change. Let’s join together to do better for our kids.
San Francisco Unified School District has large gaps in student learning
Percent proficient in English and math, 2016-17
Hear what parents have to say
Juana Laura Chavero
When Juana Laura moved her family to San Francisco from Mexico, she enrolled her daughter in Washington High School and her sons in Mission High School. From the beginning, things did not go well…
Pastor Mervin Redmond
“We’ve lost a significant number of congregants because of housing prices,” said Mervin Redmond, Pastor of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Bayview-Hunter’s Point, who was born and raised in San Francisco…
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