Putting Progressive Values into Action

This week, San Francisco voters chose three new school commissioners, three women of color who are a breath of fresh air for the Board of Education. Jane Kim, Hydra Mendoza and Kim-Shree Maufas are optimistic, talented and full of energy.

The question, though, is exactly where their progressive values will lead them as they join two other progressive members of the board and begin to exercise their influence as commissioners.

As a parent, I want the Board of Education to focus on improving schools for young people like my daughters who go to school here in San Francisco. As a progressive, I want them to focus particularly on better serving disadvantaged young people—those who really need the schools to help them launch their lives in promising directions.

With this in mind, I have five suggestions for the new progressive majority and all of the commissioners. By following these suggestions and attaching real goals to measure progress, the board could lead the way and show that it’s serious about making a difference for young people and families in San Francisco.

1. Launch a citywide campaign to dramatically increase the college-ready graduation rate for disadvantaged youth.

Send a kid to college, and chances are that you end poverty in his or her family forever.

Here in San Francisco, we have lots of room for improvement when it comes to preparing our disadvantaged kids for college. According the Education Trust West, in 2005, 63% of Asian students and 54% of white students graduated from our schools ready for a four-year college. But the comparable numbers for African American and Hispanic students were 15% and 20% respectively.

The new progressive majority on the board should make it its first priority to rally the city around a campaign to double the college-ready graduation rate – up to 40% or more – for African American and Hispanic students over the next eight years. The board should hold an annual event to share progress and challenge every citizen, business and nonprofit organization that cares about our city’s future to get involved in the campaign.

2. Look at charter schools as a model.

Looking for ideas about how to double the college-ready graduation rate for underserved students? Look no further than some of the charter schools right here in San Francisco.

Gateway High School enrolls African American and Hispanic students at similar rates as the district as a whole and prepares an impressive 69% of them for college.

San Francisco is home to some of the leading charter school operators in the state, including EnvisionSchools, Leadership Public Schools and the KIPP Foundation. Some of their schools have demonstrated success with students who often fall through the cracks in district schools.

The new board should view these publicly funded schools not as competitors to public schools, but rather as allies in our common quest to serve students well. It should explore what might be achieved by bringing more of these schools to San Francisco, and by building deeper partnerships with their parent organizations.

Of course, charters aren’t the only source of good ideas; district schools like Thurgood Marshall and Galileo have made great progress over the past few years and the board should study what they are doing right, too.

3. Get the right principals in place.

Great schools take great principals. Great principals take personal responsibility for school success, know how to lead teaching and learning, recruit and develop great teachers, and build strong school communities. There is no substitute for effective leadership.

While we have some great principals in San Francisco, we need more. The board should make this a top goal.

The San Francisco School Alliance has brokered an alliance with UC Berkeley to help the district train and support new principals. The new progressive majority should pay close attention.

The board should track and publicly report progress toward the goal of getting a great principal in each school every year.

4. Recruit, retain and develop great teachers.

Of course, it’s ultimately the teachers who make the difference for students. Great teachers know their subject matter, engage their students in learning, communicate well with parents and collaborate to strengthen instruction across the school.

The new progressive majority needs to lead the way to improve teacher recruitment, retention and professional development. Teacher professional development has been gutted in recent years, under the pressure of budget cuts. The San Francisco Education Fund and other community allies stand ready to help rebuild a strong teacher professional development program.

Recognizing that we can’t get to where we want to go without great teachers, the progressives should lead the board to develop a plan to address this issue. And again, every year, the board should track and publicly report progress toward this objective.

5. Partner closely with the city.

Schools can’t do it all alone, especially for our most disadvantaged students.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, city Supervisors and city voters know this; that’s why they worked together to pass legislation that provides city funding for schools to support arts, sports libraries, and music, among other areas.

In addition, Mayor Newsom has done more than his predecessors to reach out and help schools where he can. For example, he’s enlisted the help of the Department of Public Health to put health clinics in some of the schools that need it most.

The new progressive majority should put politics aside and reach out to Mayor Newsom and work with him to take the city-schools partnership even farther.

Of course the new Board of Education will be confronted with many other important issues, including finding a new superintendent, deciding which schools to close, revising the student assignment system and making tough budget choices. All these issues matter.

But the true progressives will stand up and see the forest for the trees. They’ll resist the temptation to grandstand on issues peripheral to student academic success, and they’ll rally the city to achieve the real prize: doubling the college-ready graduation rate for disadvantaged students. With their leadership, we can make this happen and change the future for thousands of kids in our city.

Comments

[Lynda Washngton]

Since the "progressives" ruined education in America, maybe they ought to stay out of it in the future. Look, college is not the only dream. It is not the only way out of poverty. In fact, it is not a guaranteed ticket to easy street. The more students who are directed to college, the farther down the drain our COLLEGES go. Speaking of drains, in this perfect"progressive" world, who will tend to the drains? Oh, BTW, a good plumber can make $200k per year.

[Daniel Finn]

Why does society label some as "disadvantaged?" My heart grieves that many children have inherent learning disabilities, however rejoices that there are so many benevolent organizations provding help. But could it be that some such students are not simply victims but have perpetuated their own difficulties?

The foundations of this Wonderful Country are "liberty and justice for all," and these virtues reflect themselves in the freedom and opportunity we enjoy today. John Ridley [1] writes that as Americans, we have all the advantages; it is our responsibility to exploit them. That is, libery and justice are free, but not gifts; we each must reach and strive to attain and maintain our freedom and the amazing outpouring of its results.

Please refer to Ridley's excellent article at http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2006/061105_mfe_December_06_Essay_1.html

[Vincent Aidnik]

PLease update your site with Twelvebridges Middle school information

[Jennifer L. Sain]

Hello, I am Jennifer L. Sain and live in Burleson Texas. I am a activities director of a retirement community on Bryant Irving in Fort Worth Texas. Oak Park Retirement Community. I would love to see the children come for a regular visit to our community to learn about the times of this age group, to have a set program on the calendar of different topics such as in December honor our veterans on Pearl Harbor remembrance day, just a short lesson on this day in history, and a account of some our residents accounts of that day in history,they could make cards,,,,,take pictures of the children and the residents, times are so differnet now, the children could learn what it was like in the one room school house, all ages learning in the same class room,maybe after school starts for that year, the possiblities are endless,,,,etc. just a thought. A program such as this wouild be so important not only for my residents but for the children to learn about these times from who better than the ones who lived them, my grandmother is 96 and I can not get enough of the stories she tells me of the horse and buggy days, the making of butter, on and on,,,,,,,,,,history of our great country needs to be talked about with our young children and older ones, not just to look at a old person as a slow gray haired person with a cane or walker known as Grandma or Grandpa, but a person of great value with a past and a history lesson.

Thank you for your time
Jennifer L. Sain
Oak Park
4242 Bryant Irvin
Fort Worth Texas
817-763-0088

[Shelia]

Are there any schools like Gateway High, Envision Schools, Leadership, Thurgood Marshall, and other schools you mention in your article that are in or near Vallejo, CA

My 10th grader is struggling and have been tested over and over and the school system says she doesn't qualify for special ed., but considered a slow learner.

Where are the resources for the slow learners?

[Mack Witzel]

Dear Mr. Hines,
My name is Mack Witzel, and I am a sophomore in High School. One of my dreams is to be a foreign exchange student but the cost of it is far past my budget. But latley I met my uncle who lives in India and I may have the chance to go over with him for six months. But while in India, I would be worried about my education and where Uncle Bernie is at the education system is poor, and I was wandering if I could get some information about V.I.L.A.S. so that I could keep up with my grade and be over there at the same time. I got this idea from my cousin who did the same thing while she was in Scotland. Please send me the information that you have and anything else that you can think of.
Thank you very much
Mack Witzel.

[Dave Kuntz]

Nice job.
You have helped elect a school board that is going to kill the Jr. ROTC programs in seven schools because children may be enticed to join the military. If we really want to encourage more children to go to college we should give them more options to do so. Jr. ROTC is one of those options. Not everybody can dance, draw pictures or carry a football, but all children benefit from the encouragement and equal status the Jr. ROTC programs across the country promote. Your meaningless words about… “The new progressive majority should put politics aside” lasted about 2 seconds after taking their oath of office. Do you think they will also cut the gay recruiting programs endorsed by school administrators and teachers?