This paper is made possible with the support of The Examiner

FALL 2011 VOLUME VI ISSUE 1

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San Francisco Unified School District

School Times

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SFUSD MathClasses to SpendMore Time on KeyConceptsNew Standards Reflect MathEducation of Leading Coun-tries

For over a decade, research hasshown that math education isdone differently in countrieswhose students do far better inmath than the U.S. Critics ofmath curriculum in this countrysay that the old approach, “amile wide and an inch deep,” istoo broad, with a tendency torush students through conceptsand skills, before most studentsdevelop a deep understandingof them.

Now, SFUSD has adoptedthe Common Core State Stan-dards that have great potentialto change how math is taught

新標準反映出數學領先國

家的數學教育

十多年來，研究證明，學生數

學成績比美國學生佳的國家，

其數學教育有別於美國的數學

教育。論者認為，美國的數學

課程陳舊落伍，寬泛而不夠深

入。學生匆匆學習一些概念和

技能，如同水過鴨背般，以致

Los nuevos estándares quereflejarán la educación de lasmatemáticas de los paíseslíderesPor más de diez años, las inves-tigaciones han demostrado quelas matemáticas se enseñan enforma diferente en países dondelos estudiantes obtienenmejores resultados que en losEstados Unidos. Los críticosdel plan de estudio dematemáticas en este país, dicen

continued on page 12 Continúa en la página 3

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS SUMMER? Students Darren Easterling and Victoria Lam, left, go over construction site details

with project engineer Will Spargur during their summer internship with URS Corporation. Each summer, students who

are between their junior and senior years – and enrolled in one of the district’s career pathway programs – take part in

paid internships to learn about careers in a variety of fields. This hands-on learning is coordinated by SFUSD’s Career

and Technical Education program. Read what this year’s interns had to say about their summer jobs. SEE PAGE 2

Restorative Practices inSFUSD

“If there is something wrongthat happens in a class, it needsto be settled in class,” saidJonathon, an eighth grade stu-dent at Everett Middle School,during his class restorativepractices circle. He was takingpart in a new way to deal with

a pattern of behavior that hadbeen disrupting class.

“We talk about how to stopnegative, loud behavior andget work done without havingto be sent out of class.”

The teacher also got a turn tosay something to the students.”I don’t want to yell at you,and I would like for you to getyour work done.”

As the process continued,students talked one by one

about what was happening,and many agreed that the trou-ble normally began when onestudent would antagonize an-other, who would then react ina negative way. Both studentswould end up in trouble andget sent out of class.

Jonathan said the circle washelpful. “It's easy. You don’thave to make a big scene aboutit. You can just sit in a circleand do it together with every-

body instead of doing it inpieces.”

Jonathon captured theessence of restorative prac-tices, one of SFUSD’s priorityinitiatives. Beginning as aboard resolution in 2009,SFUSD embraced a new ap-proach to dealing with studentconflict and misconduct.

It also emphasizes the im-portance of positive relation-ships in building school

‘Together with Everybody’ Instead of Doing it in Pieces

continued on page 12

2 SFUSD School Times Fall 2011

This paper is made possible with the support of The Examiner

Q: What are middle school feeders?

A: Every K-5 elementary school in the district is nowmatched with one middle school, known as their mid-dle school ‘feeder.’

Q: What are the reasons behind establishing mid-

dle school feeders?

A: There are a lot of reasons but two really importantones are, 1) that students will have the option to staywith the same group of students and families fromkindergarten through 8th grade, and 2) middle schoolteachers and principals will be better prepared toserve incoming 6th graders because they will knowwhich schools students are likely to come from in-stead of getting students from dozens of different ele-mentary schools as they do now.

Q: How will children get assigned to a middle

school? Does a student have to go to his/her mid-

dle school feeder, or can parents still apply to an-

other middle school?

A: The student assignment process for middle schoolwill continue to be a choice process.

Between 2011 and 2016, when submitting their appli-

cations, outgoing fifth grade students will be able torequest their feeder school or any other middleschool. The choice process for middle school willgive younger siblings the highest preference, fol-lowed by a preference for students enrolled in an ele-mentary school that feeds into the middle school, andthen a preference for students living in areas of thecity with the lowest average test scores (known asCTIP1). These preferences, known as tiebreakers,will be used when the number of requests for aschool is greater than the number of seats available.

Beginning in 2017, students who are graduating from5th grade will receive an initial 6th grade offer basedon the elementary school they attend before the mid-dle school choice process begins. After receivingtheir initial assignment based on the elementaryschool they attend, students will have the opportunityto participate in an optional choice process which willgive younger siblings the highest preference, fol-lowed by a preference for students living in areas ofthe city with the lowest average test scores (CTIP1).

What’s a Middle School Feeder Pattern?

Each summer, students who are between theirjunior and senior years – and enrolled in oneof the district’s career pathway programs –take part in paid internships to learn aboutcareers in a variety of fields. This hands-onway to get real-life experience is provided bySFUSD’s Career and Technical Educationprogram. Here are some things this year’s in-terns had to say about their summer jobs:

Victoria Lam (WashingtonHigh) / URS CorpEveryone I saw at my intern-ship loves their job, they arehappy to go to work everyday. They have a strong pas-sion for what they do, whichmakes them work even harder.

I realized that, in this field, you are mostlikely going to work with the same person orcompany more than once in your life. Havingpast experience with them, and letting themhave a good impression of you, will makethem want to work with you again in the fu-ture.

Sabrina Wong (Burton High)/Spectrum Credit Union

I didn't expect to be learning somuch. Lots of people complainabout how they have to gowork and whatnot, but I can

say that I'm not one of them. Internships arethe best opportunity to learn and understandhow the field works, so as interns, you needto take advantage of that opportunity, learn asmuch as you can, and ask as many questionsas you can so that you can understand be-cause the information they give you is price-less.

Genesis Alvarado (BurtonHigh) / Transportation Man-agement Association of SF

One of the most valuablethings to me about this intern-ship experience was what my

supervisor, Nora Zappas, the Program Associ-ate for TMASF Connects, talked about. Shewas very honest and straightforward. Whatimpacted me the most was her choice ofwords. She was very professional. I asked herwhat past jobs or experiences led to her pres-ent position. She explained that after graduat-ing college she received an internship to workwith a non-profit which was exactly what shewas interested in. I can be horrible at givinganswers when I’m being interviewed, so shealso gave me good pointers for interviewingfor a future job.

What I Learned

This SummerThis fall parents with children starting kindergarten in 2012 may also be considering the middle schoolsthey will attend seven years later. And, for this year’s fifth graders who are vying for a space at a highly re-quested middle school, a new system of tiebreakers will now include whether or not an applicant attendedan elementary school that is the “feeder” to their requested middle school.

School Times asked Darlene Lim, Executive Director of the Educational Placement Center, to explain.

Fall 2011 SFUSD School Times 11

This paper is made possible with the support of The Examiner

ViewpointsSuperintendent

Carlos A. Garcia

I recently met with the Board ofEducation in our annual retreat toreview our priorities for this year.There are several reasons for usto make sure we have ongoingand open dialogue about ourshared priorities. Our district has

a strategic plan to align our work and we want tomake sure that we are moving forward and real-izing our goals.

Given recent trends, it looks like schools aregoing to have even fewer resources in the yearsto come, so we need to focus and coordinate ourassets both human and monetary. The Board and I agreed that throughout our dis-trict we will be focusing on these three major pri-orities, which will help us reach the goals of ourstrategic plan:

- Creating a strong instructional core for collegeand career-ready graduates;

- Implementing supports and interventions forstudents; and

- Building a high-performing, school-focusedcentral office.

First, our students need quality instruction and ac-cess to a strong instructional core, and secondly,they need a set of supports designed to addresstheir unique challenges. Finally, our teachers,principals and parents need to know that the dis-trict will be attracting and developing the best ed-ucators and service providers for our children andleveraging limited resources to keep our schoolsrunning with clean and safe facilities, currenttechnology, and other important services.

There are still many important change efforts un-derway - these three areas that the Board mem-bers and I recently discussed emphasize theintegration and interdependence of our work. In this issue of School Times, you can read aboutsome of our important initiatives, including themath core curriculum and restorative practices.We invite parents, teachers, and community mem-bers to share their questions and ideas – every-one’s support is needed to make our district evenbetter.

Welcome back to school! We are ex-cited to start the 2011-12 school year! Injust a few short weeks, we already havea lot to celebrate.

Our summer was busy with repairs andmodernization projects, which included

great improvements to many of our schools like Cobb El-ementary. The students, families and staff have a beauti-fully remodeled site that they deserve. The greening andplayground project at the newly merged Buena Vista –Horace Mann K-8 School has given our students a greatspace for recreation, exploration and creativity. LincolnHigh School’s newly expanded environment bursts withnatural light and energy efficiencies. A great big thankyou to our incredible bond management team who care-fully monitored each and every project so that they camein on budget and on time!

SFUSD was also fortunate to be one of the many agenciesthat partnered with Mayor Ed Lee and the City andCounty of San Francisco to apply for and receive a“Choice Neighborhoods” grant award for $30.5 milliondollars. These dollars will help to rebuild the Alice Grif-fith Housing Development in the Bayview Hunters Point,and support improvements to the surrounding schools,such as Bret Harte Elementary.

We will also be working closely with our community part-ner, the San Francisco School Alliance, and the generosityof the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundations $3 million grant to im-plement the common core state standards in math. Thiswill be a great boost for our students!

Here’s to a wonderful start to the school year!

Board of Education President

Hydra Mendoza

Volume VI, Issue I

Executive Editor, Gentle Blythe

Managing Editor, Heidi Anderson

555 Franklin St

San Francisco, CA 94102

415 241-6565

newsline@sfusd.edu

www.sfusd.edu

Translation provided by SFUSD Translation

& Interpretation Unit (TIU)

November 11 Veterans Day – NO SCHOOL

November 23-25Thanksgiving Recess – NO SCHOOL

December 16End of Fall Semester

December 19 - January 2Winter Break – NO SCHOOL

January 16Martin Luther King Day – NO SCHOOL

January 23Lunar New Year observed – NOSCHOOL

February 17Furlough Day – NO SCHOOL & ALL DISTRICT OFFICES CLOSED

February 20Presidents Day – NO SCHOOL

SFUSD Fall/Winter Calendar

It's lunchtime: Do you know where yourchild's lunch money is? Now you will. Pay online at

www.MealpayPlus.com! View your child’s purchase history or pay

via phone: (866) 438-7842. Please have your child’s student ID (HO

number) handy.

12 SFUSD School Times Fall 2011

This paper is made possible with the support of The Examiner

and learned. “Standards,” ineducation, means what stu-dents should understand and beable to do.

More than Just Getting theRight Answer

One of the fundamentalchanges in this approach tohow math will be taught is thatstudents will spend more timewith key concepts early onand, instead of just focusing ongetting math problems right,

more of an emphasis will beplaced on student problemsolving and understanding whyit is right.

“What you’ll see in class,”says teacher Kirstin Hernan-dez, “will be a whole lot of

conversations among students,a lot of different tools beingused to solve a problem, andnot as much the teacher at thefront of the room giving infor-mation.”

Hernandez, who taughtmath for nine years, is now theMath Coordinator for the Su-perintendent Zone Mission, acluster of schools in the Mis-sion area of San Francisco.

“They will be learning asmuch from the wrong answeras the right one,” says Hernan-dez, “And the kid who gets theright answer but can’t say whywill not be done learning theconcept.”

Hernandez says that coun-tries such as Singapore, Fin-land and Japan teach this way– more time developing foun-dational concepts, mathemati-cal reasoning.and using skillsappropriately.

What do they Need for Col-lege?

Another key difference indeveloping the new standardsis that they are informed firstby what students in the 21stCentury need to know to suc-ceed in college and career.

According to the CommonCore State Standards for Math-ematics Initiative, which pro-duced the new standards, someof the most important mathtopics for college are coveredfrom sixth to eighth grade.

A National MovementThe Common Core State

Standards were developed incollaboration with teachers,school administrators, and ex-perts, to provide a clear andconsistent framework to pre-pare students for college andthe workforce. The new mathstandards have been adoptedby 44 other states in the U.S.and Washington D.C. alongwith California.

“We are going to be morerigorous than ever,” says Asso-ciate Superintendent for Aca-demics and ProfessionalDevelopment Dee DeeDesmond. “This new approachis designed so more kids aredoing better in math, and stick-ing with it longer.”

A closer look at the newly-adopted Common Core Standards can be found atwww.corestandards.org.

Math: More Time on Key Concepts continued from page 1

community, and works tostrengthen individual andcommunity relationships byrepairing harm when conflictand misbehavior happens.

It goes beyond focusing onrules that have been broken,and instead views misbehav-ior as a violation of relation-ships that are damaged as aresult of wrongdoing.

This is a voluntary ap-proach where students learnto accept accountability, rec-ognize and repair the harmtheir actions caused, and ac-knowledge their contributionstoward a safe school environ-ment. In addition, the collab-orative approach offers avoice to those who have beenharmed and lets them have asay in how the damage can berepaired.

“Students are held more ac-countable. If they’re sus-pended they go home andwatch TV. This keeps them inschool and they have in-school consequences. They

have agreements they have tofollow through on and theyhave to face the peoplethey’ve hurt,” explains BettyMomjian, a teacher from A.P.Giannini.

Peter Babnis, a counselorfrom Hoover Middle Schooladds, “Teachers who userestorative practices are actu-ally able to spend less timeaddressing misbehavior in thelong run. It gets at the core ofour relationship with one an-other.”

Over the next several years,professional development inthe processes of restorativepractices along with coachingand modeling will help teach-ers, counselors and parentslearn more about how to im-plement these practices.

Kerri Berkowitz, SFUSDLearning Support Profes-sional, contributed to this article.

‘Together with Everybody’ continued from page 1

MAJOR MODERNIzATION DONE ON TIME AND ON BUDGET - Aptos Middle School, built

in 1930 in what is known as “1930’s Mediterranean civic architecture,” recently received a

complete modernization inside and out, including fire-life/safety, ADA accessibility, and new

classroom and toilet facilities. Care was paid to the school’s architectural heritage during

the entire process right down to matching vintage tiles perfectly when replacing handrails

or widening doors. This summer major modernization at 35 public school sites - which are

either finished or headed to completion - was made possible with 2003 and 2006 Bond

funds approved by San Francisco voters.