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The Superintendent's Zone and School Improvement Grants

The Superintendent's Zone

SFUSD created the Superintendent's Zone in 2010, believing that the problem of low-achieving schools in the district is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed with a systemic solution. All schools receiving School Improvement Grant funding are included in the Superintendent's Zone, as are five additional schools.

The Superintendent's Zone consists of the following 15 schools:

Bayview/Revere

Bret Harte Elementary
Carver Elementary *
Drew Elementary
Malcolm X Elementary
Revere Elementary *
Willie Brown (temporarily closed) *
Marshall High School
Mission District/Muir

Bryant Elementary *
Chavez Elementary *
Flynn Elementary
Muir Elementary *
Everett Middle School *
Horace Mann Middle School *
Mission High School *
O'Connell High School *

We chose which schools to place in the Superintendent's Zone by using a cluster analysis to sort schools by looking at their academic performance, the number of African-American and Latino students, how high teacher turnover was and how many years of experience the teachers had, student demographics such as the percentage of low-income students or English learners, and qualitative data such as the suspension rate and how safe the school was rated on the 2008 School Climate Survey.

The schools in the Zone are organized into two teams: the Bayview/Revere Zone and the Mission District/Muir Zone. Each team is headed by an area assistant superintendent.

Out of the 7 SFUSD schools with the greatest API growth in 2011, 5 are in the Superintendent's Zone: John Muir, Everett, Horace Mann, Thurgood Marshall, and Mission. The rate of improvement of Superintendent's Zone schools after only one year of implementation in the areas of English Language Arts and Math was higher than the district's average rate.

School Improvement Grants

School Improvement Grant (SIG) is a three-year competitive grant intended to help improve student learning in high-needs schools. The district was awarded funds to support 10 schools in the 2010-2011 school year and nine schools for the remaining two years of the grant. Funding will allow the district to address a combination of the needs and priorities identified by school leaders and their communities, as well as systemic areas of focus across the school district (i.e. implementation of core curriculum, balanced literacy, continuous improvement, etc.).

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