Vision

The community’s long-term (10+ year) expectations for what SFUSD students will know and be able to do

All SFUSD students will graduate as independent thinkers with a sense of agency who have attained academic and creative skills to lead productive lives and contribute to our community.

Mission Statement

The mission statement is how the District will achieve its vision:

Every day we provide each and every student the quality instruction and equitable support required to thrive in the 21st century.

Values

The community’s global non-negotiables that must be honored while in pursuit of the vision
Student centered, Fearless, United, Social justice, Diversity driven

Student-Centered: We put students' needs first with a focus on the whole child.

Fearless: We persist through challenges with humility, transparency, and a growth mindset.

United: We celebrate and build on each other's strengths and differences to collectively achieve excellence as a district. 

Social Justice: We stand with those who are most impacted by systems of oppression and actively change those systems within our district.

Diversity-Driven: We respect and seek to understand each person to be an inclusive and anti-racist district.

Goals

The community’s mid-term (5-year) expectations for what SFUSD students will know and be able to do
A small group of students viewing a tablet

Third-grade literacy: The percentage of ALL third-grade students reading at grade level as measured by state tests (SBAC ELA) will increase from 52% proficiency rate in October 2022 to 70% proficiency by October 2027.

8th-grade math: The percentage of ALL eighth-grade students performing math at grade level as measured by the state tests (SBAC Math) will increase from 42% proficiency rate in October 2022 to 65% proficiency by October 2027.

College/career readiness: The percentage of all high school 12th graders who are “college/career ready“ as defined by the California Department of Education will increase from 57.5% in June 2020 to 70% by June 2027.

Guardrails

The community’s specific non-negotiables that must be honored while implementing the goals

Effective Decision-Making: The superintendent will not make major decisions without utilizing a process–that includes meaningful consultation with the parents/guardians, students, and staff who will be impacted by those decisions–at the inception, adoption, and review.

Serving The Whole Child: The superintendent will not take approaches that neglect the cognitive and academic development, social and emotional development, identity development, physical and mental well-being, or ethical and moral development of students.

Curriculum and Instruction: The superintendent will not allow curriculum and instruction that is not rooted in excellence, challenging and engaging, not student-centered, not culturally responsive, or not differentiated to meet the academic needs of all students.

Resource Allocation: The superintendent will not allow resources to be allocated without transparently communicating how the allocations are baseline sufficient to operate all schools while addressing inequitable inputs and creating more equity and excellence in student outcomes.

Strategic Partnerships: The superintendent will not impede collaboration with the City of San Francisco, state and federal agencies, community-based organizations, philanthropic organizations, and the business community to advance the District’s goals and values.

Interim Goals and Guardrails

The Board approves the Vision, Values, Goals, and Guardrails (VVGG), and the superintendent
identifies interim goals and guardrails to measure progress toward the goals and guardrails. The Board does not approve the interims.

Even after the goals and guardrails are adopted, the interim goals and guardrails may be modified based on the following:

  • An assessment of the potential effectiveness of interim goals predicting success for the goals
  • Possible updates to our internal assessment system to ensure we have the best measures 
  • Feedback from staff regarding the interim measures

View the interim goals and guardrails

Who We Are

As we work toward changing the system so that it truly is able to serve all students, we must have a strong set of core values and core beliefs that will guide us through the challenges that will come our way.

This page was last updated on March 7, 2024