3.5 Ensuring the Quality of Our Schools

Ensuring the Quality of Our Schools

SFUSD’s EED is committed to maintaining high standards of education through its partnership with the California Department of Education's Early Education Division at the state level. Locally, we receive funding from the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood to support the Quality Rating Improvement System. As part of this commitment, we conduct an annual self-evaluation, which helps guide the development of action plans for continuous improvement. Additionally, state consultants review our preschool programs every four years to ensure ongoing quality.

SFUSD’s EED provides exceptional educational services, including:

• A nurturing environment that supports children’s learning and development.
• Curriculum that is tailored to children's developmental stages, encouraging active engagement and informed by individual assessments.
• Strong partnerships between families and staff, with shared responsibility for children's education.
• Guidance from administrators to ensure a culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate learning environment, upholding the highest quality standards.

The EED Pro-Social Behavioral  Philosophy 

The EED believes that every child has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to play and learn in a safe, healthy environment. The health, safety, and social-emotional well-being of children are our program's highest priorities. We see social-emotional development as a skill that children cultivate during their early years. Additionally, we believe that a strong family-school partnership supports children's social-emotional growth and well-being, laying the foundation for their academic success and lifelong achievement.

 Given the EED's prioritization of social-emotional development, the teaching staff works to build positive relationships with every child and their family by creating supportive and caring environments. Positive behavior support is developed through the encouragement of positive behavior through a planned environment that provides children with access to a variety of engaging materials and activities.  When challenging behavior occurs, teachers address it and/or redirect it. To promote social-emotional development and prevent challenging behaviors, our staff strives to:

• Create an environment where every child and his/her family feel welcome and engaged.
• Acknowledge children as often as possible when they exhibit appropriate behaviors (e.g., listening, problem-solving, taking initiative, showing determination, etc.);
• Support children in developing friendship skills (e.g. sharing, taking turns, being helpful) by using a variety of materials and strategies and providing children with ideas about how to enter play with peers;
• Support the development of problem-solving and conflict resolution skills, by using a variety of materials and strategies and providing direct support and instruction to students to express and recognize feelings, how to control anger and impulses, and how to problem-solve;
• Meet as a team to discuss and focus on prevention, teaching appropriate skills and the importance of respecting the rights and feelings of others. 

Expecting Positive Behavior from Children at School
While every child is unique, we hold all students to the same high standards for positive behavior at school. Our goal is to support every child in developing the skills necessary to:

• Build positive relationships with peers and adults
• Understand and respect the rights and feelings of others
• Recognize how to behave safely and responsibly

In simple terms, we teach our students to be friendly and kind, respectful, safe, and responsible.

We encourage families to collaborate with teachers to reinforce these expectations at home. Consistency between home and school helps foster the growth of each child. For more details, please refer to the "Discipline" section under "School Policies."