one of the reasons that could be infered if those gains is that this was the first group of kids that had everyday math in the elementary and were now moving on to sixth grade. so the preparation level could be a component. how do we compare to the state? how does the san francisco unified school district scores compared to the state? at every level we match or exceed the state level in english language arts and math. how do we compare to other urban districts in the state of california? we are higher than the other urban districts, though san diego has matched us in english language arts.

in math we are still definitely the highest as compared to the state. so as we feel the pride over these results, we must also always remember that when looking at our african-american students as compared to other urban districts districts of -- urban zrinths, we have the lowest performance, and we should be mindful of that trend. >> the state closed the achievement gap with regards to its latino students but did not do so with regards to its african-american students. in math the state did manage to close the gap -- narrow the gap

i should say -- with both the african frown and latino students, just like us. and the last slide, we have been brainstorming with different principles. what could be some of the reasons for our success? we took one pattern, which are the math gains that we are seeing, and tried to break it down from the curriculum to the student level. what we found was in terms of the curriculum, principals have reported, and we have found that the adoption of everyday math curriculum and its implementation has caused some of these great gains, and this has been represent indicated because the same patterns were seen in other places where every day math was adopted. also, what we saw is that

algebra, offense -- the algebra for all, we have that policy, and now we have increased participation in algebra for eighth grade from 65% to 83%. so we have 83% of the students participating in al:bra at eighth grade. in terms of programs that have shown -- math programs for which we have a formative evaluation on the website, the final report will be posted september 15th so you can see it all. it is an evaluation of the following programs that have shown success. project seed, ebgy, mind and algebra thinking. these programs have shown

significant gains. all schools that have have participated in them have shown some double-digit growth in math. also in speaking with the principals, what they say has been most helpful as a strategy that they used is the individual learning plan. actual reflection of the students' needs and targeting those needs has helped bring up the scores. so the individual learning plan has been a key. other structures and systems that we brain-stormed on were schools that did interim assessments and had planning level meetings, for instruction and student feedback did

receive positive results. also, the results-oriented cycle of inyeary which the partners put forth has had a lot of success in our schools. thank you. >> i think we have a number of questions and comments. thank you so much for the presentation. some of it is really good news and obviously reflects the work we need to continue doing. commissioner fewer? >> thank you for all of this really good info. i think there are some other stats that i would like to see, though, to serve as more evidence of how we are closing the gap. for example, i would like to see the test results by race of asian and white students and compare them to our african-american and latino students. we want to see gains, but we would like to see accelerated

gains from the african-american and other populations. if we had incremental gains like this and not double-digits gains, it is going to take us a very long time. then i would like to see also our african-american population in comparison to their other districts and their african-american population, meaning our african-american population has been decreasing every year, and i would like to see, for example, with oakland, how many african-american students they have so we can do a comparison about their success rate, their achievement rate of african-americans compared to ours when we have so few. our rate -- i mean we don't have very many african-american students in comparison to some of these other districts, and so it seems to me then that we

could be doing better. then i also would like to see the algebra stats. you said we increased the percentage of students taking algebra from 63% to 85%. then i would like to see that brown down by race. those stats i think would be very telling about where we are, not to diminish the success that we have had this year and are celebrating, but as a reminder that we have a long way to go and a lot of work we need to do yet. thank you very much. >> i do want to reply to that. there was a binder that was given at the board office on friday which includes every single one of these results. african-american for other districts is what i just put out and said that

african-american were performing -- >> i meant the number. i think we have a smaller number of african-american students in comparison. >> yes. >> so i was sort of wondering how our achievement is still lower than the other districts that have large percentages of them. but thank you. i haven't been into the office, so i will take a look. thanks. >> i wanted to thank you for the presentation, too. it is great to see that we are making progress every year towards our goals. i was interested a little bit in what you said about the number of students taking the capa and particularly the c.m.a. the c.m.a. was new in 2009, is that right, that we had students first take it. for english language arts, there was definitely a drop in the number of students tested

in 2009-2010. also under math, there was a big drop in 2008, and then it has continued to drop since then. is there a reason for that, and do we have any sense yet about how the c.m.a. is doing, whether we can do a better job? >> did you get a copy of the press release? because also those results are included in the press release. >> i can look at that. but the other thing i just wanted to highlight, and i will give the deputy superintendent credit for pointing this out, the generally low level of proficiency among our special ed students. these are the students we have not exempted out. these are the students that in

our judgment should be able to perform and become proficient. so 18% proficiency in english ang arts and 33% proficiency in mathematics is not where we want to be. >> commissioner maufas, and then vice president mendoza. >> this may require a more in-depth conversation, but my questions are based on the data you have presented to us and actually from the public speakers' comments about the things that are working for families and teachers that make teaching more interesting to do, and they are more engaged with their students. i believe part of those results are here in the numbers, and i would like to know what are these programs that we have complemented in the schools where we are seeing such gains that are actually new over the last two years that can attest

and attribute to these numbers. just because they started doing math every day, that wasn't the only thing. i know in schools we have been bringing teachers and students together in a meaningful way. i definitely want us to be well aware of the things that we are doing that are different at these school sites that are reflected in these numbers. >> yeah, sure. there are the programs i mentioned up here. we have a detailed evaluation for n.u.a., which we will put out. that was one of the programs mentioned tonight. we will put those reports out by september 15th on the website for everyone to review. in terms of the conversations, that would be good.

we can provide you with a summary from our prince cal conversations for -- principal conversations for can you see. but primarily the things that they mentioned in terms of the structures and systems is the grade level planning time and the coordination, as well as the six-week report out on progress as being some of the reasons for the success. so forming those structures of reflecting on practice and changing instruction based on what you see or what you can reflect on targeting student needs through the feedback you get from the assessments. >> and then just to follow up, did i hear you mention that student feedback was incorporated in some of the reflections? >> the student work is what is,

you know, looked at, and then feedback can be provided in terms of how to target student needs. >> thank you for clarifying. vice president mendoza and then deputy support -- deputy superintendent. >> president kim, i wanted to expand a little bit on what had been mentioned in terms of the anecdotal evidence. as the teams are out in schools walking in the classrooms, talking to teachers, talking to principals, some more of the information that has become clear to us is that the opportunities in those schools that have shown dramatic gains for teachers to collaborate with other teachers about their instructional practices has been invaluable. it really is a credit to those teachers and principals in those schools that have carved out the time within the

instructional day to allow those opportunities to happen among teachers. they have also talked about aligning all of the efforts within a school system around two or three very specific goals for student achievement. that means after-school programming is aligned, and the instructional folks, the teachers, the principal are having those conversations with the after-school providers as well. but more importantly, students know where they are performing as it relates to standards, and the standards-based report card has been really helpful in driving that conversation. but more than that, once thief identified what their -- once they've identified what their goals are for the year, they are focused on those goals. they talk about setting very high standards for the students. students with needs, disabilities, african-american,

and teachers talking about what are their educational needs. a teacher can tell you right away who the two or three children in their classroom is and what their needs are. so the big take away that we are learning right now is collaboration, spess fifty in terms of what they are focusing on and then consistency and coherence, and we are looking at taking that system-wide. >> thank you. >> you just answered my questions that i haven't asked yet. thank you very much. i actually think that we would like to hear more about that, especially about taking those things to scale about -- this is the way it is supposed to work, and obviously it does work when those things are in place. so i think there are barriers

to doing that in other schools. hopefully we will be able to remove some of those and identify what they mighting. i hope you will tell you more about that as we go along. >> thank you, doctor. i just wanted to say that we are just so grateful for the work that you do for our district and your ability to translate data and numbers in ways that really truly help our schools, our principals and our teachers be more successful. we are very excited that for the first time in over 20 years we have been closing, narrowing the achievement gap for two years in a row. that is a huge accomplishment for the district. we obviously have so much farther to go as you can see from the bars, but i think you for your role and your 16 years of service here in the school district, building a data system that has been so useful and is going to be a key part to us continuing to close the achievement gap here.

thank you. commissioner fewer? >> i also want to echo that. now that i've got the binder right here -- [laughter] >> this data is just fascinating. some of it is depressing, but it doesn't lie. it's real. thank you for doing this. and i will make an appointment to does this with you. thank you. >> superintendent garcia. >> i just want the board to understand what the doctor has done here is an abridged version. take the liberty to ask them what the doctor does with them. you will learn a lot in talking about focusing on, what you need to improve on, what are you close to doing? what should you put your energies on and talk about in having someone who can become a

clearing house to refer people to talk to other principals that are doing things that have common needs. she meets individually with every single principal and reviews them about the state of their school. before they leave there, i think our entire district is focusing. today in a cabinet meeting with the assistants, she was quizing everybody if they knew what the scores were of every one of their schools in all these different areas. the not just for the school, but how did african-american do, how did latino kids, and the other kids, just down the list. you are getting the abridged version, but the detail which i think is fabulous is the one-on-one time that the doctor is spending with every principal. they leave empowered, and they empower their teachers. the discussion is very helpful

and teachers get a chance to share it with each other and learn from each other. that is the power of the data, for people to figure out what is working. we don't need to go out and hire the experts from the outside. we have the experts here. we just need to figure out how we exchange information with one another and use the expertise that every teacher brings to a classroom. thank you. >> thank you, doctor. [applause] >> item n, concept calendar resolutions. there are none tonight. item o is a vote on the consent calendar, which has already been moved and seconded. role call, please.

>> except for items k 2, k 3 and k 10. are >> and that is a nay vote on those three? >> that is a nay vote on those three. >> thank you. we have a couple for discussion. i have first 2-b on commissioner norton. >> that was mine. i just wanted to receiver that to get an answer to the question that was raised by mr. kelly about the money that was taken out of the child development program. >> yes, i would be happy to answer that question. the child development program created two teacher on special assignment positions this year. one teacher on special

assignment for early literacy program services and another for kindergarten transition specialist. both positions are in the child development program for this year. >> so those t.s.a.'s will be directly supporting teachers within the child development program and other staff? >> that is correct. >> as a follow-up, if it were not true, it would look different? the budget transfer would be from one department to another if it were not. as i read this, just to make sure i'm reading it right, this is a budget transfer from one category to another within child development? >> that is correct. >> very good. thank you. >> yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

>> seven ayes. >> the next is w-30 on page 77. commissioner wynns? >> thank you. could you give us a little background on the emergency nature of this and what has happened there? >> good evening, commissioners. i am the chief facilities officer. all of you know that on the opening day of school, we opened a new program, pre-k and i think k-1-2 at the former newcomer high school in pacific heights. the emergency came to pass when one week prior to the opening of school, as a condition of the pre-k state licensing, the inspector arrived with the local fire marshall in toe -- tow, and their list of

requirements for combike pre-k and elementary school children was beyond any ability to construct in a couple of days. so the thrust was to france itally try to accommodate a -- frantically try to accommodate a different kind of fire alarm system and special exits. it turned out in the friendsy to do it, that that work was not able to be completed before the start of school. the pre-k kids are housed at their former site at cobb. we are desperately and as quickly as possible trying to get the agreement of the three public agencies involved, which is the state architect, the local fire marshall and the pre-k licensing people to all understand what the issue is.

so given all that, the rush is the programs are disrupted until we can combine them, and we are about eight days out, and the cost is higher than we anticipated. >> thank you. we often talk -- lots of times when something happens that we choirs -- requires a quick response, everybody thinks something terrible has happened. the public needs to understand that these things happen, and sometimes it is our responsibility to respond to it in this way. i am grateful that we have staff we can trust to take care of this and that we are able -- your department is able to address it. >> i would like to say i appreciate his effort in trying to rectify the issues that all

these inspectors are demanding. myself going through several licensing processes for pre-k programs, it seems like every time a new inspector comes in, they have a new requirement. i understand what you're going through. >> thank you, role call? >> yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. yes. >> unanimous. >> k-6, commissioner fewer? >> yes, partners brought this to our attention. actually, i think now looking at the funding sources, i think that i would like to have an explanation on this.

>> good evening, commissioners. i spoke with principal scarlatto. i apologize the way it is, it is a little unclear. the money is for the artist in residence. but the friends of sota is the non-profit that handles the contract and the distribution for all of that. >> so this is for direct service to students? >> correct. >> thank you. >> role call? >> yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes , aye, aye, yes. we have ayes. >> next is k-14 on page 124. commissioner wynns?

>> yes. testimonyial for the new teacher project earlier. i am interested in, not tonight, if you can give me maybe in writing, or maybe i can sit down with somebody and hear a little more about exactly what they do. i mostly appreciated what i heard tonight about helping us deal with arcane complex processes, things that school sites have to do, some of it imposed by us, but most of it required by regulations law and contract obligations. i understand that, and the funding source is one that is ok to help, making it easier for schools. but i have some concerns about this organization, and basically it's national profile. i would like to know who they are placing. i am interested in that, and if

you have any report to give us, i've actually seen a report in the past that was very cursory, just a sort of "we did this," we placed this many people, rather than who they are. i like it that schools are getting help doing something that is a challenge for them. but i don't know it is as neutral a process as i would like to to be, and i would like to know more about it. >> i'm happy to do that. i would like to say that they are an integral part of my -- have become an integral part of my staff. i have a total of three people that are involved in actual recruitment that are permanent people and then those two. i have lost all three of my permanent folks, and two of them are being replaced as the director is off to harvard. the bottom line is i have lost

a lot of my experience. the real experience i have in my recruitment team happens to be those two folks, who i do consider part of my staff. and so they are very important to me, and they are especially important to us as we transition into supporting the new structure of the areas. i am happy to provide anything that you want. >> commissioner maufas? >> if i may, since we are having a personnel committee -- labor relations meeting in september, maybe you can give us more information at that time about the new teacher project. >> absolutely. >> and we can augment that committee. >> i also would like to add that the last