the only ones passing the official line are asian and white, and if you look at the mathematics, same thing. so i guess i would like to hear, and i think you have this information, but i went to know what are you getting from school sites and teachers and principals about this? i mean, i am sorry, it is not a phenomenon. it is just the way it is, and what are they talking about about how they're going to resolve it? i know we at the board level are creating policies, initiatives, and we are doing everything is, but since you are talking to school site folks, and teachers, what are they saying around this? i know there are quite aware of it, because we all are, but when

we see here year after year after year, and there may be gains in the subgroups, but that photograph remains constant, and i would like to hear from you besides all of the initiatives and policies that we create, what is happening at school sites? aside from what i hear. i am not here to take statistics. i am here to hear the conversation, but you are calculating the information in a statistical way. something we know that is a constant. the deputy superintendent. >> i got the look that said

"punt," so i will take the ball. it is a simple issue, but it is not a simplistic answer. what are you doing to show's success, and i think the brilliance of what the doctor did was to capture that in categories so there are different approaches that schools are taking to really address the achievement gap. some schools are focusing on very specific sub groups. some are taking the approach where they are looking at content areas. a general response to your very, very good question, it is not easy to hear. we as a district for many years have been all over the place. there has not been a focus where

we have said, "these are the two or three fundamental things that we are going to focus not only our attention but our finances and up professional developers around so that everyone is exposed to that in terms of professional development. we have not done that. what you are starting to see is that we as a school district hold certain fundamental truths to be absolutely true. all students deserve a high quality curriculum. all students deserve to have teachers that have resources, that have professional development, that are able to provide effective and -- instruction to the students. unfortunately, in the past, we have not align our resources, a professional development, to assuring that everyone had the opportunity to avail themselves of these opportunities. that is the bad news. the good news is that we are actually starting to do that,

and we are actually starting to focus on curriculum instruction, and there is a misnomer that happens out there, and i think it is really important for the public to understand that we typically talk about what teachers are doing in the classroom. teachers, they are the most critical element in the classroom, but teachers are not what we should be looking at. what we should be looking at is what are our students learning and able to demonstrate to us as having learned in the classroom, so it is a shift in this practice in the district, and it is a culture shift. we are not interested in going in there anymore and looking at a lesson that the teacher has prepared. what we want to know is, what are you expecting students to learn? and how will they learn after you have provided the instruction? it is a fundamentally different conversation to have because you are not looking at the pieces, you are looking at the outcome.

you cannot negate the importance of students being prepared physically and mentally in the classroom, as well, so when we talk about african-american students, latino students, students with disabilities, pacific islander students, what we are looking in those communities as well is a connection to the curriculum that makes it culturally relative to the students, as well, so that is the cultural relevance where looking for in all schools for all students, but particularly for those that we have decided are part of our achievement gap. it is slow work. it is hard work. it is work that easily could be misconstrued as putting the blame on someone, so the approach that we are taking and the conversation we're going to have at our retreat even at a deeper level and that we cannot have 13 priorities. we really have to have two or three, and in an environment where we have dwindling

resources that are less and less common than the board has been extremely wonderful, but the board has to be even more stoic when we get hit with we need to do this, that, and the other thing, to hold the line and say, "that is all fine and good" until we know what is good for the kids in our strategic plan. how are we finding matt? then we can talk about adding on, but that is really the core, central work that we are doing. -- how are we finding that? -- funding that? there is a change coming. as we're working with teachers and principals and assistant principals around doing this deep dive into curriculum and unpacked in the standards and understanding what they look like in a classroom, there is tremendous excitement that we are seeing from folks in the field, saying, "aha!"

we see an excitement level we have really not seen in the last three years in the professional ladder in the classrooms, as well. i would just really emphasize that this cannot happen, and this will not happen if it does not continue to be the priority of the board, like you have demonstrated already, that we are going to focus on this, but we're going to continue to focus on this, that we will not be sideswiped and take in a straight other initiatives, that this is the central focus of the district. this is why we have been able to show some nominal gains, a truly revolutionary outcome for the students in the coming years.

i do not know if the doctor or associate superintendent want to add anything to that? >> very eloquently said. two things. one, i am a big proponent of access, of letting kids through the gates, be exposed to the learning. when we look, when students were not in algebra, they took general math, and the proficiency rates are very, very low, and they did not get exposed to algebra, so letting kids through the gate and having all of us, all of us educators learn how to teach algebra to everyone is a challenge that we have to keep working on. we are doing some exciting things. we are looking at middle school deeply, but we're also looking at elementary. we have higher rates in elementary, over 60%, but we are now figuring they need to come to middle school because they have to come with 80% to 90%, but with our superintendent and

deputies to support this year, we have 10 of our middle schools, every sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teacher of mathematics is involved in a program called algebraic thinking, and they are going to learn instructional strategy is in sixth and seventh grade that really are about precursors to success in algebra. one of the things you need to have mastered to do well in algebra, and in addition to the regular core curriculum that we are teaching, it is kind of an over and above, and it begins this week. all six, seventh, and eighth grade students from our middle schools. we are really excited. carlos has seen this and action, and it is an approach to teaching algebra, pictures and things and charts and equations, so we are really hopeful. it is not good enough. we are pretty hopeful this will make a difference.

commissioner: thank you, a very, very much for your explanation on the fly. i appreciate your discussion about the shift of approach, particularly asking teachers what do you expect your students to learn and how do you know you are learning that? i think that is crucial. i am going to refrain. that is what i am going to do. not so patient that i will not common in about one or two months, but i am interested to see continuing results around the ship, because i think that shift is critical, and it has not been brought forward to everyone, and this is the way we

are going to operate, and you are expected to be with us in this new look at how students are beginning it or how they are not getting it and has what we are going to do about it and how we will enhance the process i appreciate that, as well. it is more like we have a situation, and what are we going to do to fix it, so i appreciate that. president mendoza: thank you. student delegates? student delegates: truancy and african americans. if everyone took the tests, would these be higher? i know that my school, which may not be the same for every other school is that teachers or the

principal to go hunting down kids to take the test, and i would say that those kids are the kids that have truancy problems and that those kids are the ones that are scoring low back as well, so would not those be higher if everyone took the test? >> actually, the state has a criteria that every school has to have a participation rate of at least 95% before they publish the scores, so they did have a 95% or above participation rate to even have the scores be there, so there is a lot of, you know, may wake-up time that we give for make up time. they are administered pretty widely across the school.

commissioner: however, if you do not mind, student delegate, we see that many african-americans are high in truancy. even by school, 95% has to be tested, some have a low percentage of african-american students, and that could mean that disproportional, attendance is not the mere testing all of the african american students. we have a diminishing african- american population in our school district. some schools, such as may be balboa, does not even have a measurable amount, right? you have about 100 or so. because you have to be there, to take all of the tests, so if you missed one test, you are not counted. i think she asks a very good question.

that maybe these tests cords do not show was actually the absolutes of where we are at that, quite frankly, it could be higher or lower depending on our african-american population that actually takes invalid test, right? because when we look at truancy, it is also like that. that is a very good question. >> i think it is a good question, and what i will do is show you a report that shares you what the ethnicity is of the students that were not tested by school. so we will give you that report, so we will give you the ethnicity of the students and the number of students that were not tested, ok, or by school, and we will give you a five-year trend, so for you and us, it

would be good information to have. student delegate: everyone was there for the english test, but everyone runs away from the mathematics test, and the numbers even showed that the students ran away from the math test, so -- newmont -- president mendoza: superintendent? superintendent: we are very aware of this. over five or six years. that is ok, and that is better than san francisco has done in the past, but it does not come close to being good enough, and remember that we are trying to fix this on multiple fronts. we adopted and the map series for elementary.

that is going to take time to have an impact. if you go out and look at our math scores, overall, they're starting to improve in the elementary levels. it is a better series. teachers like it. parents like it. it is more hands on. it introduces algebra, thinking, things like that, geometry at a very young age so it demystifies it for people so they are not afraid of it. one thing you find that everybody on the planet is sure of, they can flaunt algebra, so if you correct that, people make that expectation, and we have to change that, and that is what we are doing. they took a quantum leap in math and algebra, and why? the pilot did a different type of program. 10 different spots. we are seeing phenomenal growth

with them program because kids actually like algebra if they go through this kind of program. what a novelty to have something that kids are excited about, so we are working on the elementary. we are working on the middle school. when you look at the high school results, it is a little late. we have to create a better system for our students, because you cannot expect -- i think commissioner stewart -- fewer is right. it is easy to have an a through g requirement. so that people will be there. if people cannot even get in the door, now the we have got them in the door, we have to make sure that they are successful. we have to have folks, let's be real. not only in this district but

across the country and the world pretty much, who only certain kids could do algebra, and we have to tear down that cultural shift. we have to be able to say that it is not a question of whether kids can lose -- learn algebra. is that we have to do it in a way where they want to learn, and that has been the greatest challenge. the programs that we have them do that work, but for anybody to think that, i mean, we are showing this 10 points for african americans. over five to six years. that is a great start. it shows that it can be done, but we have to be showing double-digit growth per year to really get to where we would be satisfied, because at this rate, it will take 25 years to close the achievement gap. nobody here will probably be there. we cannot wait that long. these guys might take our place.

what we can do is we do not have to read mediate. we have to accelerate this, and we are talking about now, as the deputy superintendent mentioned, we are getting the court's standards, and everybody teaches what is in the bayview, and everybody is learning this and getting the credit. there have been a lot of innovations in the last 10 years. they have learned that they cannot. the on in to fix this is to take a lot of time, commitment, and resources. financially, the school district itself cannot afford to do these things. but we are lucky to have other

collaborative groups out there, universities, everyone, who are working on these. it is hard to be patient. trust me. this data drives me nuts, particularly as we do this by ethnicity. we have a long way to go. the good news is that everybody is taking responsibility for it. it is no longer blaming everybody. it does not matter who we want to blame. it is a matter of what we want to do about it, and when you talk about the doctor sitting down with the groups of people, it is not just reviewing data. when we bring down the ethnicities for every school and how the kids are doing, it is not just seeing the data and saying, "ok, that is great." what are you going to do to turn around this data? what are you going to be specifically at your site to

turn this around, and this is the conversation that we are having today that years ago i believe people did not want to have that conversation, and unless we have that conversation, it is never going to occur, and i think we should be proud that we are having these conversations and demanding action plans to do something about it. president mendoza: questions? commissioner norton? commissioner norton: that is called algebraic thinking? is that which you call it? >> the national trading network. it starts in two days. thank you very much. >> i will also go through the program myself, to make sure. president mendoza: ok, any other questions?

great. thank you very much, a team. go, team. great job. commissioner: we still have not voted on that. president mendoza: item l was an item on the consent calendar, and it was moved and seconded. can we vote on the consent calendar? clerk: [reading role] president mendoza: as, except for some k items and those that are retroactive. clerk: those retroactive? president mendoza: yes.

item k-19, and i actually pull this, and i have a couple of questions, guadalupe, on the services that are being offered. $125,000 that is going to mission neighborhood centers, and i see a lot of work focused on some of the college readiness work in our medders goals -- in our middle schools. they run our begin centers, so i just want to figure out how we are partnering with what koran exists, if we're working under the bridge to success programming support an advocate doing a lot of work on college readiness. i do not know if mission, mmc

exists, so that is kind of what i am doing. >> i will frame into a bit, and then i in here the exhibits a director who can enter into further detail. this is our begin agency. this represents some of the extended learning we are making at everett middle school, which in this case includes a very deep focus on establishing a college going culture at this goal. i know you have some specific questions around what some of that looks like, along with some of the activities that are listed here. kevin, do you want to describe how that partnership is? >> so, of course, this is one of our funded schools, and one of the goals is to become stronger community schools, which is to create greater articulation as well as optimizing community

resources. we have communities " organizers at the school, and you probably know tracy brown. she is a great person and a great dynamic programmer, and she is working to coordinate this and is very well aware of sf promise, which is at everett. this is one initiative. i think the feeling there is that we need multiple initiatives if we are to get a culture going. this is on big event planet, making sure there are weekly clubs. they do some other very good specific work, but this is about organizing student clubs, the focus on college readiness and academic success. this is not about covering the walls of the school. this is about targeting newcomers who are latino and

specifically working with their parents in collaboration, along with the begin. ? she as the communicator and working with the team everett are working to coordinate all of these services. i think it might be this week that they have a meeting with some of the sf promise folks. this one is not so curriculum focused. what they want to do, for instance, a college advisor listed here, and sf promise, this would be an adult that is a college advisor, and they want to have their kids get their feet on college campuses more often. they stops: 12:30. they need someone to organize all of that, so they want to organize events and have clubs. it is a very robust culture

shifting kind of thing, not so much a curriculum, which is also a very important piece, which i noted that is what sf promise and others are doing. >> the others that are participating in this, it is 125,000 that i do not want to have someone creating new stuff for our schools because we have so many resources. this was as we started to build out a lot of work with the bridge to success, and tracy love, i think she is a great community organizer. been she the one is going to be thinking about with their college adviser is? >> she and the beaten together, and i think this is very much customized. this is not about a growing in the program. i think there are the city-wide programs, and i think what they are looking at is what do they

need customized to our student population and to the community and looking to grow something from within. i know they are especially concerned with the newcomers at the school and what the newcomers know about going to college, making sure that they actually -- in fact, i think they are writing early jon college applications. what is it like to write the college as they? and then also looking at the ways to have it be a good match for them. commissioner: what is the whole 125,000? the salary of one person? >> that will pay for the college advisor who will be hired by the mission neighborhood center, with a high reading which will

include, i am sure, the principal, said there would be a number of people involved in the hiring of that position. it is fortress i think to the colleges, as well. and it is for some of the articulation. the other thing they want to do is that there are things that happened during the day, but the won to strengthen the way the program offers college and career-ready opportunities, so it will be working with the -- if i want to go into this kind of career, what kind of education is it i need to have proved so those kinds of activities. i do not know if that answers your question. >> sort of. i know they have combined this so it is in one place, so we are leveraging those dollars as well, presumably? >> yes, and we are making sure the we are asking them to be very clear about the contrac