think that the framework of it and i think that that number will only grow into the future, and i think that when summer school opens up, with our course offerings across the board and plus the local school site design through the funds and that number will be greatly increased, and i also think that it is important to understand that the first option of credit recovery, is to be provided during the school day. and that that is really our first priority, to make sure that that student if they do fail, a geometry class that they are able to take that same job class in the school day, rather than having to go to the evening school or the summer school. thank you. >> with that said, just a summary about the findings of the class of 2014, so 74.4 percent of them are on track again, that is an increase.

21.1 percent of them are on and have the number of credits but they are missing one or two courses or almost two courses, in this case. and 6.4 percent of them are off track up to a semester, and then, 2.1 percent of them are off track one or more years. and of the 758 students, with the total missing credits the graded subject areas that they are missing are math and with the qualifiers that i stated the language other than english and the physical education and of that group of students, 441 of them are missing at most, 5 credits. and so, that is really a summary of our findings about the class of 2014. and we were asked as staff and i know that there are some data requests about the class of 2014 that we are going to follow up on. and because we can, and we have some analysis that we need to do and we continue to ask the questions about this particular group of students, and i do

want to say this, we have better data now that is cleaner now, than we have ever had. and on a graduating class and i am not sure that in my history, in san francisco, unified, that we have had such a clear articulate process of looking at students across the district. and so, that is something that we have really a major win for us, as a district and if this has done anything, it has actually allowed us to provide opportunities for more students to have access to these courses. and it has allowed us to improve our data processes to report on them. and with that said, commissioners, did ask about the california high school exit exam and i do want to point out that the california high school exit exam is a state graduation requirement, and it is required by educational code. and it is not necessarily something that the san francisco unified school district, can make a decision

about because of that being an ed code. and english language arts, of the number of students 93.9 percent of them have passed the ela. and then, in math, 34, 3,416 of them are 95.1 percent of them have passed the math and if you look at both exams together and you can see that 92.3 percent of the students have actually passed both math and ela of the california high school exit exam. >> when you look at it by ethnic group and we have taken this particular set of data and divided by ethic group and kind of outlined that for you, and we have looked at it from both the lens of english, language arts and the lens of the mathematics exam. >> and then, we also, because we know that you would like to see the data, of english,

learners, and non-english learners and so we have looked at it and for the english learners and non-english learners and we have looked at it through the lens of special education students and so that you can see that concept. and just in summary, about the california high school exit exam, 93, almost 94 percent of students have passed the exit exam in english, language arts and 95 have passed in math. and 92.3 met both of them and there are additional opportunities for students to take the exit exam and it is not just take the exam, we do have the support classes that are on saturday, school, in the individual schools that are going on now, and will go on in our summer school program to provide the students with the support to give them the skills to pass this exam, and those exams will be offered in may and in july. and so that is kind of a summary of our findings on the

exit exam. and with that, i think that you know, we will be glad to answer any questions that the board may have. and again, i do want to say, we have a system now to actually look at the data, and it is something that a system that we constantly are improving in looking at ways of how we can look at the data and we can actually make sound decisions on the data on how to strategically target the students to make sure that they receive the supports that they need in order to achieve a high school diploma in the high school unified. >>

>> i wanted to thank you with more information to answer the questions that not only, you heard with the select committee but also the questions that we posed to you, and i appreciate that you have come forward with more detail and really breaking it down, and into a gran youal level about the numbers that we were the most interested in. and i hope that the board sees some of the areas, and what is important to you all and i really want to thank the board leadership and the superintendent as well as the executive level staff are getting on the board agenda as quickly as possible. because i think that it is imperative that we know as early as possible what information that we have been presented with at the select committee or the curriculum committee and thank you so much for the ongoing work and the

ongoing efforts for the improvement and the data collection, and for really filtering through the clean, and clear information, thank you. >> and i have other comments, but wanted to put that on the table and thank you all very much. >> thank you. >> commissioner wynns and commissioner haney. >> i have a few questions and thank you for this too, but here is the main question, most of the students who are not on track to graduate, appear to be the ones who need one class. how or what assurance can we have or how much can we presume that those students are all in that class this semester? >> from the data that we have run, because we run the comparison data for the students that are enrolled in our current evening school. and we have a pretty high level of assurance that most of them and i can't say that 100 percent, but i can say that we have worked with counselors and counselors have identified them.

>> and i want to know why they have to have taken it in evening school, i mean, you said that during the school day is the preferred way for kids to get these classes. so, depending on what classes they are, most of them should be available to them during the school day and that is sort of counseling question. what have we put in place the systems that can assure us that we will get to the points where the counselors are making sure that the students are enrolled in that class and this is related to that, and so before you answer i will ask this too, which is do we still have a problem with off semester courses not being offered, so, if the class, i mean if they failed the class which the data tell us that is what they have, is the only way for them to get, you know, advanced algebra

is in the fall or can it be taken in the spring? a question that has been asked at this table and discussed, countless times and since i have been on the board of education. and so we need to know that that actually is happening. >> so i would be happy to speak to the role of the counsel and her working with the students and the administrator and with the teachers to really avail every opportunity possible to enroll a student and in the best fit for that student. and to recover the credits that they need to graduate in a timely manner. and the counselors, and more than anyone savvy about helping the in understooding what will work for each individual student and i will say that different schools have different capacities, for the students taking a credit recovery throughout the school day and different schools may even have different policies if

you are looking at a world history class which is a tenth grade class and that is one that is not easy fit a senior into a class that could be full and if you are looking at the math classes those often will have sort of a range of when the students take them or a flexibility and i will say in my own experience and from the counselors, the priority is to accommodate the student in the school day to the extent possible and that make sense, the last thing that they need is another class at the end of the school day. there are always those students who wait until the last minute and pull it all out by going to evening school and taking an on-line course and a city college high school recovery. >> and don't have room. >> that don't have room >> i would speak to that and that would be my response and my understanding of how the students are accommodated within the school day and i think that it happens really

like to a great extent. i think that steven can respond to some of the things and some of the semester specific. >> i am not talking about the one semester classes, those usually are available both semesters, it is the two semester class that you fail one of them and many times are kind of stuck for your career because you failed a class if you can't take it until the next year, and then you have lost the whole year or, we have heard, horror stories of kids trying to pass the second semester, because otherwise they are a year behind, and never catch up. and so, are we doing something to try to fix that? >> i think that commissioner wynns is right, and i know from being the high school counselor, and sometimes when you are the larger school, and you have more flexibility, and in this arena to respond, and

with a course, the bottom line, though, is that if it is a smaller school, where they don't have as much flexibility with the budgets or the staffing or things of that nature that is not necessary there, but what we have done that is a little bit different now and it is not necessarily during the school day, there is two things, that have happened, through the extended learning, the first thing is that if we find that there is an issue, and we allow for schools to respond to us, and within an application for the sprout funding that he referenced, and we found this, this semester and we had a large group of students that they had failed one particular course, and we funded a teacher for an extra period a day for that school, for those students to regain that credit immediately. and we are able to strategically do that and we do

not turn down students, that are in 9th grade, if they come to us second semester and they are in the ninth grade year and they want to enroll in one of our extended learning opportunities we actually allow them. if a student wants to make-up a d, and gone are the days when the summer school and evening schools were funded based on a student's first enrollment in the course where they have made a passing grade we could not allow that, that is not the case any more, we allow them to make-up d and we welcome anyone, and so those are two things that we are doing, slightly different. >> and i do want to and you don't... and i don't expect someone to know this, but i am more concerned with the comprehensive high schools, and the medium schools too, because in the past, we have had a pattern, where they really just did not want to do that because it is obviously much easier to schedule and also, it is a lot, and you know, some of this, is a lot of this has to do with

the interesting way ha high schools are organized into departments and sort of who is going to teach what on what semester and who is going to teach which classes which year and it is sort of a negotiation between the department head and the teachers and not always with the concerns with this at the top of the list and so, you know, the teachers just kind of don't want to teach in the semester and they want to teach for the year and have the kids for the whole year and so clearly there is a real educational value to it and i do not mean that it is uncaring on the part of the teachers at all and that you can have the same kids they don't want to mess that up and they have a limited number of classes that they are going to teach any way. but that is the thing that we see, having over time, had a big impact on the students in our school district, because, it just was not available to them and it is the big schools, which according to the... and i

mean, that it makes sense, and common sense and according to what you are saying here, they do have the resources to do that. but i just want to make sure that they actually do it. because it is clearly simpler to schedule one year, classes, and not to worry about the people being off track, but we are trying to focus on students not getting off track, now, and especially with the increased graduation requirements and so i am hoping that maybe, we could just get a report in writing about where those things are available and what, and it is not only now, but yes, we are concerned about these students right now, but, this is something that we want to change, institutionally in the future. and i have one more question and then i will be done and that is the kc issues and particularly the program and the one slide, on 15 and what you have actually showed us here is what percentage of the kids of english learners have passed or not passed each part of the kc and that is interesting because it tell us as we would expect, you know, that english learners are less likely to have passed the

english language arts component etc. and what i would like to know is not just divide the 100 percent in the program and not in the program but tell us what percentage of the kids who, and what percentage of the special ed kids, have not passed what parts of the kc? what percentage of the english learners have not passed? and not just divide them up this way. >> i can follow up on that. >> the total number of special education kids and verses how many have passed or not passed. >> yeah, exactly, how does that compare with the kids. s that is what i would like to compare with the kids not in the program. >> right. >> what percentage of special ed kids have not passed the english arts compared to the not special ed kids. >> we can do that. >> thank you. >> thank you very much for that information, it is helpful. >> commissioner haney. yeah, thank you for this data and thank you for commissioner

maufas and the committee for working with the staff to get this great information, and i think that there is still obviously a lot that we are very concerned with in here and that is why we are taking the seriousness that we are as a district and so thank you to you all but also to all of the counselors and the countless people at the site staff who have been working on this tirelessly and i know that since i came on to the board, over a year now, the class of 2014 in particular has been of great concern to us and we still obviously have a ways to go even with them, but looking forward, and how to make sure that we don't get into this situation again and that we support all of our students, and as best as we can, and so that they are not put in this position where they are scrambling here at the end, a couple of questions that i have three questions, and you can either take them one at a time or i can give them altogether. one is that i know that the continuation students that are not in this picture, but i would like to know a bit about how they are doing. and i know that we made the policy change, and to sort of

support their success, this year, and it would be good to know, what the class of 2014 for the continuation students look like and whether the policy change made a huge difference and making sure that even though they are not in this picture, it and that we make sure that they are successful as well and that we have a sense of how they are doing and what we are doing to support them. and the second one, was we talked a lot in here and we, and i really liked the sort of the composite or the snapshot of a particular student and what we are doing for them and i would love to know for our students who are off track up to 1 semester or off track up to a year and off track, 300 students, what it looks like for them and, what their options are, and how many of them we expect to be successful and do we have fifth year options for them? and should, some of them have

been, sent or some of them sent to continuation schools earlier and why are there so many students that are off track for a year and off track and what that situation comes from. and how we insure their success, and then, the third thing is and this is kind of looking forward in terms of how the inference of high school is where they are never able to find what they are passionate about or have a joy of learning or have the options that we want to insure that all of it is students have so that we are not just giving more, more of what is not working for them, but also, trying to find, within our extended learning, what it is that does work for them and so i am wondering with the extended learning and the

options that we have, which, if we had a sense of, of those, and which of them, i know that we said that our first choice is always to have the courses made up in the school day, and but, short of that, of the other options that we have, and sorts of a comparison of the failure rates, within that and which of those is sort of working better and also, feedback from the students and which ones and the experiences where the students feel like they are learning a lot and they are getting something out of it and to make it reconnect with the school and it is one thing to have a student make-up a class and so that they finish and another thing to through the process to find something that reconnects them to the school so that they want to do bet and her continue on with their learning and that they feel like they are having that opportunity as a result of participating in these programs. and how we cannot just give the

students, more and more of whatever it bas that was not working for them in the first place and but, at the same time that we are getting them a place to graduate and we are getting them into a place where they are finding what it is that they may reconnect and that they are using this as an opportunity to do that and whether it is cte or other types of, you know, high level, learning and i am not saying, reduced the standards, but find what it is that for our students, who are in a situation where they have to make-up the classes and we can put something forward where they feel like they are both learning and having a better experience with maybe something that was not working for them previously. and so, i don't know with the continuation students and the students who are severely off track and then sort of the larger question moving forward. and thank you again for this work. >> thank you. >> so, to your three questions, first of all, the continuation data we can follow up with that information, and it may take us a little bit more time, because

sometimes pulling continuation data is not as easy as just pulling the data because we actually need to go and look at individuals students with the schools and so we can do that, over the next few weeks and get a report to of the board in reference to that. and i could, sit here and just give you a list of things that are just options for the students that fall into the categories of being severely off track and we do openly, work with our counselors and say that if it is your fifth year option is open to our students and but i think that what would be more meaningful for the board if i could list out those options in a report and actually take one or two of those students like we took students x, tonight, and we could actually outline what would happen with one or two of those students. and so i am more than willing for us to work on bringing that back to the board. and then your final question, and realize that a year ago, when we were sitting here, the extended learning budget, had just been approved. and the people that are sitting

at this table now for extended learning did not exist in san francisco unified school district. they existed, but not in san francisco unified school district. and, as a result of well, julie is the exception, because she is product. but the cases that i believe that we need to very closely evaluate every single program that we have within the extended learning and look at it and see if it is working but many of them, we are in the first few months of rolling them out and we will be evaluating them and one of the things that we are looking at now is a protocol for a evaluation of programs so that we are using the same tool and the same points to look at every single one of them and so we are working on that, and you will see that coming out of us in the next few months, okay? all right. >> and commissioner norton and

then commissioner murase, may i call for the public comment. >> thank you for waiting. >> tony talarico, crisi. tina and kevin. >> and so have you two minutes each and please come up to the podium, thank you. >> hi, tony, from the sunset parent and i fully support this implementation and the resolution, and the data tonight, suggests that statistics are getting better data and are improving but, we still have work to do. so many students are off track for graduation, and so many from groups that we have historically under served. but, i don't really want to talk about the dem graphics, every parent from every neighborhood wants his or her child to receive a quality education. now, sadly, at this point, we may be too late for some of the kids in the class of 2014. and i want us to keep working

on those students. but i also want us to assume a sense of urgently for the class of 2015, 16, 17. and some of the data makes me sad, but, i am not going to cry. some of the data makes me angry, but i am not going to scream and shout. what i will do, is ask all of you, to keep working at this. and commissioners, keep this at the top or near the top of your list of priorities. and you exist as a board, and we exist as a school district, first and foremost to educate, our children. and the curriculum committee, please keep providing oversight, and monitoring to keep the implementation moving forward. superintendent, staff, please be persist ent, in working with our principals, the teachers, the guidance counselors and the

effected students. to keep this moving forward. i hope that you all will join me in advocating toward this initiative. and i want all of our students to graduate college and career ready, thank you. >> [ speaking in a foreign language ] i am just saying that we needed languages other than english for our students and so i will start in spanish. and i don't know if i can speak as eloquently as they just spoke because i am sad and i am angry at the numbers and i think that for one minute i actually just looked at it and i was just kind of like a, through, g and the crisis is actually highlighting what for years was hitting that we are failing our black and brown students. and the highest numbers, of students that are unprepared to graduate are black and brown students. and that angers me and it

saddens me and we can put as many things in place as we want and we can be brazen enough to put everything out there and then say, okay, students, go and get it. and then, if they don't get it, if they wait until the last minute and try to fit it all in at the same time and then it is on them, right? and then it is their fault, but in all reality, here we are april 22nd, and about a month in change away from graduating, and we are talking about all of these steps that are happening for the kids that are not graduating, why did that not happen in ninth grade and why in 8th grade and why are we waiting until the last minute to insure their success, this resolution was passed in 2009 and implemented in 2010, and we could have been taking all of these steps from the moment that those ninth graders failed algebra from the minute that the tenth graders were failing or not getting access but we didn't and we waited until the last minute what are we going

to do for these 758 students and the additional students that are worse off than just one class? and i just want to talk about transparency and accountability, because i have myself and my predecessor before me, we were part of the new graduation task force and having emailed several times as well as georgia williams from the pack, and getting no response, around what was going to happen, after the new policy was passed, and it is also concerning. and so, it does not help when you get these in april, and if people were asking for it in february, and in march, and in january, and we could have been working towards the solutions together. and thank you. >> my name is kevin and i am from the advocates for the children and youth, and i think that the numbers really trouble me, and especially for african americans students. and i know that some people did

not feel comfortable talking about that, but that should be the focus of this, the fact that less than 50 percent of african americans seniors will be graduating this year it is a really big issue, and being lucky enough to know a lot of people on the board and having the interact to have the meetings with you and the people in the administration and i know this is not a bunch of racist people but we have some institutional racism that needs to be addressed as a graduate, from a high school that was created to serve african american students and that dream ended when the police came to the campus and started beating students. and it seems like once again the african american students are getting beat by the institutions that are meant to protect them and it is unacceptable that half of the african americans students will not be graduating if it was any other ethnic group i think that there would be a lot more urgency and effort to support and help those students and especially with such a small

number of students in the district, partially because the parents don't feel that they can get a quality education, and i think that needs to be the foe cal point of all of these conversations about how we can serve these students and move beyond the talk and how do we create a culture of accountability where these things are not acceptible in sfusd and these numbers, for african american students are similar to what you would see in places like mississippi or georgia. and we are one of the highest performing urban school districts and so it is unacceptable and i really just want to know how the board is going to address this and how we are going to create accountability to make sure that these things stop happening because they happened when i was in high school to now and even my older relatives, had