SFUSD outlines middle grades redesign emphasizing ‘deeper learning,’ pilot schools and new exploratory courses

The San Francisco Unified School District on Aug. 14 presented a public update on a proposed middle grades redesign that district leaders say aims to deliver ‘‘deeper learning’’ and more equitable access to electives.

Chief Academic Officer Brett Stevens told the Board of Education the district has spent about 2½ years developing design principles — project-based learning, technology integration, performance-based assessment, cross-disciplinary learning, social-emotional supports and personalized learning — and has proposed a draft master schedule to reflect those goals.

The draft model would keep five core academic areas and add trimester-based exploratory courses for all sixth-graders including visual and performing arts, a three-trimester introduction to computer science, two trimesters of health and one trimester of world language. The plan would also introduce an ‘‘acceleration’’ course scheduled at the same time for all students so that students needing intervention and those seeking enrichment can enter and exit flexibly rather than be tracked into separate classes.

"We want a course for all students that's about acceleration — to move students further wherever they are in their learning," Stevens said.

Why it matters: District officials framed the redesign as aligned with the Vision 2025 graduate profile and as an attempt to resolve a persistent tradeoff: students who need remedial support often lose access to electives. The redesign aims to expand electives and world-language access while preserving differentiated instruction for students with IEPs.

Key details: The draft proposes an eight-period modified block schedule. On one day each week students would attend all eight classes; on other days they would attend four, permitting longer blocks (the draft proposes blocks above 80 minutes; some educators at the meeting urged 70 minutes as a minimum). The exploratory courses use trimesters so a broader array of courses can fit into the middle-grades program.

On staffing and credentials: Presenters acknowledged staffing and credentialing challenges, particularly for bilingual single-subject teachers. "There are more world-language–credentialed teachers available to us than there are single-subject bilingual teachers," Stevens said, and the district noted it will continue credentialing supports for health and other specialties. The district said Mission High School will offer Arabic 1–3 next year, and Vietnamese curriculum has also cleared UC Doorways A–G approval.

Pilots and timeline: The district plans to identify three pilot schools through an application process that weighs readiness and equity. Officials aim to bring another refined model to the board in September–October and identify pilot sites by December to plan for 2019–20 pilots.

Questions and outstanding issues raised by board members included how the acceleration course will combine intervention and interest-based instruction without tracking, how block-schedule minutes will handle missed days and teacher absences, how IEP/SDC students will be included, and how early-release (aligned) days will affect after-school care and the Beacon expansion. Presenters said those implementation details will be tested in pilots and further analyses (credentialing and staffing) are underway.

The board did not take an action to adopt a final model at this meeting; presenters said further community and student focus groups and educator design work will continue before pilots are selected.

The next step: District staff will present an updated model this fall and begin outreach and selection planning for three pilot schools.