SF superintendent’s 90‑day plan spotlights African American achievement gaps; board declares 'state of emergency'

Superintendent Vincent Matthews outlined a 90‑day assessment and initial plan on Nov. 14, telling the San Francisco Unified School District board he had visited dozens of sites and met with parents, educators, students and civic leaders. Matthews said the district’s overall performance masks deep and persistent within‑school and between‑school gaps — the largest of which affect African American students — and proposed a targeted strategy focused on roughly 20 schools that together serve a large share of the district’s African American K–8 population.

Matthews described two cadres of schools that together account for nearly half of African American K–8 students: historically underserved schools (characterized by racial concentration, high poverty and high teacher turnover) and “high‑equity‑gap” schools (strong overall performance but large disparities between…