Opinion: A recommendation to SFUSD High School Taskforce: SFUSD can meet high school students where they are

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has formed a High School Task Force to discuss the admission process of its 17 high schools. Although CPAC-SF, which is the only grassroots organization representing the Chinese-speaking parent community, was bypassed when we asked for a seat at the task force, we are submitting our recommendations to the task force.

CPAC-SF believes that the SFUSD can better organize its abundant courses, pathways, career technical education (CTE) in addition to adding a set of college major pathways in the offerings of most of its high schools, in order to meet students where they are.

Many families in our community feel that their children are not being offered a sufficiently rigorous curriculum in the district’s schools. Many children themselves seek academic opportunities outside of school because they are academically motivated and desire higher level challenges than what their schools offer.

As a result, the families have had to send their children to private extracurricular programs for additional academic development. SFUSD has the capacity to do a better job in serving each and every student according to their diverse backgrounds, social economic statuses and academic interests.

Here are our recommendations:

1. Keep the existing merit-based admissions system of Lowell High School and the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. These are well functioning schools that serve a valuable public purpose. Giving students and families an environment for deeper learning with the programs that they want is key to retaining families in SFUSD. Students of all abilities and learning levels should be welcomed in SFUSD.

2. In comprehensive high schools, such as Lincoln and Washington High Schools, add a set of pathways: High School Pathways for College Majors, 4-year pathways that allow students to explore and prepare for higher education disciplines of their interests, such as:

- mathematics, physics and chemistry majors,

- language arts, literature and linguistics majors,

- education majors,

- accounting, business and finance majors,

- mechanical and civil engineering majors,

- software development and high tech majors, and others.

Each pathway includes a series of courses and AP college preparatory courses that students who aspire for these college majors can take systematically.

What we see now is that although the school district requires the A-G courses for graduation and prepares students to enter UC and CSU, students are not getting the full picture of what the intense career-oriented study in colleges entails.

In addition to courses that will meet the minimum graduation requirements, SFUSD high school course offerings should inspire students to challenge themselves and contain courses that will lay the foundation for their future field of study in universities.

SFUSD should provide intentional and systematic counseling as well as the AP courses needed for these students who are motivated for professional careers.

3. SFUSD high schools should provide guidance for students to explore their academic and career interests as well as to discover their personality and passions for the best career matches (career-personality matches), so that they can make suitable career choices. We want our students to realize their strengths and potential as early as possible, so that they can prepare for the higher learning needed for their future profession.

4. Existing Career Technical Education Pathway (CTE) should be extended to 3 years minimum, so that students can get the fullest experience of career readiness if they choose to take skilled jobs right after high school or enroll in a 4-year college.

5. All CTE Pathways and Pathways for College Major should be available for choosing upon high school application, so that students can anticipate the offerings of a high school and get prepared for the rigor learning in middle school or earlier. Students can have the freedom to choose another pathway if they find a better match.

Note：Chinese Parent Advisory Council - San Francisco (CPAC-SF) was formed on April 24, 2021 by 7 bilingual Chinese-speaking parents. CPAC-SF works to promote community focused positive culture and quality education in San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) through parent participation in the Chinese community. CPAC-SF has now grown to more than 4,000 members in its mailing list and a few thousands more in WeChat. CPAC-SF places school Culture, quality Education, community needs and parent participations in the center of its work.