San Francisco’s math problem

Student scores go from bad to worse.

The San Francisco school board made a smart decision targeting math as a critical subject to improve. The latest state test scores sound the alarm. More than half of all SFUSD students are not proficient in math.

Even worse, proficiency actually drops the longer the kids are in school. Nearly half of all students were NOT proficient in 3rd. That number jumps to about 59 percent of students in the 8th grade.

While high achievers (about 26 percent of students) maintain high proficiency through elementary and middle school, the scores for other students drop as kids move from third grade to 8th grade.

This has grave implications for student success. One important goal of the district is to graduate students ready for college. For too many, that’s not happening.

A new study reveals that “More than 10 per cent of new students at a prestigious California university are taking math that covers what they should have learned as far back as elementary school.”

Which students succeed and which students struggle?

The best predictors of student success are parents’ education, income, language fluency, and attendance.

(And, of course, a strong curriculum and well-prepared teachers.)

Parent education. The higher the parent education level, the higher student achievement. About 26 percent of all SFUSD students perform above proficient in math. That jumps to about 48 percent of students whose parents attended graduate school. Alert to private school parents. These kids do great in SFUSD.

Socioeconomics. In 8th grade, about 35 per cent of higher income students are high achieving. Only 17 per cent of low income students reach this level.

(To put this into context, about 61 percent of SFUSD students are classified as eligible for free/reduced-price meals, English learners, homeless & foster youth.)

English Fluency. This has an enormous impact. Only 2 per cent of 8th grade students who are English language learners exceed standards. About 86 per cent are not meeting standards. As students move from third grade to 8th grade, more and more students do not meet standards. (Nearly a quarter of SFUSD students are English learners.)

There is a bright light here. Kudos to SFUSD. Students who started as English learners and now are re-classified as fluent in English are doing well. About 30 per cent of these students in 8th grade exceed standards.

Chronic absences. Students with the best attendance have the highest achievement levels. In 2023-24, 28 per cent of students were chronically absent.

The absence rates were much higher for select groups: 40 percent for Hispanics, 32 per cent for socio-economic disadvantaged students, 59 per cent for Black/African American.

Put a red circle around “chronic absences”. SFUSD can’t change parent education or income or race. But it can take aggressive action to improve curriculum, teaching, and chronic absences.

What is SFUSD doing?

First, it adopted targeted math goals:

• increase the percentage of 8th grade students meeting grade-level expectations from 42% in 2022 to 65% by 2027.

Next, it has adopted a new math curriculum in both elementary school and middle school. It scrapped the old curriculum that was not successful for too many students and is starting anew.

Teachers must now be trained to implement this new curriculum. Initial reports indicate, so far, the district is off track in meeting its goals.

Failing math across the US

Poor math achievement is not just an SFUSD problem. The Nations Report Card (NAEP), which measures sample groups of students throughout the US, shows only about 40 percent of 4th graders are Proficient and NAEP Advanced. That means 60 percent are behind.

Nearly a quarter do not even reach the NAEP Basic level, meaning they “likely cannot identify odd numbers or solve a problem using unit conversions.”

Chronic absences one more time.

While the district is measuring and regularly reporting on the implementation of the new curriculum, one essential regular report is missing: Who is showing up for school?

Are students not achieving because of incomplete implementation of the new curriculum or because they are not showing up?

The school district needs a robust campaign to help more students attend school. And if this costs more money, so be it. Investing in attendance will improve student achievement.

The Golden Lining

Every day a student attends school the district gets more funding. Improve attendance and generate millions more for our schools.