School Board Notes 5.3.07

By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent

District Graduates Get Mixed Reviews From City College

At a meeting with the BOE Thursday night, officials from City College of San Francisco reported on how well incoming SFUSD students are doing compared to other students at the college. The meeting had good news and bad news for the district.

SFUSD students have been entering the college at lower levels of English proficiency than other new high school graduates, and their ability has been trending lower over the last several years. In math, SFUSD grads placed higher than graduates of SF private schools, but lower than from schools outside the city. Math abilities of incoming students have been improving over the last few years.

SFUSD students have been steadily improving the percentage of units passed, reaching 63 percent this year. They have a higher rate than other students of continuing at the college from semester to semester, with a re-enrollment rate of 85 percent. "There is something about SFUSD students that they stick with it here," said CCSF representative Steven Spurling. "Persistence has a lot to do with success."

The complete report can be viewed here.

It was presented May 3 at a joint meeting of the Curriculum and Program Committee of the Board of Education and the Education Committee of the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees.

The report found that 59 percent of SFUSD grads were placing into English at the most basic level, compared to 36 percent of those from private SF high schools and 45 percent of those from outside the city. Only 7 percent were placing in at college level, compared to 17 percent of kids from private schools in the city and 12 percent of kids from out-of-area schools.

Kids who come in at the most basic level have to take five courses just to get up to the level of freshman English, Spurling said. "The questions is, 'Why the dickens would someone be able to place in that low?' Without finger-pointing, that's been an issue we've had for years."

Board members said one cause was lack of communication between SFUSD faculty and CCSF faculty about curriculum. Commissioner Jill Wynns asked whether CCSF's test was in line with standards, NCLB requirements and other material upon which the district itself is assessed. "Are you testing kids on what we're teaching them?" she asked.

"That's a good question," Spurling responded. There is no standard placement test being used by the colleges," he said. In fact, there are more than 100 different placement tests used by various institutions. "It's absurd and bizarre, but that's how it is."

The committee discussed trying to formalize communication between SFUSD teachers and CCSF faculty so teachers could be sure they were equipping their seniors to place into higher courses. Commissioner Kim Shree-Maufus cautioned, however, against another form of teaching to the test. "We don't want more kids are placing into these (higher) courses and then failing the course."

In a related address, commissioners heard from an organization called CalPASS (California Partnership for Achieving Student Success), a state-funded program designed to improve student success as they move from high school to college. CalPASS helps gather data about how students from each school and district fare after graduation. It also facilitates conversations between school districts and higher learning institutions, and works to help them align curricula so incoming freshman will be equipped for success.

"There's a misalignment across the state and across the nation," said Michele Kalina, senior director of operations for CalPASS. "Students come out of high school who have done well, and then they enter higher education and — whether it's CSU, UC or City College, find themselves ill-prepared to do the work that's expected of them."

Board members discussed moving immediately to join CalPASS. Assistant Superintendent Margaret Chu said the district had considered paying a private firm to help gather just the information CalPASS was offering to provide.