From Vision to Action, an Incubator of Best Practices: The Superintendent Zone—A Case Study of San Francisco Unified School District’s Federally Funded Reform

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Equity Considerations in School Improvement

Abstract

In response to a federally funded reform, San Francisco Unified School District initiated an ambitious plan for ”reversing systemic racism” by creating the Superintendent Zone and implementing a set of intensive supports for its most underserved schools. The “Zone” established localized teams of administrators and coaches to support small cohorts of schools in two neighborhoods. After three years, the results showed some strong gains in student achievement, which prompted questions about what elements in the Superintendent Zone were working and how these elements could be shared across the district. We employed a mixed methods approach to study the Superintendent Zone, involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. We identify high leverage actions associated with the Superintendent Zone.

Authors

• Laura P. Wentworth, California Education Partners

• Ritu Khanna, San Francisco Unified School District

• Regina Piper, San Francisco Unified School District