san francisco kindergarten information

SFUSD Assignment Redesign

The San Francisco Unified School District Student Assignment Redesign was originally scheduled to take effect for the 2010 school year (e.g. affecting the application process that begins in November 2009). However, this process has been delayed and will not take affect until the 2011 school year. The application and assignment process this fall will not change.

How can you get involved?

  • Observe the process by attending a School Board Meeting. See schedule here.
  • Participate in a community meeting hosted by the School Board. Schedule for these still TBD.

Other resources

sfusd resources

Parent's for Public Schools - San Francisco

The PPS-SF is a network of parents working together to build and ensure quality schools for all San Francisco children. At this stage in the game, you may find their kindergarten information nights a valuable resource.

SFUSD: by the numbers

The Parents for Public Schols in San Francisco (PPSSF) maintains a great page of data about the result's of last year's enrollment process. Although school's do rise and fall in popularity over time, historically last year's SFUSD enrollment patterns have been a pretty good predictor of next year's enrollment patterns. You can read a very short summary of the 2009-2010 Enrollment Data Summary here.

Although the information on the page is clearly presented and very useful, the story it tells is less than heartwarming.

  • 22% of families did not receive any of their seven choices.
  • Overall, the enrollment results get slightly worse over time. Less children are assigned to a first choice school, and more children are not assigned to any of their choice schools
  • Recently, the schools with the highest increase in demand tend to be those in the Sunset / Richmond.

sfusd: adam's spreadsheet

"Adam's Spreadsheet" is an invaluable resource created by Dr. R. Adam's Dudley, a professor at UCSF. The basic idea is the following :

  • You enter into the spreadsheet your 7 school choices.
  • The spreadsheet tells you the probability of getting in to one of your seven choices in the first round.

This allows you to determine whether your selection of seven schools is remotely realistic.

The spreadsheet also provides a really quick way to look up basic information on SFUSD schools including: immersion programs, hours of operation, neighborhood and phone numbers.

Private School Resources

The dazzling variety of private schools in San Francisco is several times more baffling than SFUSD. Each school has their own admissions process, and it is difficult to provide any information that is generally applicable. If you're looking for a place to start, here are a few resources.

Bay Area Private Schools Directory

Comprehensive, but not very organized list of San Francisco private schools

San Francisco Private Schools

A decent book with an overview of (most?) private schools in San Francisco. It was published in 2006, so may be missing the newest schools.

alumni resources

Don't forget the the Stepping Stones alumni may be a good resource for questions about a specific school. Visit the Graduates page to see who went where. If nobody from the Class of 2009 attends your school of interest, ask Ms. Naomi, she may be able to provide the name of a less recent graduate.

Also, for questions about the many phases of the SFUSD enrollment process, and specifically what you can expect if you persist beyond Round I, you may contact Ethan's mom.