San francisco charter schools: Uh oh. We’re very sorry.
Top 10 Best San Francisco, CA Public Charter Schools (2023)
For the 2023 school year, there are 16 public charter schools serving 7,443 students in San Francisco, CA.
The top ranked public charter schools in San Francisco, CA are Mission Preparatory, City Arts And Technical High School and Creative Arts Charter. Overall testing rank is based on a school’s combined math and reading proficiency test score ranking.
San Francisco, CA public charter schools have an average math proficiency score of 31% (versus the California public charter school average of 31%), and reading proficiency score of 41% (versus the 48% statewide average). Charter schools in San Francisco have an average ranking of 4/10, which is in the bottom 50% of California public charter schools.
Minority enrollment is 87% of the student body (majority Hispanic), which is more than the California public charter school average of 73% (majority Hispanic).
Best San Francisco, CA Public Charter Schools (2023)
School (Math and Reading Proficiency)
Location
Grades
Students
Rank: #11.
Mission Preparatory
Charter School
Math: 40% | Reading: 56%
Rank:
Top 50%
Add to Compare
1050 York St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 508-9626
Grades: K-8
| 439 students
Rank: #22.
City Arts And Technical High School
Charter School
Math: 30-39% | Reading: 50-59%
Rank:
Top 50%
Add to Compare
325 La Grande Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 841-2200
Grades: 9-12
| 250 students
Rank: #33.
Creative Arts Charter
Charter School
Math: 45-49% | Reading: 45-49%
Rank:
Top 50%
Add to Compare
1601 Turk St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 749-3509
Grades: K-8
| 422 students
Rank: #44.
Kipp San Francisco College Preparatory
Charter School
Math: 25-29% | Reading: 45-49%
Rank:
Bottom 50%
Add to Compare
1195 Hudson Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 643-6951
Grades: 9-12
| 428 students
Rank: #55.
Kipp San Francisco Bay Academy
Charter School
Math: 22% | Reading: 32%
Rank:
Bottom 50%
Add to Compare
1430 Scott St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 440-4306
Grades: 5-8
| 351 students
Rank: #66.
Kipp Bayview Academy
Charter School
Math: 19% | Reading: 27%
Rank:
Bottom 50%
Add to Compare
1060 Key Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 467-2522
Grades: 5-8
| 285 students
Rank: #77.
Kipp Bayview Elementary School
Charter School
Math: ≤20% | Reading: ≤20%
Rank:
Bottom 50%
Add to Compare
350 Harbor Rd.
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 404-2602
Grades: K-4
| 147 students
Rank: n/an/a
Five Keys Adult School (Sf Sheriff’s)
Charter School
Add to Compare
70 Oak Grove
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 734-3310
Grades: 9-12
| 328 students
Rank: n/an/a
Five Keys Charter (Sf Sheriff’s)
Charter School
Add to Compare
1 Moreland Dr.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 734-3310
Grades: 9-12
| 110 students
Rank: n/an/a
Five Keys Independence High School (Sf Sheriff’s)
Charter School
Add to Compare
70 Oak Grove
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 734-3310
Grades: 9-12
| 2,434 students
Rank: n/an/a
Gateway High School
Charter School
Add to Compare
1430 Scott St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 749-3600
Grades: 9-12
| 519 students
Rank: n/an/a
Gateway Middle School
Charter School
Add to Compare
1512 Golden Gate Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 922-1001
Grades: 6-8
| 305 students
Rank: n/an/a
Leadership High School
Charter School
Add to Compare
350 Seneca Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 841-8910
Grades: 9-12
| 334 students
Rank: n/an/a
Life Learning Academy Charter
Charter School
Add to Compare
651 Eighth St.
Bldg. 229 Treas
San Francisco, CA 94130
(415) 397-8957
Grades: 9-12
| 34 students
Rank: n/an/a
The New School Of San Francisco
Charter School
Add to Compare
655 De Haro St. 1st Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 401-8489
Grades: K-6
| 347 students
Rank: n/an/a
Thomas Edison Charter Academy
Charter School
Add to Compare
3531 22nd St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 970-3330
Grades: K-8
| 710 students
[+] Show Closed Public Schools in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California Public Schools (Closed)
School
Location
Grades
Students
Buena Vista Elementary School (Closed 2012)
2641 25th St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 695-5875
Grades: K-5
| 393 students
Cabrillo Elementary School (Closed 2008)
735 24th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 750-8464
Grades: K-5
| 421 students
City Arts And Technical High School (Closed 2021)
Charter School
325 La Grande Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 841-2200
Grades: 9-12
| 288 students
Davis (Gloria R.) Middle School (Closed 2008)
Magnet School
1195 Hudson St.
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 695-5390
Grades: 7-9
| 164 students
Edison Charter Academy (Closed 2021)
Charter School
3531 22nd St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 970-3330
Grades: K-8
| 734 students
Enola D. Maxwell Middle School (Closed 2008)
655 Deharo St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 695-5905
Grades: 6-8
| 135 students
Excelsior Middle School (Closed 2009)
325 La Grande Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 469-4547
Grades: 6-8
| 192 students
Gateway To College Elementary School (Closed 2018)
Alternative School
50 Phelan Ave., Sci Hall Room
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 452-5768
Grades: 9-12
| 133 students
Golden Gate Elementary School (Closed 2006)
1601 Turk St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 749-3509
Grades: K-5
| 96 students
International Studies Academy (Closed 2021)
Alternative School
655 De Haro St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 695-5866
Grades: 9-12
| 126 students
Leadership Public Schs-stockton (Closed 2010)
Charter School
2601 Mission St 9th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 695-0669
Grades: n/a
| n/a students
Luther Burbank Middle School (Closed 2008)
325 La Grande Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 469-4580
Grades: 6-8
| 251 students
Metropolitan Arts & Technical High School (Closed 2014)
Charter School
1195 Hudson Ave
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 550-5920
Grades: 9-12
| 123 students
Newcomer High School (Closed 2011)
1350 Seventh Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 242-2601
Grades: 9-12
| n/a students
Onepurpose (Closed 2021)
Charter School
948 Hollister Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94124
(415) 657-0277
Grades: K-5
| n/a students
Presidio Early Ed. (Closed 2021)
387 Moraga Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94129
(415) 561-5822
Grades: K
| 21 students
San Francisco Flex Academy (Closed 2021)
Charter School
1350 7th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 762-8800
Grades: 6-12
| 82 students
Swett (John) Elementary School (Closed 2008)
727 Golden Gate Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 241-6320
Grades: K-5
| 227 students
Treasure Island Elementary School (Closed 2008)
Us Naval Station
San Francisco, CA 94130
(415) 291-7928
Grades: K-5
| 98 students
William De Avila Elementary School (Closed 2006)
1351 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 241-6325
Grades: K-5
| 294 students
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top ranked public charter schools in San Francisco, CA?
The top ranked public charter schools in San Francisco, CA include Mission Preparatory, City Arts And Technical High School and Creative Arts Charter.
How many public charter schools are located in San Francisco, CA?
16 public charter schools are located in San Francisco, CA.
What is the racial composition of students in San Francisco, CA?
San Francisco, CA public charter schools minority enrollment is 87% of the student body (majority Hispanic), which is more than the California public charter schools average of 73% (majority Hispanic).
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Charter Schools in San Francisco
Charter school enrollment has grown steadily since they were first allowed in the 1990s.
Five Keys is a network of three charter schools which primarily serves adults, many of whom are in jail, many of whom are in Los Angeles.
The CDE includes them in the SFUSD enrollment numbers because they receive their charters from SFUSD but I will be ignoring them in the rest of this report.
Even excluding Five Keys, the other charter schools have been increasing their share of the public education market. In 2020-21, they served 8.1% of all public school students in the city, up from 4.9% in 2010-11.
Charter schools are most popular at the middle and high-school grades.
All the charter schools are located in the center and east of the city. This has a predictable effect on who attends them.
In SFUSD schools, Asian students form the largest group at 35% of all students. But the aggregate population of charter schools is 55% Latino, 15% Black and only 5% Asian.
It follows that the fraction of public school students attending a charter school in preference to a SFUSD school also varies by race.
Charter schools serve 8% of all public school students in San Francisco but 16% of all African American students and only 1% of all Asian students.
This is not spread evenly across grades. In the middle school grades, 25% of African American students and 22% of Latino students attend charter schools.
Having said that, it doesn’t really make sense to speak of charter schools in the aggregate, not only because they have no common governance but also because individual schools serve very different populations. Mission Prep, Edison, and Leadership are all > 80% Latino. KIPP’s high school is over 90% Black and Latino. The three other KIPP schools (two middle schools and an elementary school) and Life Learning Academy are all > 80% Black and Latino while City Arts and Tech is at 78%. Meanwhile, the combined White and Asian population is below 11% at all those schools. The two Gateway schools are more balanced. Meanwhile New School is > 40% White and Creative Arts is > 50% White.
We can compare the charters to SFUSD’s own schools. The horizontal axis shows the percentage of kids who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals (“FRPM eligible”).
The average in San Francisco public schools is close to 50%. The vertical axis measures how close the school’s racial/ethnic composition is to the public school average using a measure called a divergence index that I’ve previously used here and here. The smaller the divergence index the closer a school’s racial/ethnic composition is to the public school average.
Here’s the picture for elementary, middle, and K-8 schools:
Gateway Middle and New School come closest to the public school racial mix but New School has considerably fewer FRPM-eligible students.
The three KIPP schools (one elementary and two middle) serve particularly poor populations. They all serve a much higher percentage of FRPM-eligible students than the three majority-Black SFUSD elementary schools.
Here’s the picture for high schools. Gateway High sits right at the city average in terms of both racial/ethnic composition and FRPM-eligibility. Of all city high schools, KIPP serves the highest percentage of FRPM-eligible kids and Leadership is not far behind.
One quick and dirty way to assess how well a charter school is doing is to look at its enrollment. Schools that are doing well will show more stable enrollment because they retain more students and can fill any vacant spots from a waitlist. Fluctuating or declining enrollment is an indication of problems.
The KIPP schools are thriving. Each new school seems to be able to ramp up enrollment as it adds grades and enrollment then reaches a steady state.
Gateway’s two schools are also thriving.
Among the other K-8 schools, Creative Arts, Edison, and Mission Prep all seem to be thriving and New School is growing fast as it adds grades. Note that some charters have failed, most recently OnePurpose which had its application for charter renewal rejected by SFUSD.
The other high school charters are a mixed bag. Leadership went through a rocky phase in the late 2000s but seems to have recovered. City Arts and Tech was solid for a decade but appears to be struggling now.
Whether it meets the fate of its sister school, Metropolitan Arts and Tech, remains to be seen.
Why do parents choose to send their kids to charter schools? It’s not because they have more money. Just like SFUSD, charter schools get most of their money from the State of California using a formula that’s based on average daily attendance, grade, and the Unduplicated Pupil Percentage (UPP). The UPP is the percentage of students who are English Learners or FRPM-eligible. Districts (and charter schools) with more of these high-needs students get more money. Money buys staff so we would expect the class sizes to be smaller at schools with more high-needs students.
The most recent class size data that is publicly available dates from 2018-19. Since the schools have a mixture of grade spans (K-8, 6-8, 5-8 etc.), I picked sixth grade as the point of comparison and calculated the average class size for 6th grade English and 6th grade Math at each school.
As expected, there is a bit of a downward trend: the schools with the fewest high-needs students have the largest class sizes.
But this explains only a tiny part of the observed class size variability.
It is noticeable that the four charter schools with large concentrations of Black and/or Latino students (Edison, Mission Prep, KIPP Bayview Academy, and KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy) have 6th grade class sizes in the 26-30 range while the SFUSD middle schools with similar demographics (Everett, Lick, Visitacion Valley, Willie Brown) have class sizes in the 14-22 range. A key question for everyone associated with SFUSD should be: Why are Bayview parents choosing to send their kids to KIPP Bayview Academy with its average class size of 29 when they could send them to nearby Willie Brown Middle School with its average class size of 15?
The benchmark for how to measure charter school performance is set by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes. Their last national report dates from 2013 but they have published more recent reports on particular states and cities, but not San Francisco.
The report that attracted most attention was the one on New York City, partly because that’s the biggest school district, and partly because the results were so striking. The report showed that Black and Hispanic students gained a significant academic advantage from charter school enrollment with Hispanic charter school students performing at the same level as their white district school peers. Within the universe of charter schools, there was a lot of variability but “charter schools affiliated with a Charter Management Organization [such as KIPP] have better learning gains than district school peers in both reading and math. The positive impact is equivalent to about 57 days of learning in reading and 103 more days in math”
1
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I don’t have that data to produce a similar analysis for San Francisco. All I have are the most recent standardized test scores, which are from 2018-19, broken down by student subgroup. Let’s focus on the largest subgroup in charter schools, viz.
“socioeconomically disadvantaged Hispanic or Latino” students.
There are 2.5 times more (2400 vs 900+) economically disadvantaged Latino students in SFUSD than in charter schools. But the number who meet or exceed the standard in English is barely higher in the district schools (just over 500 vs just under 500). In Math, more socioeconomically disadvantaged Latino students at charter schools met or exceeded the standard in Math than at all SFUSD K-8 and middle schools combined.
How is that possible? Well, here’s the percentage who met or exceeded the standard in Math at each school:
The two KIPP schools and Edison all have lots of socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) Latino students and all do much better than comparable SFUSD schools such as Everett and Lick. But Mission Prep is the stand-out with an astonishing 74% of its students meeting or exceeding the standard. For ELA, the figure is even higher: 81%. That’s not just better than Latino students do at any SFUSD school, it’s better than socioeconomically disadvantaged Asian (67% in Math; 66% in ELA) and White (43% in Math; 53% in ELA) students do in SFUSD.
It’s even comparable to the numbers for non-disadvantaged Asian (78% in Math; 80% in ELA) and White (74% in Math; 82% in ELA) students. In short, Mission Prep’s socioeconomically disadvantaged Latino students meet or exceed standards at about the same rate as non-disadvantaged Asian and White students in SFUSD in both Math and ELA.
Here’s the picture for socioeconomically disadvantaged Black students but showing English Language Arts instead of Math. Mission Prep doesn’t have enough of those students to register a score (remember it’s >80% Latino) but, of those schools that do, the two KIPP schools do much better than any of the SFUSD schools with similar numbers of those students.
These results may explain why parents have been forgoing the small class sizes at Brown, Lick, and Everett.
It’s practically impossible to evaluate individual high schools without being able to adjust for the standardized test scores of the incoming students. So I’m just going to mention a couple of eye-popping statistics relating to AP tests.
I came across this statistic serendipitously when I was doing research for the Families for San Francisco report on SFUSD’s Math Pathway. It didn’t make it into that report but here it is:
In 2018-19 (which is the last year for which we have course enrollment data), more Black students took AP Calculus at one charter school, KIPP, than in all of SFUSD.
Having introduced this statistic, I am honor-bound to admit that I suspect this was a one-year anomaly that we won’t see repeated:
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This was the first year KIPP offered AP Calculus so there may have been an artificial first-year bump.
-
Four was an all-time low for SFUSD. It was 20 the previous year
2
.
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It’s possible that the new SFUSD Math sequence, which came into effect for the Class of 2018-19 caused some of the SFUSD decline because it forced most Black students who wanted to take Calculus to have to take a one-year compression course combining elements of Algebra II and Precalculus instead of taking those courses over two full years.
But this explanation only goes so far – the KIPP students took a similar compression course. -
We don’t have information on the number who actually passed the exam, just those who were registered for the class which is what the graph shows. It would not surprise me if few or none of the KIPP students actually passed the AP test:
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Across all subjects, KIPP students take a lot of AP tests (more per student than at any SFUSD school except Lowell) but pass them at a low rate (lower than at any SFUSD school except Marshall).
-
Compared to AP students in the other subjects, the AP Calculus students had poor preparation because they had to take the aforementioned compression class the previous year instead of Precalculus.
-
But this explanation only goes so far – the KIPP students took a similar compression course.So much for Calculus. What about all the other AP classes? Do students in charter schools take more or fewer AP classes than their SFUSD counterparts?
I calculated the average number of AP classes by race/ethnicity in SFUSD and in San Francisco charter high schools.
For each group, I divided the total number of AP course enrollments by the total number of 12th graders in that group. To limit the comparison to regular schools, I excluded the continuation high schools, SF International, and Independence High from the SFUSD count and excluded Five Keys from the charter count. I used 2018-19 enrollment numbers because those are the most recent available.
In the charter high schools, there were 434 enrollments in AP courses by Latino students and only 172 Latino 12th graders giving an average of 2.52 enrollments per 12th grader. Of course many AP courses are taken by 10th and 11th graders so this average does not mean “Latino students enroll in an average of 2.52 AP classes in 12th grade.” It’s something closer to “Latino students enroll in an average of 2.52 AP classes in high school”. By comparison, in the regular SFUSD high schools, there were 873 Latino 12th graders and 1419 AP course enrollments by Latino students, giving an average of 1.23 AP classes per 12th grader.
In SFUSD high schools, Black and Latino students take far fewer AP courses than Asian and White students (0.74 and 1.23 compared to 3.19 and 3.73 respectively).
But charter schools close that gap considerably. Latino students in charter schools take an average of 2.52 AP classes, more than twice the 1.23 taken by their counterparts in SFUSD. In fact, since 2.52 is closer to 3.19 than it is to 1.23, we can say that, in this one respect, the performance of Latino students in charter schools is closer to that of Asian students in SFUSD than it is to that of Latino students in SFUSD.
Black students still lag the other groups but their 1.86 average at charter schools is more than 2.5 times their 0.74 average at SFUSD.
3
Of course, this does not prove that students learn more at the charter schools. Other explanations are possible. It may be that charter schools attract disproportionate numbers of ambitious, hard working students who would do just as well in SFUSD.
Or it may be that the charter schools are pushing students to enroll in AP classes that they won’t be able to pass. But it could just as easily be that high expectations at charter schools push the students to achieve more than they would in SFUSD.
Charter schools are attracting increasing numbers of Black and Latino students. Evidence from standardized test scores and AP participation rates, while not conclusive, indicates that Black and Latino students do much better in some charter schools than in SFUSD.
SFUSD’s reaction has been extremely defensive. They tried to force KIPP Bayview Elementary (which serves the highest proportion of FRPM-eligible students of any school in the city) to move to Treasure Island. Famously, a school reopening consultant wasn’t hired because she’d worked for a charter school. It seems they are prioritizing the interests of the school district as a legal entity over those of the students.
People sometimes have a visceral reaction against KIPP because it has a very particular approach and because it’s not based here.
But Mission Prep is based here and has managed to achieve SFUSD’s holy grail of disadvantaged Latino students to excel at the same rate as non-disadvantaged Asian and White students. Instead of dismissing all good charter school results as “cherry picking”, SFUSD should learn from them. Perhaps the district should instruct its teachers to follow Mission Prep’s curriculum.
1
https://credo.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/nyc_press_release.pdf
2
I’m using the course enrollment data from CDE because that enables comparison with the charter schools. SFUSD has itself published slightly different numbers for the 2018-19 and 2017-18 (3 and 17 instead of 4 and 20). If you’re curious, see the Families for San Francisco report for a more detailed discussion of these numerical discrepancies.
3
No charter school average is shown for Asian and White students because only 1% of Asian 12th graders and 4% of White 12th graders attend charter schools compared to 29% of Latino 12th graders and 38% of Black 12th graders.
SFPA
SFPA
3301 Balboa Street San Francisco
+ 1 (415) 800-0730
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What is the SFPA Community? It is an expanding network of individuals and families, learning and sharing together. Come and join us!
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Teachers
Our students are in the top 1% of students in America. These teachers will help your child reach his or her full potential
Eleonora Nayberg
head of school
Work experience 25 years
Carla Dometrios
Middle school English language arts
Work experience 25 years
Olga Kasyanova
Russian reading, writing, speaking and Math
Work experience 38 years
Haley Green
science and social studies
Work experience 5 years
Eleonora Nayberg
head of school
Work experience 25 years
Alexandra Kuznetsova
Physical education, dance
Work experience 17 years
Tatyana Yurkhova
Art and History of Arts
Work experience 25 years
Tatyana Turikova
English language
Work experience 14 years
Karen Royall
English reading, writing, science and social studies
Work experience 14 years
Valentina Cherkashina
Russian reading, writing, speaking, math, science and arts
Work experience 35 years
Sarah Morgan
English & Creative Writing
Work experience 10 years
Irina Ivanova
Math, Algebra and Geometry
Work experience 26 years
Certified Teachers
Our students are in the top 1% of students in America.
These teachers will help your child reach his or her full potential
Eleonora Nayberg
head of school
Work experience 25 years
Carla Dometrios
Middle school English language arts
Work experience 25 years
Olga Kasyanova
Russian reading, writing, speaking and Math
Work experience 38 years
Haley Green
science and social studies
Work experience 5 years
Irina Ivanova
Math, Algebra and Geometry
Work experience 26 years
Alexandra Kuznetsova
Physical education, dance
Work experience 17 years
Tatyana Yurkhova
Art and History of Arts
Work experience 25 years
Tatyana Turikova
English language
Work experience 14 years
Valentina Cherkashina
Russian reading, writing, speaking, math, science and arts
Work experience 35 years
Karen Royall
English reading, writing, science and social studies
Work experience 14 years
Sarah Morgan
English & Creative Writing
Work experience 10 years
Eleonora Nayberg
head of school
Work experience 25 years
Key Facts About Our School
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Faculty hold advanced degrees
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International students
Our Achievements
The President’s award for educational achievement
Since 2014, each school year there are students at our school who receive The President’s Award for Educational Achievement, the purpose of which is to recognize students that show outstanding educational growth.
Top 1% in national math test
Year after year, our school ranked among the top 1 percent in Math test of more than 1,700 public and private schools administering Comprehensive Testing Program 4 assessments.
The National Young Scholars program nomination
For several years now, some of out middle school students have been nominated to The National Young Scholars Program (NYSP). The National Young Scholars Program is specifically designed and created for students with a history of academic achievement.
California Young Scholars nomination
California Young Scholars Program honors students in grades 3-8 who excel in the classroom, in the community, as leaders in extra-curricular or other outside interests, as well as on the athletic fields and courts.
What Parents Say About Us
A great option for new parents and their children.
Gentle adaptation to the new country, a truly individual approach – no more than 12 people in a class.
Very strong math school – parallel classes in Russian and Californian programs. And the program is way ahead of Moscow schools’ math program!
Olga B.
Mother
The teachers are kind and attentive, and our student loves all of them! Teachers and the administration do an excellent job trying to make it safe for the children, teaching kids to play and behave safely with their peers and be respectful, without being harsh. Their attention to covid protocols is superb as well.
Ilya R.
Father
We love this school! It has a very strong math and science curriculum and great teachers. The class sizes are small, which allows teachers to really pay attention to each student’s needs.
Half of the classes are in English, and half are in Russian, which makes a really strong bilingual education. Thank you, SFPA!
George L.
Father
I am so happy we chose this school for our son. The teachers are dedicated to each child’s success. The school provides a strong academic curriculum in a nursing environment. Great after school classes for the kids, too. Our son looks forward to going to school every day and has learned so much already!
Julia K.
Mother
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Our Enrichment Classes
Dance Class
This class offers instruction in varying dance technique, styles, improvisation, and regular work on acrobatic skills. Our dance group participates in dance competitions too!
Chess Club
Chess has many educational benefits, giving children intellectual capital and transferable skills such as focus, discipline, concentration, spatial awareness and strategic thinking.
Science Class
Designed specifically for our middle school students, this class covers physics, chemistry and biology. It gives students a solid foundation that goes beyond the classroom and standard curriculum.
Theater Club
Our students learn to build their stage presence and teamwork skills, as well as confidence and self-awareness through improv games and drama activities designed for all kinds of learners.
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What school closures are doing: aizen_tt — LiveJournal
Larry Sand, retired teacher, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network spoke out about Governor Newsom’s administration’s school closures. Irreversible damage to children and irreversible loss of trust in public authorities.
Here is the full summary of his article:
“While Covid-related restrictions are being eased across the country, less than half of American students have returned to school full-time, according to Burbio, a website that tracks school reopenings.
A look at the national the map shows that the most populous state, California, is also the most closed, while the third most populous state, Florida, has almost completely returned to normal.In October 2020, Brown University reported that the politics and strength of teacher unions best explained the approach school boards to reopen.In a September 2020 study, researchers Corey DeAngelis and Christos Makridis found that school districts in locations with strong teacher unions were much less likely to offer in-person schooling in the fall.
In the early days of lockdown, medical experts were ambivalent about reopening schools, but now there is a strong consensus in favor of it. Last month, the CDC urged the nation’s elementary and high schools to accept students for in-person learning as soon as possible. Around the same time, the New York Times “asked 175 pediatric disease experts if it was safe enough to open a school.” The experts, mostly public health paediatricians, “generally agreed that it is safe enough for schools to be open to elementary students for in-person and full-time education.
Some have stated that this is true even in communities where Covid-19 infectionwas widespread if basic security measures were taken.” According to a March 11 analysis of more than 130 studies by AEI’s John Bailey, reopening does not lead to an increase in community cases, and closing classrooms “should be a last resort.”
It is also clear to science that distance learning has been a disaster for children. A study by FAIR Health, a company that “has the nation’s largest collection of private health claims,” shows that young people are being hit hard. August 2019 comparisonsince August 2020 shows that the number of reports of intentional self-harm among teenagers 13-18 years old in the Northeast has increased by almost 334 percent. Drug overdoses more than doubled from April 2019 to April 2020 for the same age group. From spring 2020 to November 2020, obsessive-compulsive disorder and tic disorders increased in children aged 6 to 12.
In addition, mental health problems account for an increasing number of children presenting to emergency departments.
In November, the CDC noted that from March 2020 to October 2020, these visits increased by 31 percent for children aged 12 to 17 and 24 percent for children aged 5 to 11 compared to the same period in 2019.of the year.
Moreover, not all health problems are temporary. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, keeping children out of school will shorten their life expectancy.
In addition to the health consequences, school closures also have serious economic consequences. In September 2020, economists Eric Hanushek and Ludger Wessmann found that lockdown-related cumulative learning losses would amount to $14.2 trillion in economic terms. These losses increased over the next six months.
Finally, many liberals in government and the media are now joining the conservative choir calling for an end to school closures. Veteran New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, a self-proclaimed progressive, is demanding that schools reopen now. In his review in late February, he blamed “Democratic governors and mayors for allowing schools to remain closed even as bars reopen too often.
” He also emphasized that these leaders “spearheaded one of the worst blows to the education of poor Americans in history.” The result: more school dropouts, less literacy and numeracy, a widening racial gap, and long-term harm to some of our most marginalized youth.”
Progressive Chicago Democrat Mayor Laurie Lightfoot squabbles with Chicago Teachers’ Union over reopening schools. In a recent interview, she suggested that the union’s stubbornness is due to its desire to become “something like a political party”, and that “eventually they would like to take over not only the public schools of Chicago, but also take over the management of the union.” governs the city government.”
In San Francisco, where there are more unicorns than Republicans, the city is suing a school district for refusing to reopen. The lawsuit, filed in February, alleges that “the number of suicidal children in San Francisco is at an all-time high, and health experts say it’s clear public school closures are ‘catalyzing the mental health crisis among school-age kids.
‘”
Teachers’ unions insist more money is needed to reopen schools – for masks, upgraded ventilation systems and other Covid-related fixtures. But most private schools are already operating safely without resorting to windfall budget revenues. As political analyst Inez Stepman writes, only 5 percent of private schools across the country went fully virtual this fall, and they did so with fewer resources: one student. funding (about $11,000 versus $14,000 for public schools), they received only a tiny fraction of the federal and state aid that was available to public schools.” It’s not about the money; California spends much more per student than Florida, but Florida is wide open and California is not.
Parents of all political views have reached the end of their rope. Open Schools California and Reopen California have thousands of members across the state. They called for campuses to reopen, more transparency from school districts, and a seat at the table to discuss reopening plans.
Philadelphia parents are so frustrated with distance learning that they are running for office, suing, moving out, or leaving for private schools.
According to an Associated Press-Chalkbeat analysis in December, public schools in 33 states lost 500,000 students in a year. Data released in February shows California K-12 public school enrollment has fallen by a record 155,000 students. Nationwide, millions of people have left public schools.
It’s no surprise that private schools are gaining momentum. A survey of 160 independent schools found that “121 are currently open full-time for in-person instruction. The other 39 are in some sort of hybrid schedule.” In November, Education Week reported that the number of homeschooled children across the country had more than tripled, from 3 percent to 10 percent, and could now be even higher.
Some financially able parents have enrolled their children in private schools or formed pandemic teams, but most are unable to take advantage of these opportunities.
The good news is that legislatures across the country have begun taking action to empower parents.
The Institute for Educational Freedom reports that 29 states have existing legislation dedicated to funding students rather than school systems. While red states with weaker teacher unions are overrepresented on the list, blue states are also present. Massachusetts, Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington have educational savings account laws, and Connecticut legislators are considering a tax credit scholarship proposal.
The Union of Devoted Teachers is trying to stop the rising tide in favor of school choice. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the Oregon Educational Association successfully lobbied to stop families from moving to virtual charter schools. Here in California, the state legislature, heavily funded by labor unions, passed Senate Bill 98 in late June. The trailer bill effectively put a moratorium on enrollment in new charter schools, limiting per-student public funding to last year’s level.
If legislators did not do this, the number of students in charter schools now would undoubtedly increase.
In a recent survey, Beck Research reported widespread support for school choice policies. A poll of Democrats released in January showed that 65 percent of K-12 parents support the choice of school. African Americans (74 percent) and Hispanics (71 percent), the groups that stand to benefit the most from the selection, are staunch supporters.
School choices are on the rise today because teacher unions, along with their allies in the legislature and education bureaucracy, have created a mess. In the end, however, some states are taking steps in the right direction. It’s time. ”
https://www.city-journal.org/what-school-shutdowns-have-wrought
State governors knew what they were doing but didn’t admit it. The only way to end this is to withdraw emergency orders and order educators to resume classes. But, this is difficult, because local authorities are not authorized to open schools, they do not have the authority to force schools to open.