New math curriculum approved by SFUSD, where just 45% are at grade level

The Facts

The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is rolling out a new math curriculum next year, with the hope of improving student performance. Jill Tucker at the Chronicle reports that "the new curriculum, which cost $8 million, includes classroom math toys and digital practice problems with moving parts and instant feedback."

The new math curriculum was trialed last year and resulted in those students scoring higher on standardized tests (though SFUSD's press release did not specify how much higher). The stated goal is to raise 8th grade math proficiency from 42% to 65% by 2027.

The Context

Currently, only 45% of its 48,000 students meet grade-level expectations (just 11% of Black students and 17% of Latino students are at grade level in math. Despite those low numbers, it's actually doing better than the state average, where only 36% of students are at grade level in math. But that's really more of a condemnation of the state of education in California than a celebration of SFUSD's performance.

The new curriculum comes after years of criticism regarding the district's previous math program, which was deemed ineffective by many educators and parents.

The GrowSF Take

We're glad SFUSD is trying something new to improve math education. The current state of math proficiency in the district is unacceptable, and we hope this new curriculum will lead to better outcomes for all students. But we wish this announcement had come with more details about the trial results and how the district plans to measure success moving forward.