The Facts
Two-thirds of San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) schools remain below their pre-pandemic academic performance. Ezra Wallach at The San Francisco Standard found 62 of 94 schools had lower combined English and math proficiency in 2026 than in 2019; among 24 schools where at least three-quarters of students are low-income, only four had recovered. Districtwide, state test results show just 46% meeting math standards and 54% meeting English standards.
The Context
SFUSD was making modest progress before COVID. From 2015 to 2019, English proficiency rose from 52.0% to 56.5%; math rose from 48.0% to 50.6%, with its improvement concentrated in the first two years. The pandemic-era decline erased all of those math gains and much of the English improvement. Since testing broadly resumed in 2022, math has stayed near 46%, while English declined through 2025 before a small uptick in 2026.
Share of tested students meeting or exceeding state standards, across grades 3–8 and 11 (rounded to one decimal; annual results compiled from state data):
| Spring testing year | English | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 results | 52.0% | 48.0% |
| 2016 | 53.0% | 50.0% |
| 2017 | 54.6% | 51.0% |
| 2018 | 55.3% | 50.6% |
| 2019 results | 56.5% | 50.6% |
| 2020 | No statewide testing | No statewide testing |
| 2021 | Not comparable | Not comparable |
| 2022 results | 54.5% | 45.6% |
| 2023 results | 54.1% | 46.0% |
| 2024 results | 53.7% | 45.6% |
| 2025 results | 53.2% | 46.0% |
| 2026 | 53.5% | 45.8% |
Testing was canceled statewide in 2020; participation was too limited in 2021 testing to establish a comparable districtwide result.
GrowSF-backed candidates secured a 5–2 school-board majority in November 2024, with the newly elected members taking office in January 2025. The first two testing cycles under that majority show no broad turnaround yet.
There are promising signs among younger students: kindergarten reading proficiency rose from 65% to 69%, and first-grade proficiency from 52% to 59%, during the first year of the district’s new literacy initiative. Those gains use a separate district assessment, and the initiative launched in August 2024, before the new majority took office. Our earlier literacy coverage showed third-grade reading remained off track.
The GrowSF Take
The pre-pandemic gains show that improvement is possible. Recovering that progress should be the starting point, not the ceiling. The new board inherited substantial learning losses, and the early reading gains deserve encouragement, but families are still waiting for a broader recovery. Superintendent Maria Su and the school board should expand effective reading instruction and direct intensive reading and math tutoring to the schools with the largest losses.
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