Small is Beautiful: SFUSD & CES Preview SF Small Schools Reform

Contact: Laura Weide, 510-387-1739
Isobel White, 510-828-3554

What: An evening with SFUSD and CES leaders: Superintendent Carlos Garcia, Deputy Superintendent Anthony Smith, SF-CESS Director Gregory Peters, CES Executive Director Lewis Cohen and a parent and small schools alumni panel

When: Thursday, January 10, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Cowell Theater, Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center

San Francisco, CA: If 2008 is the Year of Education for California, for San Francisco it may be the Year of Small Schools. SFUSD is partnering with the nation’s oldest and most effective small schools reform organization, the Coalition of Essential Schools, to address issues of inequity and low achievement that are a challenge in San Francisco schools. On January 10 at the Cowell Theater, Superintendent Carlos Garcia and new Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, Innovation and Social Justice Anthony Smith will join San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS) Director Gregory Peters and CES Executive Director Lewis Cohen for an event to share the small school innovations and successes that are on the docket for San Francisco.

“Small schools by design are the most meaningful and effective way for the San Francisco community to address equity and improve the outcomes for students who have been historically underserved,” said CES Director Lewis Cohen.

The event, say organizers, is an opportunity for San Francisco to learn about the innovative practices implemented by CES network schools around the country that have resulted in higher achievement levels on every measure of success -- including higher graduation rates and college entry rates, as well as higher levels of student and faculty satisfaction than comparable schools.

In February 2007, the San Francisco Board of Education adopted a comprehensive policy paving the way for the creation of autonomous small schools. The remainder of the year saw dramatic decisions in support of this policy, including the appointments of Superintendent Garcia and Deputy Superintendent Smith and the approval of the city’s first new small school, the Bayview Essential School of Music, Art, and Social Justice (BES). Approved in December 2007 and slated to open in Fall 2008, BES will be the first high school within the neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point.

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Editors and journalists, please contact Laura Weide (Lweide [at] essentialschools.org , 510-387-1739) to reserve a press seat for the event. Journalists interested in seeing CES innovations in advance of the event are encouraged to request copies of the EssentialVisions documentary which highlight groundbreaking small CES schools in Washington State, New Mexico and Colorado.