The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) has released a new strategic plan entitled “Beyond The Talk: Taking Action to Educate Every Child Now.” This report can be downloaded here. A major objective of the plan is to close the achievement gap, so it’s encouraging and appropriate that students in special education are mentioned as being one of the target groups, because, although not typically mentioned as being such—the achievement gap is also a special education issue.

“Beyond The Talk” defines the achievement gap as: “the discrepancy between the academic proficiency of students by race, ethnicity, class and language” but as data from the California Department of Education Local Educational Agency suggests – SFUSD should also include “disability” in this description. Taken as a group, special education students are consistently at the lower end of this achievement gap, as indicated in the charts below with only 23% scoring at proficient or above on California’s standardized tests for English-Language Arts, and 24.9% for Mathematics. This contrasts with 73.1% and 69.7% respectively for “White” students.



The focus of the SFUSD strategic plan on closing the achievement gap makes sense. While it is true, as the report notes, that “For seven consecutive years San Francisco public schools have delivered a greater percentage of students to academic proficiency levels than any other large urban district in California.”, it is also true that less than 1 out of 4 African American and Special Education students in SFUSD score at proficient or above on English Language and Math tests. 1 out of 4 is not very good, no matter how you spin the numbers. Still -- as the above charts also show -- steady progress is being made, and SFUSD’s apparent commitment to do all it can to speed up this progress is hopeful.

Despite this welcome commitment to closing the achievement gap for special education students along with other struggling students, it is hard not to be cynical when the vision and policies articulated in the report seem diametrically opposed from what many parents of children with disabilities encounter when dealing with the District. SFUSD promises to “make social justice a reality”, but I do not see how SFUSD can promise that and also be listed as an opponent of AB 2717, authored by Assemblymember Sally Lieber. AB 2717 is an act to amend Section 56505 of the Education Code, relating to who has the burden of proof in special education due process hearings.

The way it is now, when parents and caregivers challenge the appropriateness of our children’s Individual Educational Plans (IEPs), the burden of proof is upon us to prove that our children’s programs are not appropriate. This may sound reasonable, but not when you consider that school districts have vastly greater resources at their disposal for lawyers and expert witnesses to disprove our positions. Teachers, even when in agreement with the parents, are reluctant to testify on behalf of the children because they fear retaliation from districts.

The deck is entirely stacked against parents and caregivers when school district administrators can spend endless amounts of time and taxpayer money to fight us. Only wealthy people can afford the legal power necessary to have any chance at all of prevailing under the current system. AB2717 is a step towards remedying this great injustice by transferring the burden of proof to school districts. A first step for SFUSD in “making social justice a reality” for all children and all families would be to withdraw its opposition to AB 2717.

Making social justice a reality is indeed an admirable goal, and one that parents of children with disabilities applaud wholeheartedly.

When children are denied the right to be educated in regular classrooms with peers who are not disabled, yes, it is time for SFUSD to “make social justice a reality.”

When a child is banned from taking part in his school’s kindergarten graduation event because “he wouldn’t understand what was happening and he might disrupt the ceremony”, yes, it is time for SFUSD to “make social justice a reality.”

When an entire Special Education Class is “forgotten” on school picture day, yes, it is time for SFUSD to “make social justice a reality.”

When a child hasn’t learned to read in school, and then the parents save up and pay for private tutoring, and then -- after only a month of one hour a day of after school tutoring -- that child suddenly starts learning how to read, yes, it is time for SFUSD to “make social justice a reality.”

To move “Beyond the Talk” means taking action. Teachers have to start getting the supports they need to do the work that must be done. These supports include much more professional development in best practices and proven methodologies that help children learn. These supports include more paraprofessional teacher support, more one–on-one tutoring from Resource Specialists, more guidance from content specialists, more differentiation of curriculum, and a huge focus upon each child as an individual and the best way to teach that child. To move “Beyond the Talk” means moving away from “the way we’ve always done it” to ‘the way each child needs to be taught in order to learn.”

At this point SFUSD’s new Strategic Plan appears to be more of a motivational statement than a specific plan, but its heart is in the right place. “I want to believe,” as fans of the X-Files would say.

Katy Franklin is a member of SFUSD’s Community Advisory Committee for Special Education and parent of a 3rd grader who attends Creative Arts Charter School.