When parents come together around a shared vision for our kids, our voices are harder to ignore.

We came to the meeting ready to share what parents are seeing in our schools, what families want for their children, and what we believe needs to happen to ensure every student gets a strong education. We also came ready to listen.

And we left the meeting excited about several things we heard from district leadership, including a meaningful win for parents who have spent years advocating through our SF Kids Can’t Wait campaign for greater transparency and accountability around student outcomes.

A Win for Parent Advocacy: Greater Transparency About How Students Are Doing

For years, parents have been asking for clearer, more accessible information about whether their children are on track in reading and math. Families should not have to dig through complicated reports or wait years to understand whether kids are getting the support they need.

That is why parents involved in SF Kids Can’t Wait consistently pushed SFUSD to be more transparent about student outcomes and to share the information they need to advocate for their children.

We were excited to hear from the district about plans for a public data dashboard that will provide greater visibility into how students are doing across schools. This is the kind of transparency parents have been calling for: clear information that can help families, educators, and community members understand where students are succeeding and where more support is needed.

This progress reflects years of work by parents who have shown up to meetings, attended actions, participated in SF Kids Can’t Wait and Literacy for All, shared their experiences, and continued to ask the district to do more to ensure every child gets the support they need.

We especially want to celebrate the parent leaders who have helped carry the SF Kids Can’t Wait work forward over the past year – Amy Beck, Sharon In and Marie Torre. We also send a big thank you to Mahdi Rahimi, Rasheq Zarif, and Tara Tan for their work pushing the district on a data dashboard. The persistence and commitment of these parents to making sure that every child gets the support they need helps move the conversation, and the district, forward.

A Stronger Start to the School Year

The meeting was also an opportunity to hear directly from Superintendent Su and Deputy Superintendent John Davis about how district leadership is thinking about improving teaching and learning this year. We were especially excited to learn about improved classroom walkthroughs and a renewed focus on principal support as key strategies for strengthening instruction across schools.

SFUSD has made major investments in adopting new, high-quality reading and math curriculum, but this is only the first step. Students only benefit when that curriculum is consistently and effectively implemented in classrooms.

We were encouraged to hear that district leadership is focused on improving classroom walkthroughs to better understand what is happening in schools and ensure that the curriculum is being taught with fidelity. That matters because families have consistently told us that they want to know that their children are receiving the strong instruction SFUSD has committed to providing.

A high-quality curriculum should not depend on which classroom or school a child happens to attend. Every student deserves access to strong, grade-level instruction, and the district needs to know whether that is actually happening. Better walkthroughs can help district and school leaders identify where implementation is strong, where educators may need additional support, and where students may not yet be receiving the instruction they deserve. For parents who have spent years advocating for stronger literacy and math outcomes, this is a good sign.

We were also encouraged to hear about a renewed focus on helping principals to support their school sites. Principals play a critical role in ensuring that curriculum is implemented well, teachers are supported, and students are receiving consistent instruction. Strengthening principal support is another important step toward making sure district priorities translate into real improvements in classrooms.

Starting the Year in Partnership

We appreciated the opportunity to have a direct conversation with district leadership at the beginning of the school year. Parents partners in our children’s education, with important insight into what is happening in schools and what students need to succeed.

Our Member Leaders came to this meeting ready to share their experiences and priorities, and we were encouraged by the opportunity to build a stronger relationship with the Superintendent and the new Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services.

We will continue to bring parents’ voices to the table, ask hard questions when necessary, and work in partnership with the district when we see opportunities to move forward together.

This Is a Win, and It’s Also a Beginning

We are proud to celebrate this moment. The progress toward greater transparency through a public data dashboard is an important win for SF Kids Can’t Wait and for every parent who has helped push this work forward. The district’s focus on strengthening classroom walkthroughs and supporting principals give us reason to be hopeful about the year ahead.

But we also know that there is still a long way to go before every student across SFUSD is supported to their full potential in both reading and math. That is why our staff and parent leaders will be taking time this fall to take a hard look at our current campaign, where SFUSD is still falling short, and how we want to show up this school year to ensure the right policies and supports are in place so that all students can thrive.  

But for now, we want to take a moment to celebrate.

To the parent leaders who have carried the SF Kids Can’t Wait campaign forward, to the families who participated in Literacy for All, and to everyone who has shown up, spoken out, attended a meeting, or helped build the movement for stronger public schools: this progress belongs to you.

We’re excited to start the school year with a parent win, encouraged by what we heard from district leadership, and ready to keep working alongside parents to make sure every child in San Francisco gets the education they deserve.

We’re just getting started.