Education

The Education Program seeks to improve academic outcomes for children and youth in the Bay Area schools and school districts with the most severe socio-economic challenges. Students must have the opportunity to fully engage in educational and enrichment opportunities before, in, and after school to help them to succeed by graduating high school and preparing them for work and/or college. All students, must have opportunities to become confident, caring, and contributing adults. The research is clear, early childhood development and education, full-service community schools, and equity-focused education are essential elements to help achieve these goals. The Education Program seeks to support leadership and professional development that improves the quality of early childhood/Pre-K programs to ensure school readiness for our most vulnerable young learners; policy development that enables  schools and school systems to establish, implement, fund, and sustain full-service community schools; and whole-school or whole-district efforts to promote equity and social justice in public education by addressing persistent racial, demographic, religious, or LGBT identity barriers to student success.

Goal and Objectives

Goal: All children and youth should have opportunities to become confident, caring and contributing adults. To achieve this goal we must improve education outcomes for children and youth in the Bay Area’s most challenged schools and school districts, so that students arrive to school safe, healthy and ready to learn, succeed in school, graduate high school ready for work and/or college.

Objective One – Early Childhood

Support leadership and professional development for the creation of high-quality Pre-K early childhood programs that will ensure school readiness for our most vulnerable young learners.

Strategies

• Support post-secondary programs for Pre-K leadership development that focus on recruiting and retaining diverse Pre-K leaders who are efficient, effective mangers and pedagogically sound, and thoroughly equipped to support our most vulnerable young learners.
• Support post-secondary programs for Pre-K teacher and leadership development that focus on implementing proven practices for early childcare, education, and school readiness, in our highest poverty and lowest performing school districts and regions.
• Support quality Pre-K site programs that are utilizing proven practices in early care and education, whole-child development, and culturally competent approaches to school readiness.

Objective Two – Full-Service Community Schools and Districts

Support policy development to establish, implement, fund, and sustain full-service community schools in our highest poverty and lowest performing public schools and districts.

Strategies

• Support schools, districts, and nonprofits to create and develop policies to establish and implement full-service community schools in the highest poverty and lowest performing school communities.
• Support schools, districts, and nonprofits to develop policies to fund and sustain full-service community schools in the highest poverty and lowest performing school communities.

Objective Three – Education Equity

Support long term implementation of climate and culture-changing interventions, designed to address persistent achievement gaps by disrupting and eliminating the predictive power of race, demographics, religion, or LGBT identity on student success.

Strategies

• Support whole-school interventions that address persistent achievement gaps by disrupting and eliminating the predictive power of race and demographics on student success.
• Support whole-district interventions that address persistent achievement gaps by disrupting and eliminating the predictive power of race and demographics on student success.

What we no longer fund

The Education Program will no longer fund stand-alone programs (in early childhood, youth development, afterschool, family support, parent engagement, academic support, or school reform), which are not part of a full-service community school, or comprehensive early childcare and education program.

Where we fund

All Education grants are made to organizations serving children or youth in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, or San Mateo Counties.

Education Staff

For more information about the Education Program at The San Francisco Foundation, please contact us at 415.733.8500 or educationinfo@sff.org.

Lisa Villarreal [bio]
Program Officer, Education

Tara Genea Wilson [bio]
Program Fellow

Anna Karrer Manley
Program Assistant

Krishen Laetsch
Senior Consultant