Another SFUSD assignment myth: Middle-class families are out in the cold

November 9, 9:26 AMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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I'm switching to posting some -- maybe the rest -- of the myths individually.

Myth No. 6: It’s impossible for middle-class parents to get the SFUSD school they want, because their demographics are an unfair strike against them.

Actually, the problem is that middle-class parents tend to request (en masse) popular schools that have more applicants than openings -- sometimes vastly more applicants.

Yet the schools that are increasingly popular with middle-class parents are becoming increasingly middle-class, which demonstrates that middle-class parents are getting the schools they request.

Available demographics don’t have a category for “middle-class,” of course. And it’s a little hard to read into statistics especially in SFUSD because of the high number of Asians (the plurality demographic in our district, at 41.3 percent in '08-'09). In our district, the Asian “subgroup,” as it’s known in edu-speak, encompasses many solidly middle-class families with educated parents as well as many low-income families, generally new immigrants – to a degree that other subgroups really don’t.

So as a shorthand indicator I’ll use two categories, white and free/reduced lunch (meaning very low-income), and look at the demographics for a few schools.

For example, Clarendon has been steadily popular with middle-class parents for as long as I’ve been a parent in this district – and has consistently been whiter and less low-income than district averages.
 

Clarendon Elementary
2008-09
35.4% white
11.6% free/reduced lunch
SFUSD
2008-09
10.8% white
56.3% free/reduced lunch

As Clarendon’s popularity has been consistent, the changes are not significant over the past few years.

2004-05
31.2% white
13.6% free/reduced lunch
SFUSD
2004-05
9.3% white
52.7 free/reduced lunch

I’m not posting this to pick on Clarendon, by the way – just to make the point that essentially, what middle-class families want, middle-class families are getting.

Let’s look at two schools that are now wildly popular with middle-class families, but were not highly regarded by that same demographic only a few years ago.

Grattan Elementary

2008-09
47.7% white
20.6% free/reduced lunch

2004-05
23.9% white
49% free/reduced lunch

Miraloma Elementary

2008-09
46.9% white
18.3% free/reduced lunch

2004-05
25.5% white
43.0% free/reduced lunch

(And by the way, in 1998-99, Miraloma was only 7.4% white, though it was 39.7 free/reduced lunch.)

So, again, if we use these somewhat crude but reasonably effective indicators, we can see that as middle-class parents are requesting schools, they’re getting those schools, resulting in rapid and significant shifts in the demographics.

I realize that this is not much reassurance to middle-class families who hope to get their kids into popular schools. Your best bet, as always, is to seek out some less-oversubscribed schools that you like. But at least I hope it clarifies that you’re not suffering an unfair disadvantage by being middle-class.

I also realize it's a little exclusionary to address a post specifically to middle-class families, but in this case I think that's justified.

All statistics are from the California Department of Education's Data and Statistics site via Dataquest.

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