Potrero High Schools Have Low Graduation Rates

Although San Francisco high schools slightly exceeded the state average for students graduating within five years of starting, San Francisco International and Downtown high schools, both in Potrero Hill, had low graduation rates in 2023. 

According to the California State School Dashboard website, www.caschooldashboard.org, 88 percent of San Francisco Unified School District students graduated within five years, compared to 86 percent statewide. Of 4,153 high school students, 3,667 graduated in 2023.

In contrast, 57 percent of SF International High School students graduated in 2023. And of its graduating class of 65 students, only 23 percent were “prepared” for college, a rating which placed the school as “low” in the College/Career category. Downtown High School had a graduation rate in the red zone, the worst assessment on the scale. 

Both high schools reported suspension rates in the orange zone, second to lowest. Out of 179 students attending Downtown, seven were suspended for at least one day during the academic year. SF International, with 547 students, had 16 suspensions for one or more days last year. 

According to California School Discipline Laws & Regulations, grounds for suspension or expulsion include brandishing a knife or other weapon, physical violence, sexual assault, selling drugs, or possessing an explosive. 

In other bad news, the number of California schools with high—missing between 20 and 29 percent—and extreme—30 percent or more—chronic absenteeism jumped from 22 percent to 78 percent between the 2017/2018 and 2021/2022 school years, according to Attendance Works, a nonprofit education advocacy group. Since 2020, the rate of chronically absent students in the U.S. – missing 10 percent of the year or more, or in excess of 18 days – has more than doubled. In 2023, 14.7 million out of 49.4 million American students were chronically absent. 

Dashboard data indicates that 33 percent of Daniel Webster elementary students have chronically not appeared on campus, with 29 percent of Starr King elementary students chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism can lead to students falling behind academically, being held back a grade, or not finishing the school year.

“Chronic absence is correlated with not meeting reading proficiency at the end of third grade, not preforming well in middle school—including higher rates of suspension—and not making it to high school graduation,” said Hedy Change, executive director of Attendance Works. “Ninth grade chronic absence is often a really big challenge, because so much pivots on ninth grade.”

Analysts predict that 2024 might see even fewer high school graduations. It’s the scheduled graduation year for students who, as freshmen in 2020, faced the greatest disruption in learning due to shelter-in-place requirements.

Daniel Webster serves 346 kindergarteners through fifth graders, with 93 percent of the student body from minority communities. About 60 percent of Webster pupils receive free or reduced-price lunches. The school has a 24 to one student-teacher ratio.

Starr King has 348 kindergarteners through fifth graders, 92 percent of whom identify as nonwhite, with at least 35 percent qualifying for free or low-cost lunch. The school has a 17:1 student-teacher ratio. 

SFUSD enrollment has been declining by one to three percent a year since 2020. There were 48,785 scholars enrolled in public schools in 2023, down from 52,778 in 2020. Lower high school enrollment is partially the result of families shifting away from public schools, according to Rebecca Kee, Daniel Webster parent-teacher association president.

“You end up with lower enrollment in middle and high schools,” Kee said. “Less family involvement. Less general investment in those schools. It hurts all the schools at certain levels.” 

An estimated 40 percent of primary and secondary school students in San Francisco attend private schools.

“San Francisco may be one of the cities in the United States with the highest rate of students enrolled in private schools,” Kee said. “It’s a self-perpetuating cycle.”

“San Francisco also has another challenge; we have a declining kid population,” Chang said. “It’s really expensive to live in San Francisco, and it’s really expensive to have a kid in San Francisco.”

Low teacher salaries and a high cost of living limits SFUSD’s ability to attract and retain teachers. 

Enrollment in Oakland Unified School District schools is down by about a third since 2020, prompting the closure of two schools last years. OUSD plans to merge or close more schools over the next two years.