{"id":397954,"date":"2026-07-14T14:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397954\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T14:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:46:11","slug":"can-ethnic-studies-bridge-the-achievement-gap-san-francisco-program-shows-gains-the-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397954\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Ethnic Studies Bridge the Achievement Gap? San Francisco Program Shows Gains \u2013 The 74"},"content":{"rendered":"

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San Francisco high school students, particularly those with high needs, enrolled in ethnic study courses achieved higher GPAs, stronger academic gains in math and science, and failed fewer courses, according to a new report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new study<\/a> from the universities of Pennsylvania and California analyzed a longstanding San Francisco Unified School District ethnic studies program, piloted in 2010, that has since enrolled thousands of students and become a graduation requirement in 2024.<\/p>\n

An ethnic studies course is a history class centered around the culture and experiences of diverse students, which has proven to be especially beneficial for vulnerable and high need students because of its \u201cculturally relevant curriculum,\u201d said Sade Bonilla, an associate professor of education policy at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to affirm students\u2019 identities, \u2026 and to increase their engagement with the materials and content by giving students an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the curriculum,\u201d Bonilla said.<\/p>\n

In San Francisco, for example, a school district made up of nearly 50,000 students with a\u00a0majority identifying as Asian (35%) or Latino (33%)<\/a>, curriculum has included lessons about housing discrimination, schooling segregation and how Mexican-American and Chinese children were not allowed to attend particular schools in California, Bonilla said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new standardized curriculum was approved earlier this year<\/a> after complaints about the course being \u201cactivist driven,\u201d reported KQED, a local NPR station. President Donald Trump has also made similar criticisms about diversity, equity and inclusion practices in K-12 classrooms.<\/p>\n

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RelatedSan Francisco\u2019s Ethnic Studies Course a Boon for Student Outcomes<\/p>\n

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Using data from 10 cohorts of students from grades 6 to 12 between the 2007-08 school year to 2022-23, Bonilla and her colleagues said the study is the first to provide evidence about the academic impact of ethnic studies enrollment in a district-wide expansion.<\/p>\n

Drawing on previous research<\/a> that found curricula that reflect student backgrounds not only can promote educational equity<\/a>, but also improve graduation rates, college enrollment and engagement<\/a>, the researchers found enrollment in ethnic studies courses can improve a student\u2019s GPA by 0.17 points and significantly reduce course failures across a school system.<\/p>\n

The grade point boost resulted in 15% more students achieving a 3.0 GPA and becoming eligible for admission to the University of California, the report said. Researchers also found that all student groups benefited from enrollment, \u201cwith particularly strong effects for lower-performing students, male students, Black and Latinx students, and students receiving special education services.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bonilla and her colleagues found the course is especially effective for students entering high school.<\/p>\n

Coined \u201c9th grade shock<\/a>,\u201d the transition between eighth and ninth grade is often challenging for students as they\u2019re exposed to a new environment and more difficult coursework, in addition to cognitive, emotional and physical changes. Students fail ninth grade more than any other grade, according to the National High School Center<\/a>, and other research has found<\/a> ninth graders have the lowest GPAs and most missed classes, behavior referrals and failing grades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teenagers entering high school are often \u201cmore likely to be aware of news, events, policies. Some might experience discrimination or stereotypes for the first time, at the same time of this identity formation happening,\u201d Bonilla said. \u201cEthnic studies provides them language to talk about what they might be witnessing, experiencing and noticing about how society works. \u2026 It\u2019s not leaving students deflated that the world is unequal and unjust. It\u2019s [instead] saying here\u2019s some things that one can do about it, and how to participate in civic life in productive ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging students early, around ninth grade, paid off throughout the rest of their academic careers, the report found.<\/p>\n

Ninth grade students who never took the ethnic studies class experienced a \u201cnoticeable GPA decline,\u201d whereas the students who took the class did not. The study also reported students with the lowest eighth grade GPAs, below a 2.0, benefited from the class the most, with a 0.17 point increase as those with GPAs between a 2.0 and 3.0 saw gains of about 0.12 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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While all students saw academic improvement, gains were largest among Black and Latino students, who saw GPA increases of 0.23 and 0.25 respectively and male students, who saw a 0.19 GPA increase on average, compared to female students who improved on average by 0.15 points.<\/p>\n

English language learners and students with disabilities also saw improvements in their GPA by 0.19 and 0.17 points respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough [ethnic studies] courses centered the experiences of communities of color, students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds benefited,\u201d the report said. \u201cAcross core subjects, [ethnic studies] enrollment increased GPA in all areas, with the largest improvements in math (0.27 points) and science (0.20 points).\u201d<\/p>\n

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The San Francisco school district has seen a steady increase in enrollment in ethnic studies classes, from 3.5% of all high school students in its pilot year to 13.4% in 2022-23, but the report stated it\u2019s unclear whether other districts will follow, despite its benefits.<\/p>\n

California became the first state in 2021<\/a> to require ethnic studies as a graduation requirement and more than a handful of states \u2013 including Minnesota<\/a>, Oregon<\/a> and Connecticut<\/a> \u2013 have adopted mandates such as requiring schools to offer similar coursework.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The California graduation mandate has hit a roadblock<\/a> with funding, which could be a challenge for widespread expansion for other states too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislating a high school requirement and not providing any additional funding means that districts would need to reallocate their spending of the money that they have,\u201d Bonilla said. \u201cIn this fiscal environment, \u2026 being able to support the implementation of any new initiative is going to be challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Jan. 2025, Trump signed an executive order<\/a> calling to end \u201cradical indoctrination in K-12 schooling,\u201d and threatening to pull federal funding to schools if they taught \u201cdiscriminatory equity ideology\u201d or any lessons that \u201ctreat individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RelatedCulture Wars Cost Schools Estimated $3.2B Last Year, Harming Student Services<\/p>\n

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Even before Trump\u2019s order, states have pushed back against comparable coursework, with more than a dozen states<\/a>\u00a0including Arizona, which in 2010 banned<\/a> Mexican American studies; Tennessee which banned teaching<\/a> certain concepts around race and racism in 2021; and Florida, whose leaders successfully advocated against<\/a> teachings in Advanced Placement\u2019s African American studies in 2023.<\/p>\n

But ethnic studies courses have \u201cnot been widespread,\u201d Bonilla said, adding that many states that have restricted these types of classes never really offered them in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy banning this type of curriculum [in states like Tennessee] \u2026 we\u2019re not necessarily taking things away from those students because many students didn\u2019t have access to this type of curriculum in the first place,\u201d Bonilla said.<\/p>\n

The challenges across the country \u201creally underscore and speak to the importance of the local role in education,\u201d Bonilla added. Families in San Francisco had to advocate for the ethnic studies offering and other communities could follow suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something that the district decided to offer because they thought it would be good for students, but was actually from community groups and students and parents advocating to the school board,\u201d Bonilla said. \u201cLocal districts [and] schools have a lot of power to advocate within their local school boards to make decisions about what meets the needs of [their] students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you use this article in your work?<\/p>\n

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We\u2019d love to hear how The 74\u2019s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter San Francisco high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,4729,418,100,2211,159825,159826,159827,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-397954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-california","tag-ethnic-studies","tag-history","tag-news","tag-race","tag-racial-education","tag-racial-equity","tag-racial-history","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}