About SERP

“SERP field sites are structured as a set of three closely connected, and partially overlapping, groups: The Core Group, The Design Team, and the Research Team.”

San Francisco Field Site

The SERP San Francisco field site was established in January 2007 with the support of The Bechtel Foundation and The Intel Foundation. The initial focus of the field site was middle school mathematics and science learning as well as the literacy and language challenges that create barriers to accessing content in those subjects.

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In the two years since its inception, considerable progress has been made. Today, SERP partners with teachers, principals, district staff, and university researchers on research and development initiatives that aim to increase student achievement in middle school math and science and to develop leadership capacity in school systems.

Current Research Collaborations

  • What classroom practices lead to student proficiency with word problems in algebra?

    A SERP-orchestrated collaboration between SFUSD practitioners and researchers from the University of California at Berkeley is developing innovative instructional approaches aimed at helping middle school mathematics teachers work more successfully with their students on algebraic problems. details

  • How do students understand major science concepts? How do teachers use knowledge of students’ understanding of a given concept to make instructional decisions?

    A research and development partnership with the science department of San Francisco Unified School District and the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research Center is mapping learning progressions connected to core scientific concepts taught in middle school. details

  • WordSift: How do visualizations of text support teacher and student understanding of academic language and content area literacy?

    Within the context of our partnership with SFUSD, researchers from Stanford University developed an online tool that visually displays academic language and high-frequency vocabulary found in academic texts. The researchers, working together with a team of SFUSD teachers and district administrators, are developing instructional uses for an online text preview tool (www.wordsift.com) aimed at helping content area teachers work successfully with their students using academic language and developing content area literacy. details

  • How do schools build a model for the productive use of common planning time that strengthens professional learning communities and develops meaningful system of accountability?

    This research partnership with the science department at Everett Middle School and University of California at Berkeley is building both the research base and practical knowledge pertaining to the productive use of common planning time (CPT) focused on supporting literacy development in science classrooms. details

  • Additional SERP-SFUSD Collaborations:

    Math Benchmark Assessment; Literacy Benchmark Assessment; School Organization; California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS): Depth vs. Breadth - Promoting Student Science Learning. details

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