As requested by a reader. This review focuses on the Korean immersion program.

You should consider this school if you're looking for:  Korean immersion, LGBT-supportive administration, strong parent community, K-8 school with separate campus for K-2, early start time

The Facts

Web site: ClaireLilienthal.org
Location: 3950 Sacramento Street (K-2), 3630 Divisadero Street (3-8)
Grades: K–8
School Hours: 7:30-1:15
Before/After-school program: CLASP (K-2), Excel (3-8)
Kindergarten size:  4 classes of 22 students-3 Gen Ed, 1 Korean Immersion
Playground: courtyard, blacktop terrace with garden and play structure
Language: Korean immersion (1 class)

Overview

Korean language immersion ar a racially diverse, high-performing K -8 school with LGBT-friendly administration and strong parent community. A separarate K-2 campus makes for an easier transition to "big kids school," with a more intimate setting geared to the younger students. What’s not to like?

Lukewarm SFUSD support for the Korean immersion, large classroom sizes in the upper grades, and for many of us, 7:30 start time.

Korean Immersion Program (KIP)

The program starts 70% Korean/30% English, then goes to 50%/50% by 5th grade. There is one class per grade from K-3, then a single large combined 4th/5th grade class. See the KIP Handbook for details. Korean immersion only officially goes to 5th grade, although the PTA has funded some degree of middle school Korean instruction in the past.

Korean uses a phonetic alphabet that's nearly as consistent as Spanish. This means that students may become literate sooner than with Chinese characters, as anyone who's relied on pinyin would attest. It also makes "reading" more accessible to parents, who can learn the alphabet to help their child. Looking at the KIP New Parent Guide, this is supported, perhaps expected.

We did not get to enter a Korean class in action, but we toured the kindergarten classroom while they were at PE. Looking at the room 3 months into the year, the level of literacy expected seemed higher than the equivalent Chinese classrooms I'd seen. Word lists of all kinds were posted all over the room; the students' names were in English and Korean on their desks as well as on their art projects hanging from the ceiling, and there was a collection of children's books in Korean on the shelf.

For what it's worth, if you get into KIP, your child will likely end up with a cohort of high-performing students, as Koreans are the highest performing ethnic group in SFUSD for grades 2-5. The effect of this on the pace of classroom instruction and differentiation is unclear. See “The Numbers” section at the end to see CST scores for Korean students at Claire Lilienthal vs elsewhere in SFUSD.

SFUSD’s Commitment to Korean Immersion?

SFUSD support for Korean immersion seems less robust than for other languages. There is no SFUSD funding for 6th-8th grade Korean language pathway, even as SFUSD plans a Mandarin middle school language pathway. Scrambling for funding for KIP is a recurring theme in both PTA minutes and SSC minutes.

The very fact that the 4th and 5th grades are combined into one large class, with 38 students in 2009, is in contrast to Starr King, where the PTA raises money for a an extra teacher to keep the Mandarin 4th and 5th grade classes small (around 15 each). Looking at Claire Lilienthal's PTA minutes, it seems that even the existing Korean staffing was not fully funded by SFUSD this year. Emergency funding from the PTA and the Korean Consulate made up for the shortfall.

A parent-created foundation, SFKIEA, formed several months ago to fund the Korean immersion program. The Claire Lilienthal PTA then contemplated whether it should also form a foundation.Does this imply a divide between the general education and Korean immersion communities?  Is there declining support by the administration or PTA for KIP? It's bad enough to have to raise money for your child's art, music and PE teachers. If you chose KIP, are you going to have to raise money for your child's regular teacher too?

Parent Involvement

For the 2010-11 school year, the parents association (EIN 94-2954256)  raised $261k and spent $235k on programs, according to their 2010 IRS report. A third of their budget goes to fund PE and outdoor education, including scholarships for needy students. The PTA also covers equipment purchases, arts education, the green schoolyard coordinator, a librarian, and a $1000 classroom supplies fund for each teacher.

Enrichment

The artist-in-residence program brings one 12 week programs per year for all students: drumming for kindergarten, ceramics/visual arts for 1st grade, dance for 2nd grade, visual arts for 3rd grade, and theater arts for 4th and 5th grades. 6th-8th graders can take an elective in musical theater. It struck me as being light on visual arts, perhaps because visual arts are easier to integrate into the regular curriculum than performing arts. I was a little disappointed because my child loves arts and crafts, and hates being the center of attention. But who know what will happen by 4th grade?

For music, K-2 has chorus, and grades 3-5 get the standard SFUSD instrumental music offering. The school participates in the Adventures in Music program with the SF Symphony.

PE takes place in the courtyard. I was underwhelmed by the PE instruction we saw during the tour; I didn’t see much aerobic activity or running around. First the kids stood around and half-heartedly hulahooped, then when it started to sprinkle, they stood under the eaves and played with various hand toys the ball on a string connected to a cup. Many of the classrooms open directly onto the courtyard, and I wondered if this limits the range of PE activities on the K-2 campus.

Outdoor education sounds incredible. Old PTA minutes mention things like a week-long trip to Catalina and trips to Yosemite.

Diversity

When I asked about LGBT support, the principal responded very positively, and emphasized that LGBT families are very active at and involved with the school and are an integral part of the community. It was by far the most affirming and welcoming response I've received on the public school tours.

The Korean kindergarten class I saw in the courtyard was almost entirely Asian or biracial, but this is within a school setting that is much more diverse, with all major ethnic groups represented and no clear majority group. There is some interaction, especially during a week of "integration" where they mix up students to do projects with different teachers.

The principal, who is mostly based at the Scott campus for grades 3-8 this year, who seemed well-liked overall, appeared to have an especially good relationship with the African American students--several got his attention to say hi as he took us around, and one banged on the window of the library while he was talking, to get his attention.

The student body is significantly less poor than SFUSD for all racial groups.  For example, Latino and African American students at Claire Lilienthal are less likely to be economically disadvantaged than Latinos and African Americans in SFUSD as a whole.

A potential disadvantage is that if you are looking for a sizable Chinese population, Claire Lilienthal is only 8% Chinese. On the other hand, if you are seeking a Korean population, Claire Lilienthal is the clear choice at 16% Korean. About a third of SFUSD’s K-8 Korean enrollment is here. The next closest are Clarendon and Lakeshore at 2%. (For those looking at JBBP, a similar pattern exists at Clarendon and Rosa Parks, both 14% Japanese with a relatively low percentage of Chinese students. Clarendon and Rosa Parks between them have 38% of SFUSD’s Japanese K-5 enrollment.)

Hard of Hearing Inclusion

Claire Lilienthal's facilities were "acoustically modified" for hard of hearing students. Some teachers are familiar with FM amplification systems, and so forth, to support hard of hearing students. The bonus is that the acoustic modifications create a better learning environment for all students.

Facilities

The school is divided into 2 campuses, K-2 and 3-8. I only saw the K-2 campus. The K-2 school is arranged around a central courtyard. Two sides are made up of a charming older building with beautiful old tilework. The other 2 sides are newer construction which matches the architecture of the old building. Like Alice Fong Yu, there are covered walkways on all four sides of the courtyard, including the upper levels.

The older building includes an auditorium that is also used as a lunchroom. I liked that children get to sit down at tables inside to eat, unlike other schools I saw.

The library was unusually large and pleasant, one of the largest I've seen, which was especially impressive for just grades K-2. It has a separate computer alcove/area with 14 computers for students, all with purchased by the PTA

There is a smallVgarden area in process that looks like it will be very attractive once finished. In general, there is relatively little open space, just the courtyard and an upper blacktop with the garden and a playstructure.

According to Lilienthal's SARC, the Grade 3-8 campus in the Marina is a less lovely, less well-maintained 1930s building. The building is not large enough to accomodate all the students, so 8 bungalows arranged around the yard, a large unbroken expanse of blacktop with no visible greening on Google Maps.

Large classroom sizes in the upper grades?

Claire Lilienthal's 4 kindergarten classes (88 students) do not translate nicely into a multiple of 33 when classroom sizes increase in 4th/5th grade. Except for Carmichael, the other K-8 schools have 3 kindergarten classes of 22 , which conveniently turns into 2 classes of 33 in 4th grade.
SFUSD relies on attrition to get the enrollment at Claire Lilienthal down to 66 by 6th grade, with varying degrees of success. This results in potentially larger class sizes. Old PTA minutes mention concerns about a "bubble class" that still had 85 students in 5th grade. Last year, about 40% of the core classes from grades 6-8 had over 33 students per class according to their SARC--probably the 6th grade classes.

The ability to decrease class size in the upper grades is also limited by physical space: even with 66 students per grade, the upper school is overflowing. Eight bungalows already occupy its large schoolyard.

Getting In: Nice School If You Can Get It

Because SFUSD relies on attrition to decrease the enrollment from 88 to 66 by 6th grade, Claire Lilienthal is not only one of the most popular schools for kindergarten, it is also one of the most difficult to transfer into. According to the principal, when students leave in the younger grades, they are not replaced. The assistant principal explicitly said during the tour that students are not allowed to transfer from KIP into general education, as in the past, some families had applied to KIP just to get into Claire Lilienthal, then requested a switch. In practice, students who are struggling in Korean immersion are given the opportunity to transfer to general ed, though perhaps not until the later grades.

KIP is no easier to get into than general education. As noted in an earlier post on this blog, in 2010, not even all the siblings got into KIP.  First choice requests for Korean immersion in 2011 were 204% of capacity, compared to 219% for Chinese, 174% for JBBP  and 147% for Spanish. Demand was even higher in 2012, with 55 first choice requests, or 250% of capacity.*

Of the 22 immersion spots, 13 are for Korean-proficient speakers and 9 for English-only speakers. Unfortunately, unlike Mandarin immersion programs, which don't fill with native speakers, Korean proficiency does not guarantee you a spot. However, if your child can pass the language proficiency test, your odds are much, much higher.

The other way into Lilienthal is if you have a hard of hearing student seeking inclusion who will benefit from the acoustical modifications of Lilienthal’s facilities.

*SFUSD Annual Report on Student Assignment System for the 2011-12 School Year, and the SFUSD School-Year 2012-2013 Total Requests by School/Grade/Program with Choice Ranking

The Numbers

2011-2012 K-2 Enrollment by Ethnicity

Ethnicity	CL	SFUSD
Latino of any race	9%	27%
Not Latino or Hispanic:
Asian*	30%	33%
Filipino	2%	4%
African American	9%	9%
White	32%	17%
Pacific Islander	0%	1%
Two or More Races	12%	6%
Not reported	5%	3%

	CL	SFUSD
Graduate School/Postgraduate	37%	15%
College Grad	34%	22%
Some College/AA degree	10%	21%
High School Grad	6%	15%
Didn't graduate high school	1%	13%
Declined to State/Not Answered**	12%	13%

*CST test takers only. CAPA, CMA and STS not included. CST tests start at 2nd grade.
**For SFUSD, the "Declined to State" group has CST scores close to or slightly below the "Didn't graduate high school" group.
Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/


2011-2012 Economic Status, Grades 2-5 only*
Percent Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch
(<185% of the Federal Poverty Level)

	CL	SFUSD
All students	20%	61%
Latino of any race	43%	83%
Not Latino or Hispanic:
Asian	21%	65%
Filipino	25%	55%
African American	67%	79%
White	6%	19%
Pacific Islander	--	83%
Two or More Races	7%	38%

*CST test takers only. CST tests start at 2nd grade.
Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/

2011-2012 CST Scores by Parent Education Level, Grades 2-5 only*

	Lilienthal		SFUSD
	Score	At or above grade level	Score	At or above   grade level
Graduate School/      Postgraduate Education	English 409 Math 461	90%  94%	English 416 Math 455	89% 89%
College Degree (BA/BS)	English 398 Math 422	83% 81%	English 391 Math 428	78% 81%
Decline to state      grades 2 and 3 only*	English 381 Math 434	82% 79%	English 339 Math 377	44% 60%

* The California Department of Education only publishes scores for grades with over 10 students in each subgroup. Other parent education levels and grades didn’t have enough published scores for comparison.The Decline to State group only had 38 students.
Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/

2011-2012 CST Scores by Economic Level, Grades 2-5 only*

	Lilienthal		SFUSD
	Score	At or above grade level	Score	At or above grade level
NOT Economically     Disadvantaged	English 405 Math 433	88% 88%	English 398 Math 433	80% 82%
Economically     Disadvantaged	English 367 Math 383	67% 64%	English 351 Math 385	52% 63%
Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/

2011-2012 CST Scores by Ethnicity and Economic Level, Grades 2-5 only*

	Lilienthal		SFUSD
	Score	At or above grade level	Score	At or above grade level
Asian,     NOT economically disadvantaged	English 412 Math 448	90% 93%	English 401 Math 454	82% 90%
White,     NOT economically disadvantaged	English 405 Math 448	91% 91%	English 413 Math 442	88% 87%
Two or more races,     NOT economically disadvantaged,     grades 2-3 only for English,     grades 2, 3 and 5 for Math	English 402 Math 469	93% 89%	English 401 Math 441	82% 85%

 *The California Department of Education only publishes scores for grades with over 10 students in each subgroup. Other grades and subgroups didn’t have enough published scores for comparison.
Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/

2011-2012 Korean CST Scores: Lilienthal vs all other SFUSD, Grades 2-5 only

	Lilienthal		SFUSD excluding CL*
	Score	At or above grade level	Score	At or above grade level
Korean,        grades 2-4 only**	English 417 Math 448	92% 95%	English 409 Math 461	81% 90%