7/29/2019 Description of the SFUSD Student Assignment Process

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FACT SHEET

How does the student assignment computer program work?

Students are placed in their highest ranked

choice as long as there are openings. If there aremore requests for a school than openings , thestudent assignment system sorts requests usinga series of preferences, known as tie-breakers, to

place applicants in schools.

A student may list any number of choices on theapplication form. They will go into the applicantpool for every school that is listed.

Educational Placement Center555 Franklin Street, Room 100San Francisco, CA 94102 415.241.6085

Assignment-Transfer process explained March 26, 2012 7:46 AM

Tentative AssignmentsWhen there are more requests than seats

available, the assignment process will maketentative assignments for each school basedon the appropriate tiebreaker process. (e.g. for

elementary school: younger siblings, pre-Kattendance area, test score area, attendancearea, all others). In this process, openings andthe tiebreakers are the main determinantsover the choice ranking. It is possible that onestudent may receive a tentative assignment

to more than one school, or it is possible thatthey may not receive an assignment to any oftheir school choices.

Once the tentative assignments arecompleted, the applicant keeps the highest-

ranked tentative assignment and all otherlower choices are released and otherstudents have opportunities to receive thoseassignments. We want the unassigned groupto be as small as possible. If the highest-ranked tentative assignment is the first-choiceschool, the students assignment is finalized.

Transfer CycleThose who receive one of their choices are given a tentative assignment. If the highest-ranked

tentative assignment is not the applicants rst choice, the system will then begin the transfer(trading up) process.

In this scenario, John Doe received tentativeassignments to his 6th and 8th ranked schools- Drew and Lakeshore Jane Smith receivedtentative assignments to her 4th, 7th and 10th

ranked schools - McCoppin, Sunset and Carver.After the tentative assignments are completed,John Doe retains his tentative assignment toDrew and Lakeshore is released. Jane Smith

7/29/2019 Description of the SFUSD Student Assignment Process

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Assignment-Transfer process explainedMarch 26, 2012 7:46 AM

DesignationsThe system will rst try to designate students

who do not receive an assignment to anyof their choice schools through the processto their attendance area school (elementary

students) or middle school feeder (incoming6th graders), as long as there are openings. Iftheir attendance area school or middle schoolfeeder does not have any openings, they willbe offered an assignment to the school that isclosest to where they live that has an opening.

retains her tentative assignment to McCoppin,and Sunset and Carver are released. Thetrading process will search to see if there canbe any exchanges of school assignments thatwill allow both students to receive a higher-ranked choice. John Doe holds an assignmentat Drew, which is Jane Smiths 2nd rankedchoice school. Jane Smith holds an assignmentat McCoppin, which is John Does 1st rankedchoice school. If John Doe gives up hisassignment at Drew to Jane Smith in exchangefor an assignment to McCoppin, then bothstudents will be able to receive a higher-rankedchoice school. The software identifies andmakes exchanges like this during the transfer

cycle. In this process, the choice ranking isthe only determinant. Tiebreakers are notused. Only those with a choice assignmentthrough the tentative assignment processwill be entered into the transfer process.

Once a student receives his highest-rankedchoice school, when no more trade ups canbe made to help him or her get the highestpossible choice, the process ends for thatstudent.

This process continues until all seats havebeen filled by choice requests and no otherswaps can be made to improve outcomes forstudents.