There’s just not enough time tonight to fully recap tonight’s meeting, though I do want to spend some time writing about the reports from the African American Parent Advisory Council (AAPAC) and also the African American Achievement and Leadership Initiative (AAALI), as well as the City College MOU we adopted tonight. I’ll try to find some time this weekend — these are really important initiatives that I want people to know about and understand.
In the meantime, the district has issued an update on testing for Lowell admissions that I’ve reproduced below. Parents who were concerned about the idea of using SBAC should be relieved (this statement will also be widely disseminated at this weekend’s enrollment fair and through other outlets):
Notice to Lowell High School Applicants Regarding Admissions’ Tests
As all public school districts in the State of California, including SFUSD, transitioned from STAR testing to the Smarter Balanced Assessments Consortium’s (SBAC) standardized assessments, all 9th grade applicants to Lowell were temporarily required to take the Lowell Admissions Test in the interim years 2015-16 and 2016-17.
As results from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s (SBAC) standardized tests SFUSD became available, SFUSD planned to use scores from the 7th grade SBAC for SFUSD Lowell applicants for the 2017-18 school year.
However, the District has received feedback from parents that there was not sufficient notice regarding the use of SBAC tests for Lowell admissions. Therefore, the District has determined that all applicants for Lowell for the 2017-18 school year will again be required to take the Lowell Admissions Test in January. For SFUSD students who have 7th grade SBAC scores, the District will use the highest score from either SBAC or the Lowell Admissions Test in English Language Arts and Math for its admissions’ calculations.
In 2017, the test will be administered on January 4, 5, 6 and 9 and students will be assigned by last name. More details are included on the Lowell application.
This will be the final year current SFUSD students applying to Lowell will be required to take the Lowell Admissions Test. For the 2018-19 and all subsequent years, SFUSD will use 7th grade SBAC scores for SFUSD student applicants to Lowell.
Applicants for Lowell must submit both a Lowell application and an enrollment application by Friday, December 16, 2016 to either their present SFUSD middle school or to the Educational Placement Center, which is temporarily located at 655 DeHaro Street.
Rachel Norton 
I’m glad the district has fixed this issue for the upcoming year, but I think using the SBAC scores for SFUSD students in the future is very unfair to SFUSD students. My impression based on sample tests and feedback from my children and other students is that the Terra Nova was easier than the old STAR tests (and was administered to private school students much later) and that it was also much easier than the SBAC tests. The Lowell Band 1 cutoff rose sharply after the Terra Nova was used for everyone. I think the same test (administered at the same age) needs to be used for all students. I also think the entrance test needs to be harder because this past year Lowell admissions was pretty much only about grades (grading standards vary widely between schools and teachers). At a minimum they should use the 8th grade TerraNova to have a little better balance between grades and test scores.