After more than two decades as a San Francisco public charter school and weathering a global pandemic that has dramatically shifted how we think about teaching, learning and being in community with our students and families, Gateway is dreaming big about the next chapter of our collective story: both how to ensure we remain a longstanding educational institution for our city and how we can expand our impact beyond the walls of our classrooms.
Resilience, Sustainability, Growth
Resilient Learners
Where many schools struggle to wedge Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons into the school day, Gateway has long centered SEL and skills that empower students to develop their own agency in every grade and content area. Our commitment to SEL and a positive school culture was the subject of a lengthy 2020 case study from The Learning Policy Institute, and its importance has never been more obvious than now, as students continue to deal with the fallout of a global pandemic while attending school. Gateway has made the following commitments to further support our students social and emotional needs:
- Hiring a full-time SEL Coordinator to support all faculty in creating and implementing high-quality, culturally relevant curriculum.
- Growing our counseling team to provide students with increased access to mental health care and referrals.
- Growing our Student Support Office staff to further prioritize proactive, positive behavioral supports.
Summer Learning
By the end of fifth grade, low-income children are nearly three years behind their more affluent peers in reading due to summer learning loss. Gateway is reversing this pattern of inequality and helping address San Francisco's crisis of affordable summer care through it's Summer Academy in Partnership with the University of San Francisco, which offers:
- Full-day summer programming for rising 6th-9th graders with significant social and academic needs, provided at no cost to families.
- High quality, fun project-based and social emotional learning activities: students spend their summer doing everything from running science experiments to painting skate board decks to cooking veggies they harvest from our student garden.
- Classes led by USF student teachers, who receive guidance and mentorship from veteran Gateway educators as they navigate their first experience leading a real live classroom.
Expanding Gateway Middle Campus
We love our Gateway Middle Campus on Golden Gate Avenue, but the old building needs some love and thoughtful improvements to better serve our students and teachers. In addition regular summer maintenance, several improvements will greet students and staff at the start of the 2022-23 school year including:
- New private spaces for counseling sessions and family meetings.
- Meeting space and facilities for student support staff
- Open office space for faculty during planning periods and before and after school.
Beyond Our Walls: San Francisco's Teacher Pipeline
Our commitment to making public education work better doesn't just extend to the students enrolled at Gateway, or even to just our own city. We believe that by elevating the classroom practices that work best for kids and building collaborative relationships between all schools committed to the idea that every student can learn at high levels if their unique strengths are leveraged, we can build more equitable, effective learning communities for everyone. To that end, we've launched Gateway Impact, a professional development initiative for all educators everywhere that currently offers:
- Free webinars on hot-button issues in education, led by Gateway experts and respected voices from our community partners.
- A regional conference that attracts more than 150 educators each year to explore Powerful Learning practices, with free and sliding-scale registration options.
- With the planned hiring of a full-time Gateway Impact Director in 2022, the program will continue to grow to include year-long fellowship and multi-year Community of Practice opportunities for Bay Area teachers, particularly BIPOC educators and those from other marginalized backgrounds.
In 2023, we'll also be launching our Teacher Induction Program, designed to help new teachers improve their practice, learn professional responsibilities and ultimately equip them to positively affect student learning as soon as they begin their careers. Our program will be based off our model of best teaching practices and will be available for Gateway teachers and new educators throughout the community, ensuring a stronger teacher pipeline for all students.
Activating our Mighty Alumni Community
After two decades in operation, Gateway alumni can be found all over the world and in every sector, many of them in careers and lives that were only big dreams when they first walked through our doors. We are committed to leveraging the power of this incredible community, both for our own sustainability as an organization and to build bridges of opportunity for current students. To that end, we will:
- Hire an alumni program manager and invest in the tools and technology to make the most of alumni data, including their post high-school and long-term outcomes.
- Create new opportunities for alumni engagement, such as Alumni nights out, family picnics, or an Alumni Council.
