Teaching Academies
SFTR partners with 10-15 schools in San Francisco in the preparation of residents. Known as “Teaching Academies,” these schools share key characteristics including highly-involved principals, excellent and collaborative teachers, and explicit social-justice missions. Our Teaching Academies predominantly serve students and families of color, and are situated in communities that are both vibrant and struggling with the impacts of poverty and racism. Two or more residents are placed at each Teaching Academy, and often residents, at the completion of their Residency Year, find themselves getting hired at their Teaching Academy.
This Year Our Residents Are Placed at the Following Teaching Academies
Mission High School
Located in front of Dolores Park, Mission High School in situated right in the center of Mission, Noe Valley, and the Castro neighborhoods meet. Mission High School has a strong focus on equity, inclusion, and Anti-Racist Teaching to ensure that all of our students are supported to the fullest. Mission’s school-wide outcomes include: (1) Utilizing student work to drive instruction, inform teaching practices, and support student achievement at the highest level; (2) Emphasizing Post-Secondary Success at all grade levels to ensure that students are academically prepared, eligible, and have a deep awareness of all post-secondary options upon graduation from high school; (3) School-wide family engagement to create meaningful partnerships, build strong relationships, and deepen avenues of communication with all families in order to provde the highest levels of support to its students.
Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School
Buena Vista Horace Mann School (BVHM) is a K–8th grade elementary school in the Mission District. BVHM is also San Francisco’s oldest Spanish immersion elementary school, having served the community for more than a quarter of a century. The entire school is Spanish immersion. BVHM’s mission is to produce students who are not only bilingual and biliterate, but also have a strong sense of self, purpose, and place in our society.
Bryant Elementary School
Bryant Elementary School, a proud Mission District Community School, fosters life-long learning in an environment where all children are valued, nurtured, and challenged. Through high expectations and active engagement of the entire community, students work toward their full potential. Bryant Elementary takes seriously the responsibility of raising the next generation of creative, technology savvy, critical thinkers who are socially responsible in a respectful, student-centered environment.
Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School
Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School (Flynn) is a community-based K-5 elementary school located in the Mission District and bordering the Bernal Heights neighborhood. At Flynn, all students, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or what their needs may be have access to a high level, quality education. Flynn’s instructional program is rigorous and culturally sensitive. Flynn promotes language development and encourages social/emotional growth for all our students. Social justice at Flynn means that there is a strong home-school connection that will support student well-being, assure satisfactory attendance, and high-levels of learning.
Phillip & Sala Burton Academic High School
Located in the Portola/Vis Valley communities of San Francisco, Phillip & Sala Burton Academic High School (Burton) promotes a nurturing, equitable school culture committed to high-level academic achievement for all students. Burton’s student-centered learning communities engage students in rigorous, inquiry-based learning while also building personal relationships that support students in their pursuits. Burton graduates are creative and critical thinkers who use the foundations of the core curriculum and their commitment to social justice to make positive contributions to society.
Visitacion Valley Middle School
Visitacion Valley Middle School’s mission is to provide a quality education that prepares students for a fulfilling life in a global society. The school, rich in ethnicity and culture, is known nationally for its innovative programs. Teachers and students are assigned to academic families that use a variety of innovative technology, cross-curricular writing programs, and project-based and standards-based instruction throughout the year. The school focuses on equitable teaching practices and encourages student participation.
El Dorado is located in the Vistacion Valley neighborhood. El Dorado’s focus is the creation of an environment that promotes teaching the whole child. The school invests its energies in programs that meet the academic and social needs of all students and uses standards-based instructional practices like Balanced Literacy and music integration to tap students’ different learning modalities. El Dorado believes in recognizing students’ strengths and needs to help them achieve their full potential.
June Jordan School for Equity
The June Jordan School for Equity is located in the Excelsior and also neighbors the Portola/Vis Valley communities. June Jordan was explicitly designed as a school for equity and social justice. June Jordan prepares urban youth to be: Community members who show respect, integrity, courage, and humility; Agents of change in their school, their neighborhoods, and the world; and Intellectuals with the skills necessary to succeed in college and life.
James Denman Middle School
James Denman Middle School (Denman) is located in the Outer Mission/Excelsior neighborhood of San Francisco. Denman’s mission is to provide each student with an equal opportunity to succeed by promoting intellectual growth, creativity, self-discipline, cultural, and linguistic sensitivity, democratic responsibility, economic competence, and physical and mental health so that each student can achieve his or her maximum potential.
Sheridan Elementary School
Sheridan Elementary School is located in the Oceanview-Ingleside District and served students in preschool as well as Kindergarten through 5th grade. Sheridan seeks to meet the needs of each individual child and aims to provide an inclusive and psychologically safe environment where all students excel, regardless of race or economic status. The Sheridan school community believes in high expectations and an outcome of success for all students. High achieving, joyful learning at Sheridan promises students access to a standards-based curriculum that challenges them, excites them, and sparks a love of learning.
John Muir Elementary School
John Muir Elementary School is located in the Western Addition/Fillmore neighborhood. The mission of John Muir Elementary School is to create an environment where learners are empowered to excel academically, build character, and affirm cultural and linguistic diversity while fostering a connection with our global community. John Muir supports multi-culturally diverse, relevant learning experiences. The school provides all its students with an equal opportunity to succeed and achieve at their maximum potential. This school also provides bilingual education for English Language Learners and Academic English Language Development for native speakers.
Bessie Carmichael School
Located in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, Bessie Carmichael School is a PreK-8 school. Bessie Carmichael School strives to realize the vision of families, educators, and community working shoulder-to-shoulder and hand-in-hand to ensure that every student grows to his or her maximum potential and receives the most solid foundation for becoming college and career-ready. The Bessie Carmichael School fosters growth at all levels for all children coming from all different types of backgrounds, languages, cultures, and academic achievement levels.
MLK Jr. Middle School
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Academic Middle School enrolls students from neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. The diverse and multicultural atmosphere of the school attracts students from all racial/ethnic groups. All students receive equitable access. They focus on a curriculum that is meaningful and relevant, valuing relationships between staff and students, students and their peers, and the student-community.