Sheridan Elementary, San Francisco CA

Original Research by School Decision on Sheridan Elementary

Sheridan Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in San Francisco's Excelsior neighborhood, a southern district characterized by single-family homes, duplexes, and a more suburban residential feel. The school operates as a regular public school within San Francisco Unified.

The school's enrollment is small, under a few hundred students across six grade levels. A substantial majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the neighborhood's economic composition. The student body is diverse: just over two-fifths identify as Hispanic, roughly one-fifth as Asian, another significant share as Black, and the remainder split among multiracial, white, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander backgrounds.

State testing results from the most recent year show academic performance well below proficiency thresholds. In English language arts, the schoolwide rate hovers in the low to mid-range, with fifth grade noticeably stronger than third or fourth grade. In math, proficiency is considerably lower across all tested grades, declining as students progress from third to fifth grade. Fifth-grade science proficiency is similarly low. Relative to districts across San Francisco County, Sheridan's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint. These results suggest students are working through significant gaps in foundational skills, and a parent may want to look into the school's approach to addressing these gaps and what support structures are in place for struggling learners.

The school sits in a neighborhood with substantial housing costs. Home values are very high, and rents are elevated as well. Affordability for a renting household is particularly constrained; monthly rent easily exceeds half of typical household income. The immediate Excelsior area offers more family-oriented, lower-density residential blocks than central San Francisco, though the broader city context means urban transit, sidewalks, and neighborhood services are standard.

San Francisco Unified's recent strategic direction was not available in our search, so we cannot speak to district-level priorities or initiatives that might affect this school. The school's website and specific program details were not provided, so information about curriculum offerings, special programs, or staffing is not available here. A parent considering Sheridan would benefit from direct conversation with school staff about how the school is addressing the current proficiency gaps, what instructional approaches guide daily learning, and what additional supports exist for families navigating the city's housing costs alongside their child's education.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 52% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 49% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 46% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 47% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 51% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 55% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 42% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

This schoolSan Francisco Unified, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.