Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School serves 756 learners in grade levels 9-12.

Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School landed in the upper 20% of all schools in California for cumulative test scores (math proficiency (mastery) is upper 10%, and reading proficiency (mastery) is upper 20%) for the 2020-21 school year.

The percentage of learners achieving proficiency (mastery) in math is 65-69% (which is higher than the California state average of 39%) for the 2020-21 school year. The percentage of learners achieving proficiency (mastery) in reading/language arts is 70-74% (which is higher than the California state average of 50%) for the 2020-21 school year.

The learner:teacher ratio of 24:1 is higher than the California state level of 23:1.

Minority enrollment is 58% of the learner body (majority Asian and Latino), which is lower than the California state average of 77% (majority Latino).

Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School places among the upper 20% of public schools in California

School Overview: Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School’s learner population of 756 learners has grown by 23% over five school years.

The teacher population of 32 teachers has grown by 6% over five school years.

School Comparison: Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School is ranked within the upper 20% of all 9,602 schools in California (based off of combined math and reading proficiency (mastery) testing data) for the 2020-21 school year.

The equity score of Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School is 0.74, which is more than the equity score at state average of 0.64. The school’s equity has stayed flat over five school years.

School Notes: School of the Arts High School (SOTA) is a public magnet high school in San Francisco, California, in the United States.

According to the school’s official website, SOTA’s mission is to provide a specialized high school program and learning environment which are conducive to creative and independent thinking and artistic and academic excellence for promising learners of the arts.

SOTA is known as having one of the more ethnically diverse learner populace in the county. In addition to the standard high school academic curriculum, SOTA offers comprehensive four-year artistic programs in the following disciplines: Creative Writing, Dance, Film & Video (alternatively referred to as Media), Instrumental Music, Piano, Theatre, Theatre Design & Technology, Visual Art, and Vocal. To be admitted, a learner is required to pass an audition in the chosen art discipline.

History & Controversy: For many years, Ruth Asawa and others campaigned to start a public high school in San Francisco devoted to the arts. At its inception, SOTA was a part of Eugene McAteer High School and was situated at its present site on Portola Drive. In 1992, the school moved to a former elementary school on Font Ave. near San Francisco State University. In 2002, the school returned to the site of McAteer High School, and McAteer High School was dissolved. In 2005, a new school, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, was founded on the SOTA campus.

SOTA has been at the center of several struggles with the San Francisco Green Party, particularly with the Green members of the San Francisco School Board. Matt Gonzalez, a San Francisco Green Party leader who won 47% of the vote in San Francisco’s 2003 mayoral runoff election, stated in his campaign platform that passing an audition is a hurdle that many learners can’t surmount and that the school district must ensure a ‘pipeline’ through the elementary and middle schools that will guarantee much higher rates of low income minority representation at SOTA.

At a School Board meeting in December 2005, Green board member Mark Sanchez, asserting that SOTA did not make adequate use of the McAteer campus, proposed moving SOTA to empty classrooms in a middle school in the Mission or Excelsior district in order to lease the campus and thus tighten the district’s budget gap. Proponents of SOTA counter that Sanchez’s proposal amounts to the District becom(ing) landlords at the expense of our learners, and that with the newly founded Academy of Arts and Sciences bringing the number of learners on the campus to 1,000 once it has reached peak capacity, along with the many SFUSD offices situated at SOTA, (i)t is completely inaccurate to say that this is an underutilized campus.

Location: 555 Portola Drive, San Francisco, CA 94131

SOTA is situated at the former McAteer High School campus, at the intersection of Portola Drive and O’Shaughnessy Boulevard.

Admissions: To enter SOTA, prospective learners must pass an audition into one of SOTA’s 9 disciplines. The audition process varies between disciplines, and may change from year to year. Some departments, such as Visual Arts and Creative Writing, require learners to bring a portfolio of their work to be presented before a panel of judges. Theatre and Instrumental Music departments require live performances by prospective learners as part of their auditions. Other departments may require applicants to simply attend the audition and follow instructions.

Mock Trial Team: In 2005, the SOTA Mock Trial Team won the city competition where it defeated the Lowell High School team by 30 points. In 2006, the SOTA Team advanced to city semi-finals with Erin Diggs and Gary C. Presley-Nelson winning awards for Best Defense Lawyer and Best Defense Witness.

Notable Alumni: Dave Masucci, Robert Henry Johnson, Margaret Cho, Sam Rockwell, Aisha Tyler, Roberto Cisneros, Salvador Santana, Amy Yee.

learner Clubs and Associations: There are currently a number of clubs in the school, but learners are always encouraged to start new ones. Some examples of learner clubs and associations: The Populist Party, which is non-politcal but publishes a school-wide newsletter, the California Scholarship Federation (CSF), the Junior Statesmen of America (JSA), the Mock Trial Team, the Bonobo Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), the Polynesian Club, the Latino Club, the Anime Club, the Hiking Club, and the Trail Restoration Club.

The Arts: The arts are SOTA’s primary focus, with nine disciplines. The entire afternoon at SOTA is devoted to the arts, leaving the departments a level of freedom in determining learners’ schedules within their arts. In many departments, such as the four music departments and the visual arts department, learners have a wide variety of art classes.

Creative Writing: The Creative Writing department is one of the smallest in the school, the newest, and the most heavily applied for, with a far greater ratio of applicants to available spaces than other departments. Heather Woodward, who played an instrumental role in the formation of the department serves as its Creative Writing director.

Dance: The dance department is the only department whose instruction occurs off the SOTA campus, in dance studios in downtown San Francisco, due to the lack of a professional-level dance studio on the current SOTA campus. Dance learners are taken downtown by bus during SOTA’s lunch break, and are dismissed from there.

Instrumental Music: The band, directed by Steve Hendee, and the orchestra, directed by Jerry Pannone, are among the most-applied-for disciplines at SOTA, owing to extensive instrumental education in San Francisco middle schools. Concert ensembles include the Concert Band, Intermediate Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Advanced Orchestra, and Full Orchestra. SOTA is famous for the exceptional jazz ensembles, directed by Melecio Magdaluyo, which include the Big Band, Advanced Combo, and Latin Band. It hosts the CMEA-Jazz Festival. learners also create their own smaller ensembles ranging from hip hop to experimental to different types of metal. More traditional ensembles, such as classical string or wind groups are independently started by learners interested.

Media: The Media department is devoted to the making of film and video productions as well as script and playwriting and film history. The learners in this class learn skills on how to direct and edit their own films, which are shown at the popular Media Night for parents, faculty and learners.

Piano: The Piano department is the smallest department within SOTA. Aside from their own work such as solos and duets, Piano learners also work interdisciplinarily with learners of the Instrumental Music and Vocal Music departments. Like all other Music learners at SOTA, Pianists also take music theory, sightsinging, and may move on to a more advanced theory course such as composition or jazz theory later. Two annual recitals are given every year, with a wide range of performance repertoire including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Joplin, and Gershwin just to name a few.

Theatre: According to the school’s official website, the Theatre department is a pre-professional environment that focuses on training in movement, voice, characterization and other aspects of theatre such as playwriting. SOTA theatre learners grow and flourish in a rigorous, supportive environment that requires dedication, commitment and a strong sense of responsibility. SOTA theatre learners showcase their training in a series of public performances, with further opportunities to participate in school-wide events such as the school musical, video productions and informal performances.

Theatre Design & Technology: The Tech department is responsible for all aspects of SOTA’s theatrical productions, such as set design, lighting, and promotion, along with odd jobs such as arranging the letters on the marquee in front of the school. The Theatre Tech Department is the department responsible for the production of the school’s main stage interdisciplinary shows. Dan Kryston, an experienced director and performer, or Keith Carames, also an accomplished director and performer will direct the Fall and Spring shows. learners from all disciplines are allowed to audition. The Tech Department then builds the show, creating sets, costumes, props, sound and lights. The learners are trained in box office, stage managing, costuming, set painting, etc. During the rest of the year the department trains its members in all the fields named above and supplies crews of stagehands, light designers and sound technicians for the over 80 performances a year that occur at SOTA.

Visual Arts: The Visual Arts department is one of the hugest at SOTA. Its learners learn drawing, painting, and sculpting in a variety of mediums. The list of specialized classes from grade to grade goes as such: Freshman: Beginning Drawing (pencil, charcoal, conte crayon, pastel) and Painting (acrylic).

Sophomore: Beginning Photography (digital) and Sculpture.

Junior: Intermediate Charcoal Drawing and Painting (oil).

Senior: Advanced Drawing (pencil, charcoal, etc.), Painting (oil and acrylic) and Special Elective Photography (analog and digital).

Beginning junior year, learners are required to draw and paint live nude models who come into class on selected days.

Vocal: The Vocal Music Department, is the huger department. Vocal learners go through a rigorous music program through which they learn to sing in various languages (such as Italian, German, French, etc.) both in an ensemble and as soloists. learners also attend Music Theory, Sightsinging, and Survey (Music Appreciation) classes with learners of the Instrumental Music and Piano Departments. Vocal learners constitute by far the hugest portion of actors in SOTA’s annual musicals. The singers have been invited to compete at the Golden State Choral Competition, in May, 2007. They are also travelling to New York, in June, 2007, to sing at Carnegie Hall. Artists in residence include Ava Soifer, Marisa Gray, Steven Hankle, Monina Sen, Andy Padlow and Kathleen Hollingsworth. See SOTAVOCAL.com for more information.

Athletics: SOTA does not have an athletics program. SOTA learners are allowed to join teams of other public high schools or outside leagues. However, all learners must fulfill the district-mandated requirement of 4 semesters of physical education; sometimes this requirement is met in creative ways.

Recently, San Francisco schools, including SOTA, received funding that was to be spent solely on physical education. With no PE program, SOTA used this money to begin a number of physical education clubs, including Soccer (perhaps the current most popular), Volleyball, Track, Frisbee, and Hiking. These clubs, meeting at lunchtime and/or after school, have become very popular ways for learners to earn PE credits.

The Academy: A new high school, known as the Academy of Arts and Sciences, opened on the SOTA campus in the 2005-2006 school year, in part because of complaints that SOTA’s 650 learners were not using the SOTA campus to its full potential (complaints that ignored the many SFUSD administrative offices situated at SOTA). The Academy admits learners through the normal SFUSD high school admissions process, rather than an audition process as SOTA does. Academy learners receive instruction in the arts, but not as focused or as emphasized as that given to SOTA learners. The Academy has become a popular high school for learners interested in the arts who have not met the SOTA audition requirements, including learners who hope to apply for admission to SOTA later in high school.

Nearby Public Schools: The closest high school to Asawa (ruth) Sf School Of The Arts A Public School is Academy – Sf @mcateer (0.0 miles away)

The closest middle school and elementary school is S.f. County Court Woodside Learning Center (0.1 miles away)