San Francisco Reviving Baseball for Inner-City Youth

During 2015 San Francisco RBI expanded its program at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School and KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy for its fourth year of programming while forming a new partnership with Rosa Parks Elementary School in San Franciscos Western Addition. ORGANIZATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS o President of the University of San Francisco Father Paul Fitzgerald, S.J. joined San Francisco RBIs Board of Directors. o 4th Annual All Star Dinner held at the historic Fairmont San Francisco with events including Jessica Aguirres onstage Q&A session with Matt Cain and Jeremy Affeldt of the Giants and the second Hall of Fame induction ceremony conducted by Brad Horn, Vice President of Communications and Education for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. o 4th graders at Rosa Parks Elementary School participated in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum's "Be A Superior Example" (BASE) Week with a visit from Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins and a special clinic focused on healthy living and a Civil Rights videoconference connection to Cooperstown. LITERACY POSITIVE RESULTS o San Francisco RBI was thrilled to help raise the reading levels of the students in our program. o 100% of our 5th and 6th graders made typical growth on the spring NWEA Map Reading Assessment, exceeding the school average by 19%. o 5th and 6th grade students grew an average of 4.2 reading levels this school year, exceeding the expected growth by 1.2 reading levels, or 40%. o 88% of our students in grades K-3 grew at least 1 reading level on the End-of-Year Fountas & Pinnell assessment. o The percentage of students who mastered letter recognition from Beginning-of-Year to End-of-Year assessments jumped from 28% to 56%. o The percentage of students who mastered phonemic awareness from Beginning-of-Year to End-of-Year assessments jumped from 11% to 67%. o The percentage of our students in grades K-3 who read at or above grade level jumped from 38 to 60 percent. A full report on our positive results can be found on our Literacy Positive Results page. PARENT REVIEW* o While only 22% of parents responded that their child got a lot of exercise (over 5 hours/week) before San Francisco RBI, 78% said they got a lot while participating in San Francisco RBIs program. o 100% of parents agreed that their childs overall behavior had improved since joining San Francisco RBI. o 100% of parents agreed that San Francisco RBI is improving the overall health of their child. o 94% of parents are satisfied with San Francisco RBI. o 100% of parents would recommend San Francisco RBI to another parent. *Approximately 1/3 of parents in our program responded. PRESS HIGHLIGHTS o 4th Annual All-Star Dinner was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, Nob Hill Gazette and on Comcast SportsNet California. o Comcast SportsNet California aired the first installment of the University of San Francisco's "Behind the Mask" series, which highlighted San Francisco RBIs partnership with the University of San Francisco. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENTS LITERACY o Monthly district leadership team meetings with the Leadership, Equity, Access and Design (LEAD) Department about programming at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School and Rosa Parks Elementary School. o Data meetings with the Research, Planning and Accountability (RPA) Department at SFUSD. o Collaborated with school leaders and teachers at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School, Rosa Parks Elementary School and KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy to create targeted interventions for focal students needing extra support in reading. o Conducted professional development for graduate student volunteers and interns from the University of San Franciscos School of Education and San Francisco State Universitys Graduate College of Education to work with students reading below grade level. o University of San Francisco and San Francisco State graduate interns provided Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) to struggling 5th & 6th o University of San Francisco and San Francisco State interns and volunteers helped our elementary school students develop the foundational skills and early reading behaviors needed to perform at grade level. o Participated in Data Days at our partner schools looking at student data to create action plans for struggling students. o Conducted data capture using district adopted Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments given three times a year. o Conducted data capture using Common Learning Assessment (CLA) in English Language Arts given twice a year. o Participated in Rosa Parks Elementary Schools read-a-thon by sending books home with students who met their reading goals. o Piloted Raz Kids, online reading program used in SFUSD to customize reading instruction for elementary school students. BASEBALL, SOFTBALL AND WELLNESS o Conducted two immersion trainings (one in the fall and one in the spring) to properly train volunteer coaches, tutors and mentors on protocol and procedure in a school setting as well as best practices for working with youth in our program. o University of San Francisco Athletics volunteered at all three sites to provide mentoring, coaching and literacy tutoring four days a week. o University of San Francisco Dons baseball team supported weekly team practices on Kimbell Field by sending current players to assist San Francisco RBI volunteers in coaching children. o San Francisco State softball team partnered with the San Francisco RBI softball program, to bring their collegiate softball players to volunteer at Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary and KIPP SF Bay Academy on a weekly basis. o Implemented best practices from SFUSD approved Second Step curriculum, Positive Coaching Alliance, Character Lab and "Growth Mindset" into social-emotional lessons. o Established relationship with the University of San Francisco club sports and intramurals program to bring undergraduate students involved in club and intramural sports to volunteer with children in our program on a weekly basis. o From our relationship with club and intramural sports at the University of San Francisco (USF) our first group of USF law students volunteered with the children in our program every week. o San Francisco RBI students at KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy participated in San Francisco Youth Baseball League at no cost to families. San Francisco RBI provided all coaches, equipment, uniforms, registration fees and field permitting. San Francisco RBI also provided a team bus to games. o San Francisco RBI softball team at KIPP San Francisco Bay Academy participated in Pitch, Hit and Run competition. SPECIAL EVENTS o KPMG in partnership with First Book donated starter libraries stocked with 250 new books to our partner schools as part of their "Soup and Stories" campaign. KPMG volunteers delivered the libraries to the schools and read their favorite books to our students. o USF Head Coach Rex Waltersand the University of San Francisco mens basketball program partnered with Coaching for Literacy to support our program during their game against St. Marys on February 26, 2015. o 10th Annual Dante Benedetti Foundation Classic was held at AT&T Park on Saturday, March 28, 2015. In partnership with San Francisco RBI, the Foundation brought the joy of baseball to students in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) by inviting them to be their guests at AT&T Park. o San Francisco RBI softball girls were invited to attend an SF State softball game against Cal State Monterey Bay at SF State University on April 11, 2015. o Featured in a public service announcement read by Renel Brooks-Moon at the San Francisco Giants vs Pirates game on June 1, 2015, where San Francisco RBI was featured on the scoreboard in front of over 40,000 fans. o Attended co.labs Demo Day hosted by Zynga and NewSchools Venture Fund featuring startups using digital games to empower students and teachers. o Director of Baseball and Softball attended annual RBI institute in Orlando, Florida.