These graduating Lowell students were called ‘lottery kids.' The stigma never went away

San Francisco Chronicle​

06-06-2025

When the freshmen class walked into San Francisco's elite Lowell High School for the first time in the fall of 2021, they were slapped with a label that stuck for the next four years: lottery kids.
Unlike prior decades of Lowell students, those 621 students hadn't gotten in because of exceptional grades and impressive test scores. Those students and the following ninth grade class were admitted through the same mostly random process used at the district's other high schools — a decision based on a lack of grades and test scores in the early years of the pandemic to evaluate the Lowell applications.
They were lucky.
Some said it wasn't fair. They hadn't earned admission, didn't belong and would fail, a number of parents, teachers and others in the community said. Others, including a majority on the school board, hoped the change would be permanent to help bring more Black and Latino students to a school that was more than 50% Asian American about 1% Black.
Lowell returned to merit-based admissions for the fall of 2023, leaving two years of lottery years sandwiched between merit-admission peers.
Those two years could help answer a burning question: What if the district randomly admitted students to one of the top-performing and academically rigorous high schools in the country?
It turns out that overall, the academic disparities between the lottery and merit students were relatively small, according to district data.
The average GPA of the first lottery class was 3.45, compared to an average 3.69 GPA over the previous five years. The average SAT score of lottery students lagged by 78 points compared to the average merit-based SAT taker back to 2020, although lottery scores were still 240 points above the national average.
And on average the class of 2025 took 2.65 Advanced Placement courses, compared to an average 2.8 over the previous five years, although nearly on par with the class of 2020's 2.69.
Based on the basic academic data available, the sky did not fall as some predicted, said Tony Payne, district executive director of high schools.
But that isn't surprising, he said, given Lowell's reputation as a rigorous academic school.
'Even when it was a lottery, I think families and students would self-select around this academic environment,' he said. 'Kids who would have gotten into Lowell anyway, a ton of them applied.
'I think the data makes sense from that perspective,' he added.
Benjamin Zhang, who was graduating Monday in red cap and gown as part of Lowell's first lottery class, was perhaps among the kids who would have been at Lowell regardless of the admission process. But he and his classmates would never know.
Still, Zhang, the class salutatarian with a full scholarship to Yale University, said in his graduation speech that they were defined by the lottery.
'That title hung over us like an overdue assignment. 'Not merit-based,' they said. 'Just lucky,' they whispered,' said Zhang. 'And … let this be our final act: To say that we are not defined by a lottery, a label or a transcript. We are defined by what we did with the chance we were given.'
While the lottery had little impact on academic markers, it did have an impact on student demographics, with random admissions significantly increasing the number of Black and Latino students.
The senior class this year, the first lottery group, included 22 Black students and 121 Latino students, for example, while the senior class of 723 students four years earlier had just five Black students and 78 Latino students.
At the same time, there was more attrition in the lottery class, with 93 of the original freshmen leaving by senior year, compared to an average of 41 over the previous five years. Other district high schools also saw upticks in attrition, although not as large.
District officials said understanding the data is complicated by the fact that the first Lowell lottery class was hit with a double whammy, entering high school after spending all of eighth grade and the end of seventh in online learning because of the pandemic.
They started high school, lost among the three buildings and four floors at Lowell with masks secured to their faces, their social skills withered and their grade-level academics and study skills a big question mark.
Lowell principal JanMichelle Bautista ticked off the list of challenges for students during that first year back to in-person learning: 'Behavior changes, academic progress, stamina for coursework, sitting in a classroom for 90 minutes.'
Teachers would say the lottery kids were so different, Bautista said, but the reality was 'we were all so different.'
The pandemic-era Lowell lottery triggered a fierce debate over whether or not the school should remain exclusive to ensure the district's academically motivated students could thrive, even if the student body had few Black and Latino students.
For decades, Lowell had been a point of pride for the city, consistently one of the top performing public schools in the country, churning out prominent figures in politics, entertainment, literature and science.
Amid the pandemic, the progressive-majority school board moved to make the lottery permanent in February 2021, after voting in October 2020 for a one-year random selection for upcoming fall freshmen.
Lowell parents and other city residents were outraged.
'The job market is merit based, college is merit based,' said parent Surveen Singh during the school board meeting that made it permanent in 2021. 'Lowell's high standards, training and rigor have given many students, especially immigrant families, the impetus and skills to attend college and succeed.
'Why on earth would anyone want to take that away?'
Critics of the merit-based system argued back.
'There should be no sacred cows in the SFUSD schools,' said Virginia Marshall, representing the San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators. 'Every child should have the opportunity to go to Lowell High School.'
A year later, following a recall of three progressive school board members and a lawsuit, the school board returned Lowell to a merit-based system.
It does not appear the school board will reconsider the Lowell admissions policy anytime soon, even with the lottery class data in hand.
'We absolutely want to preserve the rigorous instruction and academic programming offered at schools like Lowell,' said school board President Phil Kim. 'We know students are up to the challenge, and families are asking for more of these opportunities across all our high schools. The demand is there.'
Some members of the two classes of lottery students and their families said they felt the stigma of being at Lowell under the random admission process in the halls and classrooms.
'I heard those stories from the students,' Bautista said.
On Monday, the four years of hard work and stress seemed to fade into the background as parents sat in the stands at Kezar Stadium watching the Lowell graduates walk across the stage as their names were called.
'I'm beside myself with joy,' said parent Jameelah Hoskins.
Her son, Yusef, was among the 22 Black students in his class. He had been a straight-A, honor roll student in middle school, who at times — like many if not most Lowell students — struggled to keep up with his courses, especially after COVID, Hoskins said.
'The thing I remember is his determination to stay (at Lowell). He wanted to do the work,' she said. 'I was the one saying, 'if you want to go somewhere else, it's OK.''
Yusef will attend City College of San Francisco in the fall and enter the entrepreneur program, perhaps combining it with an electrician trade program, his mom said.
Yet among the smiles and goodbye hugs on graduation day, the lottery lingered, a topic in family conversations and in nearly every commencement speech made by a graduate or adult, including Bautista.
'You were scrutinized, second-guessed, and demeaned. People including yourselves questioned your worth, your ability, your presence,' the principal told her lottery kids. ' Never did you shrink in the face of unfair judgment … You turned doubt into drive, exclusion into excellence, criticism into community.
'You belong in every room you walk into. You belong at every single table where decisions are made. You belong in every dream you dare to dream.'