Complex Instruction 

The complex instruction model aims to “disrupt typical hierarchies of who is ‘smart’ and who is not” (Sapon-Shevin, 2004) by promoting equal status interactions amongst students so that they engage with tasks that have high cognitive demand within a cooperative learning environment (Jilk, unpublished document, 2009).
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What is Complex Instruction?

Complex Instruction Program
Complex Instruction (CI) is a coherent program of pedagogical strategies grounded in the sociological research of Elizabeth Cohen and her colleagues (Cohen & Lotan, 1997; Cohen, 1994). CI aims to increase participation and learning for every child. In particular the Complex Instruction model focuses on the following:
  1. ​Access to a rigorous grade level curriculum for all students
  2. Status issues—that is those students who are perceived as smart or not based on issues of race, class, gender, reading ability, language, religion, etc.—interfere with students’ participation and learning
  3. Teachers are responsible for and capable of creating classroom communities that support all students to recognize intellectual strengths and weakness and work collaboratively to learn more content
Find out more about the pedagogy of Complex Instruction, the research behind it, and resources available here:
Through the Complex Instruction Professional Development Program:

  1. Teachers learn to engage all students in rigorous mathematics learning.
  2. Equity-centered professional learning communities will support teachers to engage every student in rigorous mathematics learning.
  3. All students, and especially those from traditionally marginalized groups (AA, Latino, ELs, and Spec. Ed), will learn and achieve more in mathematics.


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​Find out about our SFUSD CI Program Components here:
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The following schools are participating in our Complex Instruction Program:
Elementary Schools
  • Bret Harte Elementary School
  • Cesar Chavez Elementary School (3rd grade team)
K–8 Schools
  • Alice Fong Yu Alt. School
  • Bessie Carmichael K–8
  • BV/Horace Mann K–8
Middle Schools
  • Aptos Middle School
  • Denman Middle School
  • Everett Middle School
  • Hoover Middle School
  • Martin Luther King Middle School
  • Willie Brown Middle School
High Schools
  • The Academy - SF @ McAteer High School
  • Burton High School
  • Downtown High School
  • Galileo High School
  • June Jordan School for Equity
  • Mission High School
  • O'Connell High School
  • SF International High School 
  • Washington High School
Additional teachers have taken the Complex Instruction course. The above list reflects departments and sites that are committed to the work of Complex Instruction and supported through the SFUSD Complex Instruction Program.