Escondido Union presents mixed assessment results; some gains approach pre-pandemic levels

District staff presented a data-rich overview of 2024–25 assessment outcomes, noting both progress and remaining gaps. Director Kathleen Sorensen said the district’s 3rd–8th grade CAASPP reading proficiency was ‘‘a little less than 37%’’ this year, an approximately 1 percentage-point gain over the prior year, while math met-or-exceeded rates were reported at about 29.68% (a 1.27 percentage-point gain). Sorensen pointed to consistent year-over-year increases since 2021–22 in several indicators and highlighted adoption of the Eureka math curriculum as one factor behind recent math gains.

Sorensen and district leadership also reviewed I Ready K–8 results: elementary math showed larger gains (about 1.47 percentage points), while K–8 reading measures were largely flat or showed slight decreases in some cohorts. The presentation called attention to domain-level patterns: students tended to perform well on foundational skills (phonics, high-frequency words) but lagged in vocabulary and informational-comprehension measures. Sorensen described subgroup trends as well—English learners comprise about 37% of the district and saw mixed results (a ~0.62 percentage-point decrease on some I Ready reading measures while English learner math improved roughly 1.5 points), and students with disabilities posted small increases on CAASPP and I Ready.

"So in the 2024–25 school year, we had a little less than 37% of our students who were at standard in reading," Sorensen told the board during the presentation. The district framed the data as a launch point for deeper root-cause analysis and action planning through MTSS, PLCs, and targeted professional development.