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Escondido Union High unveils 8-step math improvement plan, keeps three-year math graduation requirement
Summary
District leaders presented an eight-step plan aimed at lifting CAASPP math performance, pointed to internal data showing higher pass rates for students enrolled in three years of math, and asked the board to consider a joint subcommittee with the elementary district to improve transitions.
The Escondido Union High School District presented an eight-step math improvement plan to the board at a workshop, including a shift the board already adopted to require three full years of high school math for graduation. Superintendent Martin Casas introduced the team that laid out the plan: Renee Farrell, the district math content specialist, and Kelly Grigsby, director of curriculum and professional learning.
Grigsby framed the change as a system-level move designed to reduce discontinuities before the grade-11 CAASPP test. "Last spring, this board took bold and strategic action by increasing our district math graduation requirement to 3 full years," Grigsby said, adding that the district expects measurable gains as freshmen who complete three years of math take CAASPP in two years. The presentation cited internal district analysis showing that students who were enrolled in three years of math had an approximately 32% CAASPP pass rate versus a state average of about 27%.
Board members asked for specifics on how much of the projected improvement could be attributed to district initiatives rather than broader, systemwide recovery from the pandemic. Grigsby said Renaissance progress-monitoring data and targeted interventions support a projected 2–3 percentage-point increase in CAASPP scores next year but cautioned that not all contributing factors can be fully isolated.
The plan bundles curriculum shifts, summer acceleration, targeted Math 1 interventions with paid peer tutors, additional TOSAs and instructional coaching, and expanded professional learning. Grigsby said one change specifically aimed at Orange Glen High School will add an extra math coach and a TOSA focused on Math 3, the grade at which students take CAASPP.
The board signaled support for continued oversight: President Bob Weller and other trustees asked staff to agendize formation of a joint subcommittee with the elementary district to coordinate transitions and interventions, a step trustees said would allow deeper, focused work outside regular board meetings. The item will be brought back for a formal agenda at the next regular meeting.
