Santa Monica High School Principal Marae Cruce was on hand to deliver a school report for her campus, speaking on achievements as well as continued work at Samohi. While providing student successes, Cruce also brought up the Samohi school improvement plan focused on increasing college and career readiness "by focusing on active learning and higher levels of thinking."
That focus, which the Samohi presentation added will "support the demonstration of the desired high expectations and rigor in mastering their daily learning objectives for all students," has an attached desire outcome on mathematical exams. Specifically, the desired outcome is to increase the percent of BIPOC students meeting or exceeding standards on Math California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) testing by 5% by the end of the 2024-25 school year.
In order to achieve the goal, which Cruce called "ambitious," students will hone in on active learning and engaging with lesson content, teachers and their peers. Another facet, the principal added, was more problem solving and less regurgitation in the classroom, which goes hand-in-hand with math exams. Though the overall percentage of Samohi students meeting or exceeding CAASPP math exam standards went up from 50.87% in 2022-2023 to 56.88% in 2023-2024, Cruce stated the number was not sufficient enough.
Hoping to spur on more engagement in the classroom is what staff called "gamification" in lesson design, with board member Dr. Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein likening it to children's hobbies.
"I would always say to my kid, you'll spend hours trying to beat [a] game, that is the motivating factor for life in that moment is to best some video game," Tahvildaran-Jesswein said. "You can do that with all your classes too, right? That's how it should be, so I loved what [Cruce] said about meeting them where they are."
Looking back at recent celebrations, Samohi was noted to have 27 Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program, as well as seven Semifinalist students in the program. Another success from 2023-24 was that 82% of 1,067 students who took at least one AP exam scored a 3 or above, continuing a trend of increasing numbers since 2021.
The school's vast music program was also on the school board's slate, as the board heard performances from the Samohi Mariachi Ensemble. Now in its third year at Samohi, the mariachi program performed two pieces as part of Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month.
SMMUSD will have a hectic week ahead, with Tuesday's election deciding the fate of Bond Measures QS and MM for Santa Monica and Malibu school improvements. A regularly-scheduled Board of Education meeting is Thursday, followed by the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization public hearing at the SMMUSD offices on Friday. The hearing will be the first of two scheduled for the LACOE committee to consider the City of Malibu's 2017 petition and updated feasibility study for its own independent school district.
thomas@smdp.com
