Francisco Escobedo, Ed.D.

Dr. Escobedo is currently the Executive Director of the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST); he also serves as a member of the State Board of Education (SBE) and as part of the Board of Directors for WestEd. Dr. Francisco Escobedo has been an educator for the better part of 30 years. From November 2010 until August 2021, he was the Superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD). Located in southern San Diego County, the District’s 46 schools serve over 29,400 students. In 2019, the Learning Policy Institute identified CVESD as one of seven “California Positive Outlier” districts for its superior academic scores.

Under Dr. Escobedo’s leadership, CVESD received the distinguished California Association for Bilingual Education’s Multiple Pathways to Biliteracy District Award for its implementation of 22 Dual Immersion Schools and California Department of Education’s Exemplary District of the Year Award 2018. He received the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce’s Rindone Educator of the Year Award in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019; and the California State Assembly’s 80th District Latino Leader Award in 2016. Recently, he earned NCUST’s 2020 Ronald Edmund Award for leadership in Urban Education.

Since 2001, Dr. Escobedo has served as an adjunct professor of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU) and is currently a member of the doctoral faculty. He earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University; an M.A. degree from SDSU; and an Ed.D. from the University of California, San Diego, and SDSU. He is fluent in Spanish and serves as a co-chair on the State Superintendent’s Literacy Task Force.