Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
- What is the California School Dashboard?
- Why was the Dashboard created?
- What information does the Dashboard include?
- What is a local educational agency?
- Does the Dashboard include information on all schools and local educational agencies?
- Are charter schools included in the charter authorizing agency's (district) Dashboard?
- How are Foster Youth and Homeless Student Groups reported for charter schools?
- Are charter schools required to report local indicators in the Dashboard?
Use of the Dashboard
- How is the Dashboard intended to be used?
- Will local educational agencies and schools receive a single, overall rating?
- Why does the Dashboard include multiple indicators?
- How will the performance data be used?
- What changes were made to the Fall 2018 Dashboard?
- What changes to the Dashboard can I expect in the coming years?
State Indicators
- What are the state indicators?
- Is the data up-to-date? When will new data be added?
- How is performance calculated?
- Is performance of student groups reported?
- Which student groups are included?
- Is there a minimum number of students for local educational agencies or schools to receive a performance level?
- What does each indicator measure?
- For the purpose of the College/Career Indicator (CCI), do courses in the Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway need to be taught by a CTE credentialed teacher?
- Does the Dashboard display grade-level data?
- If a local educational agency, school, or student group does not meet the 95 percent participation rate, does it impact the Academic Indicators?
- Will the Dashboard indicate if the Distance from Standard for ELA and/or mathematics was adjusted because the 95 percent participation rate was not met?
- Will the participation rate be available on the Dashboard?
- Why do DataQuest and the Dashboard reports differ for the suspension rate?
- What if I am interested in data that isn't included in the Dashboard?
Local Indicators
- What are the local indicators?
- Who do the local indicators apply to?
- Do local indicators apply to schools?
- Are there any differences for charter schools in completing local indicators?
- What are the SBE-adopted performance standards for local indicators?
- Where can the SBE-adopted self-reflection tools be found?
- What is reflected on the Dashboard when an LEA meets all three of the SBE-adopted local indicator performance standards?
- What does it mean to “report the local indicator results as part of a non-consent item at a public meeting of the local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of the LCAP?”
- What happens if an LEA does not report its local indicator data to the local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of its LCAP on or before July 1st?
- What is reflected on the Dashboard when an LEA does not meet one or more of the SBE-adopted local indicator performance standards?
- What happens if an LEA fails to report local indicator results to the Dashboard within the reporting window established by the CDE?
- What happens if an LEA does not certify certificated staff assignment data as part of the annual California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Fall 2 data submission?
- What happens if an LEA receives a performance rating of “Not Met for Two or More Years?”
- When does the reporting window open for an LEA to report its local indicator data to the Dashboard?
- How do LEAs submit their local data to the Dashboard?
- Where may I find additional information?
General Questions
What is the California School Dashboard?
The California School Dashboard (Dashboard) is an online tool that shows how local educational agencies and schools are performing on state and local indicators that are included in California's school accountability system. Built on the foundations of the Local Control Funding Formula state law, the Dashboard is one of several significant shifts that have occurred in California’s K–12 education system within the past decade, which includes the establishment of a new testing system, raising the bar for student learning, and promoting equity for all students.
Why was the Dashboard created?
The Dashboard was created to give parents and the public a complete picture of what is happening in our schools and districts and to identify those that need extra support. The Dashboard is a component of the Local Control Funding Formula law passed in 2013 that significantly changed how California provides funding to public schools and holds local educational agencies accountable for student performance. The same law also required the California State Board of Education to adopt a new accountability tool that reflects performance in different priority areas, which are now known as the state and local indicators reported on the Dashboard.
What information does the Dashboard include?
The Dashboard is made up of easy-to-use, searchable reports that show local educational agency, school, and student group performance on six state indicators and five local indicators (seven for county offices of education).
What is a local educational agency?
A local educational agency or LEA is defined in state law as a school district, county office of education, and charter school.
Does the Dashboard include information on all schools and local educational agencies?
All LEAs and schools, including charter and alternative schools (also known as the Dashboard Alternative School Status [DASS]), Dashboard.
Are charter schools included in the charter authorizing agency's (district) Dashboard?
Charter schools are treated as local educational agencies under the Local Control Funding Formula. Therefore, charter schools' data are not included in the charter authorizing agency's (district) Dashboard.
How are Foster Youth and Homeless Student Groups reported for charter schools?
Charter schools are treated as schools (not local educational agencies) for reporting these two student groups. Therefore, an n-size of 30 or more is required for Foster Youth and/or Homeless students to receive a performance level.
Are charter schools required to report local indicators in the Dashboard?
Yes, all charters, including those that are DASS, are treated as local educational agencies under the Local Control Funding Formula and are required to submit local indicators to the Dashboard.,
Use of the Dashboard
How is the Dashboard intended to be used?
Parents/guardians, educators, other educational partners and the public can use the Dashboard to see how local educational agencies and schools are performing under California's school accountability system.
The Dashboard provides performance information on multiple indicators for K–12 schools and districts across the state. These data are used to identify strengths, and areas in need of improvement for local educational agencies and schools.
Will local educational agencies and schools receive a single, overall rating?
No. The Dashboard shows performance on multiple measures that contribute to a quality education for students. This provides a more complete picture of how schools are meeting the needs of the students they serve.
Why does the Dashboard include multiple indicators?
The Dashboard is the result of hundreds of meetings with parents/caregivers, teachers, students and community members who provided feedback and suggestions on the school accountability system. A consistent piece of feedback was that reducing the multiple measures (or indicators) to a single number would leave out information that is important to many parents/caregivers and educational partners.
Parents/caregivers said they are used to getting report cards showing how their child is doing. Just as the information about different subjects/courses helps them understand how their child is doing, the performance information on different measures will help them understand how the school or local educational agency is doing.
How will the performance data be used?
The Dashboard helps inform local planning and educational partner engagement around Local Control and Accountability Plans.
The Dashboard also helps identify local educational agencies and schools in need of additional assistance under state and federal law. More information about the assistance and support is available in the November 2017 California State Board of Education (SBE) agenda item (DOC) and through the System of Support web page.
What changes to the Dashboard can I expect in the coming years?
In March of each year, the SBE annually reviews state and local indicators and performance standards to determine whether changes or improvements are necessary based on newly available data, recent research, and/or educational partner feedback. If changes are necessary, the SBE approves the implementation plan in September of that year, and these changes are documented in the “What’s New” section of each state indicator mini-guide which can be accessed through the Dashboard Technical Guide.
State Indicators
What are the state indicators?
State indicators are based on data collected consistently across the state from LEAs through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and testing vendors. The state indicators are:
- Academic (reported separately for English language arts/literacy [ELA] and mathematics assessments)
- English Learner Progress
- Chronic Absenteeism
- Graduation Rate
- Suspension Rate
- College/Career
Is the data up-to-date? When will new data be added?
The Dashboard is updated annually. For the years of data used for each indicator, please reference the Dashboard Technical Guide.
How is performance calculated?
Local educational agencies and schools receive one of five color-coded performance levels on the state indicators. From highest to lowest, the five performance levels are: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.
For the 2022 Dashboard only, performance is based on one of five Status levels ranging from Very High, High, Medium, Low, and Very Low and is calculated using 2021–22 school year data. For the 2023 Dashboard only, performance for the College/Career Indicator is also based on one of the five Status levels and is calculated using data from the 2022–23 school year.
More details on calculating performance for state indicators are available through the Dashboard Technical Guide.
Is performance of student groups reported?
Yes. For each state indicator, performance levels are provided for all students and for student groups meeting the minimum n-size (e.g., 30 students to receive a performance level) at the local educational agency or school.
Which student groups are included?
Performance of the following student groups must be considered in the state accountability system:
- English learners
- Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils
- Foster youth
- Homeless youth
- Students with disabilities
- Racial/ethnic groups, including:
- African-American/Black
- American Indian/Native Alaskan
- Asian
- Filipino
- Hispanic/Latino
- Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
- Two or more races/Multiple Race
- White
Is there a minimum number of students for local educational agencies or schools to receive a performance level?
Yes. Performance levels will be reported for all students and any student group that has at least 30 students in both the current and prior year. An exception is for foster youth and homeless youth at the local educational agency level where performance levels will be reported if there are at least 15 students in those student groups. Data will be reported without a performance level if there are between 11 and 29 students. Data for less than 11 students is not reported to protect student privacy.
What does each indicator measure?
Details on each state indicator is available through the Dashboard Communications Toolkit and Dashboard Technical Guide.
Does the Dashboard display grade-level data?
No. The Dashboard shows overall performance data for LEAs, schools, and student groups. Grade level data is not reported. Grade level data are available for some indicators (e.g., suspension, chronic absenteeism, etc.) through the CDE DataQuest web page.
If a local educational agency, school, or student group does not meet the 95 percent participation rate, does it impact the Academic Indicators?
Yes. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires that all schools and students groups meet the 95 percent participation requirement for ELA and mathematics and that the participation rate be factored into the Academic Indicators. As a result, the Distance from Standard will be reduced for those districts, schools, and student groups that did not meet the 95 percent participation rate target. For more information on the calculation, please review the Academic Indicators mini-guide available on the Dashboard Technical Guide.
Will the Dashboard indicate if the Distance from Standard for ELA and/or mathematics was adjusted because the 95 percent participation rate was not met?
No, the Dashboard will not indicate any adjustment. However, the Academic Indicators data files include the Distance from Standard before and after the penalty is applied for ELA and/or mathematics.
Will the participation rate be available on the Dashboard?
No. However, a participation rate report is available on the School Dashboard Additional Reports and Data web page.
Why do DataQuest and the Dashboard reports differ for the suspension rate?
The cumulative enrollment counts for suspension are different in DataQuest compared to the Dashboard because:
- At the local educational agency-level, Non-Public School (NPS) students are included in the count for DataQuest but are excluded for the Dashboard unless they meet the District of Residence qualifications.
- DataQuest includes students with partial day suspensions whereas the Dashboard includes only students with at least a full day of combined suspensions.
- Filters can be applied on DataQuest to include/exclude charter schools for authorizers whereas charter schools are always excluded from authorizer’s results
- Students with Disabilities are reported at the District of Attendance for DataQuest whereas for the Dashboard, these students are reported at the District of Residence
What if I am interested in data that isn't included in the Dashboard?
The Dashboard is intended to allow educational partners and the public to quickly see how local educational agencies and schools are performing on the measures included in California's school accountability system.
The CDE DataQuest web page includes reports with additional data elements and detail that are not included in the Dashboard.
Local Indicators
What are the local indicators?
State data is not available for some priority areas identified in the Local Control Funding Formula statute. For these priority areas, the California State Board of Education (SBE) approved the local indicators, which are based on information that a local educational agency (LEA) collects locally. The local indicators address the following state priorities:
- Basic Services and Conditions; Appropriate Teacher Assignment, Sufficient Instructional Materials and Facilities in Good Repair (Priority 1)
- Implementation of State Academic Standards (Priority 2)
- Parent and Family Engagement (Priority 3)
- School Climate, as measured by a local climate survey (Priority 6)
- Access to a Broad Course of Study (Priority 7)
- Outcomes in a Broad Course of Study (Priority 8)
- Coordination of Services for Expelled Youth (Priority 9) – County offices of education only
- Coordination of Services for Foster Youth (Priority 10) – County offices of education only
Who do the local indicators apply to?
Local indicators apply to all LEAs, including charters.
Do local indicators apply to schools?
No. Local indicators apply only to LEAs, which includes charter schools (including those that are Dashboard Alternative School Status). If an LEA is made up of only one school (e.g., charter schools and single school districts), the local indicators will appear on the LEA’s /school report. If an LEA has more than one school, the local indicators will appear on the LEA reports but not the school reports.
Are there any differences for charter schools in completing local indicators?
Consistent with statute, indicators, including local indicators, apply to charter schools for state accountability purposes only if the underlying charter petition includes goals for each of the related state priorities that apply to the grade levels served and the nature of the charter school program. In these instances, a charter school may complete the relevant local indicator(s) in the following way:
- In the narrative box within the relevant self-reflection tool, provide a brief explanation for why the local indicator does not apply to the charter school, based on the underlying charter petition.
- Select Submit.
This will ensure that the charter school is not reported as “Not Met” on the Dashboard.
What are the SBE-adopted performance standards for local indicators?
For each local indicator, the SBE adopted performance standards that require an LEA to:
- Annually measure its progress in meeting the requirements of the specific LCFF priority; and
- Report the results as part of a non-consent item at a public meeting of the local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of the LCAP. As a reminder, the LCAP must be adopted on or before July 1st of each year.
- Report results to the public through the Dashboard utilizing the SBE-adopted self-reflection tools for each local indicator.
Where can the SBE-adopted self-reflection tools be found?
The SBE-adopted local indicator self-reflection tools can be accessed from the Local Indicators - California School Dashboard and System of Support (CA Dept of Education) webpage.
Please note that statute provides the SBE with authority to revise self-reflection tools. If a revision is made to a self-reflection tool, the revised tool will be added to the Local Indicators - California School Dashboard and System of Support (CA Dept of Education) webpage.
What is reflected on the Dashboard when an LEA meets all three of the SBE-adopted local indicator performance standards?
An LEA that meets all three of the SBE-adopted performance standards will receive a performance rating of "Standard Met".
What does it mean to “report the local indicator results as part of a non-consent item at a public meeting of the local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of the LCAP?”
To meet this performance standard, an LEA must report the data that it collected and analyzed to its governing board using the SBE-adopted self-reflection tool. This report must be presented as part of a non-consent item at the same meeting at which the LEA adopts its LCAP for the coming year. As a reminder, LEAs are required to adopt the LCAP on or before July 1st of each year.
What happens if an LEA does not report its local indicator data to the local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of its LCAP on or before July 1st?
When an LEA does not report its local indicator data to its local governing board/body in conjunction with the adoption of its LCAP on or before July 1st, the LEA will receive a performance rating of “Standard Not Met” or “Standard Not Met for Two or More Years”, as applicable.
What is reflected on the Dashboard when an LEA does not meet one or more of the SBE-adopted local indicator performance standards?
When an LEA does not complete one or more of the SBE-adopted performance standards within the applicable deadline, the LEA receives a performance rating “Standard Not Met” or “Standard Not Met for Two or More Years”, as applicable.
What happens if an LEA fails to report local indicator results to the Dashboard within the reporting window established by the CDE?
LEAs that do not report local indicator data to the Dashboard within the reporting window established by the CDE, will receive a performance rating of “Standard Not Met” or “Standard Not Met for Two or More Years”, as applicable.
What happens if an LEA does not certify certificated staff assignment data as part of the annual California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Fall 2 data submission?
If an LEA does not certify its certificated staff assignment data, and therefore has no Appropriately Assigned Teachers data displayed on the Dashboard, it will receive a performance rating of “Standard Not Met” or “Standard Not Met for Two or More Years,” as applicable.
For more information regarding this please see the Information about the Teaching AMO Report - Accessing Educational Data (CA Dept of Education) webpage.
What happens if an LEA receives a performance rating of “Not Met for Two or More Years?”
Earning a performance level of “Not Met for Two or More Years” may be a factor in being eligible for differentiated assistance.
When does the reporting window open for an LEA to report its local indicator data to the Dashboard?
Moving forward, the reporting window for local indicators will occur during summer in conjunction with the LCAP adoption cycle.
The California Department of Education (CDE) will notify LEAs when the reporting window opens via the LCFF listserv. To subscribe to the LCFF listserv, send a blank message to join-LCFF-list@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
How do LEAs submit their local data to the Dashboard?
Prior to reporting in the Dashboard, each LEA must designate a Dashboard Coordinator (maximum 2 approved Dashboard Coordinators per LEA) by submitting the registration form on the CDE’s myCDEconnect webpage. The registration form must be approved by the LEA’s Authorizers (superintendent or charter school administrator) to receive the login credentials.
Following the approval of the Dashboard Coordinator, the Dashboard Coordinator will be able to report the LEA’s Local Indicator data to the Dashboard during the reporting window.
As a reminder, when submitting local indicator results to the Dashboard, LEAs are required to:
- Use the SBE-adopted self-reflection tools.
- Enter the date that local indicator results were reported to the local governing board/body at the same meeting at which the LCAP was adopted.
Additional details on the local indicators, including the self-reflection tools, are available on the Local Indicators web page.
Dashboard Coordinator questions may be emailed to lcff@cde.ca.gov.
Where may I find additional information?
Additional details on the local indicators, including the self-reflection tools, are available in the following web pages:
- Local Indicators web page: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/localindicators.asp
- Tuesdays@2 Presentations https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/lc/tuesdaysat2.asp
- Dashboard Toolkit, Flyer page https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/dashboardtoolkit.asp