Where the Data Comes From#

Everything on this site is published by the California Department of Education. Nothing is estimated, adjusted or re-scored.

The source#

Results come from the research files that accompany the state’s public reports at caaspp-elpac.ets.org. Those files carry the same figures as the state’s own “Test Results” pages, in bulk, for every school, district and county in California.

Two programs are covered:

CAASPP — Smarter Balanced English language arts/literacy and mathematics, the California Science Test, the California Spanish Assessment, and the alternate assessments.

ELPAC — the English language proficiency assessments taken by students whose primary language is other than English.

The full list of tests, and what each one measures, is in Assessments.

What the numbers mean#

Percentages are shown exactly as the state published them. Where a test publishes a combined “met or exceeded the standard” figure — Smarter Balanced and the science test do — that figure is used directly. Where it does not, the site adds up the levels the state counts as meeting the standard and labels the result derived, so it is clear which is which.

Blanks are not zeroes#

A dash means one of two things, and the site says which:

Withheld. The state publishes no results for any group of fewer than 11 students, so that individual students cannot be identified.

Not reported. The figure does not apply. Most often this is the mean scale score on an “All Grades” row: scale scores are set separately for each grade and cannot be averaged across them, so the state publishes none.

Comparisons to make carefully#

  • 2019–20 is missing. Testing was suspended statewide because of COVID-19.

  • The California Spanish Assessment changed in 2024–25. Its blueprint and scale were redesigned, so earlier scores are not comparable. The site says so on any trend that crosses the change.

  • The Spanish assessment is optional and is built on content that is not taught everywhere, so the state recommends against comparing schools on it.

  • Charter schools are counted in two places. Independent charters are reported as their own districts and as schools. The “Schools included” filter rebuilds charter-only and non-charter-only figures from the school rows; those are marked as recalculated.

The full set of cautions is in Interpreting Results.

Keeping it current#

New administrations are published by the state once a year, usually in the autumn. Loading them into this site is a matter of putting the new research files where the importer can see them — see Importing Research Files.