New Statewide School Accountability System 

California School Dashboard Goes Beyond Test Scores

Hueneme Elementary School district parents and educators will soon have a new opportunity to learn about the performance of local schools and districts that goes far beyond what has previously been available. The California School Dashboard is a new website that uses multiple indicators to give a more complete picture of how schools are serving our diverse student population. A public preview of the Dashboard is expected to be available starting in mid-March at caschooldashboard.org, with full implementation slated for the 2017-18 school year.

The new system gives a snapshot of several indicators, including high school graduation rates, career and college readiness, English learner progress and suspension rates, while still looking at test scores. It replaces the Academic Performance Index (API), which relied on test scores to produce a single number that offered a limited view of school performance.

The Dashboard is the next step in a series of major shifts in public education in California that have raised the bar for student learning, transformed testing and placed the focus on equity for all students. It is part of the state’s new school accountability system based on 2013’s Local Control Funding Formula. It supports the educational goals that all school districts set in their annually updated Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs).

The Dashboard also reflects California’s commitment to transparency and continuous improvement. The new system places greater emphasis on changes in performance from year to year. This will highlight programs that are making positive change and allow schools and districts to learn from each other’s success. It will also make it easier to identify areas where schools need assistance to improve performance.

“While the old system emphasized punishing underperforming schools, the Dashboard shifts the focus to helping them improve,” said Stan Mantooth, Ventura County Superintendent of Schools. “This is a step in the right direction as schools continue to address the achievement gap and work to give all students the opportunity to succeed.”

The Dashboard will feature easy-to-read reports on school and district performance. It provides information on several indicators of school success based on data collected at the state and local levels. Some of the data is from the 2014-15 and 2016-17 school years and may not reflect current performance. Data for some state indicators and all local indicators may not be available until the 2017-18 school year

Performance Levels for State Indicators

Performance on state indicators for individual schools and districts will be represented in the Dashboard by easy-to-understand color-coded pie pieces. The five performance levels are: blue (highest), green, yellow, orange, and red (lowest). The levels reflect both current performance and changes in performance over time.

Resources

• Dashboard Home Page: caschooldashboard.org
  
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Dashboard
  
• Video Overview of the Dashboard
  
• More information about the Dashboard
  

The Dashboard does not provide detailed test results for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). That information will continue to be available at caaspp.cde.ca.gov and individual student CAASPP score reports will continue to be mailed home annually.