The Academic Indicator is based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics results and applies to schools with grades three through eight. Performance is calculated and reported separately for ELA and mathematics. Grade Eleven assessment results are reported within the College/Career Indicator (CCI). Therefore, high schools serving students in grades nine through twelve only will not receive a performance level (or color) for the academic indicator.

Specific inclusion and exclusion rules apply to the Academic Indicator calculations for students taking the California Alternate Assessment (CAA), English learners who have been enrolled in U.S. schools less than one year, students who are exempted, and students who were flagged with the medical emergency condition code. Note that students must be continuously enrolled at the school to be included in the calculations of the Academic Indicator. For the English Learner student group, all current English Learners (EL) and students who were reclassified within the past four years are included.

Status and Change

Status and Change will not be reported in the 2018 Dashboard.

Five-by-Five

The five-by-five grid combines status and change to determine an overall performance level for each indicator, with equal weight applied to both status and change. To learn more about the five-by-five grids, visit the CDE’s California School Dashboard Five-by-Five Colored Tables page.

See the Five-by-Five grid for the Academic Indicator on the CDE’s California School Dashboard Five-by-Five Colored Tables page.

How It’s Calculated

The Distance from Level 3 (DL3) methodology is used to calculate the Academic Indicator. Level 3 is the Standard Met Achievement Level on the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments. The DL3 is based on the distance between student scale scores and the lowest scale score for Level 3. Each student’s distance from the lowest scale score for Level 3 is calculated separately. Then, the distances are then combined to determine an average. Because the scale score ranges for each performance level differs for each grade level, it is important to compare each student’s ELA and mathematics scores against the appropriate grade level “Level 3.”

Distance from Level 3 formula:

Sum of All Grades 3 through 8 Students’ Distance from Level 3 on the 2016 Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments
divided by
Total Number of 2016 Grades 3 through 8 Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments Test Takers

Learn More About This Indicator

To learn more about the Academic Indicator, see page 43 of the California Department of Education’s California School Dashboard Technical Guide.

Contact

For questions about the Academic data submitted to the California Department of Education, contact Student Testing Branch at (213) 241-4104.

Last updated 2017-10-30