CALPADS Update Flash #333

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:       September 30, 2026

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #333

Change to English Learner Reclassification Criteria

Effective immediately, Assembly Bill (AB) 2555 (Chapter 619, Statutes of 2026) amends California Education Code Section 313 to require that English Learner (EL) students be reclassified to Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) based solely on whether they attain the threshold score on the Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) or the Summative Alternate ELPAC established by the State Board of Education (SBE) for purposes of reclassification.

Reclassifying EL students based solely on English language proficiency is a significant change that will benefit students and schools by reducing complexity and administrative processes related to multiple criteria. The CDE Reclassification page  (https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ml/reclassification.asp) includes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the statutory changes made by AB 2555.

This Flash focuses on important guidance related to submitting RFEP data to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) for students who met the new reclassification criteria based on 2025−26 Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC results. LEAs should carefully review this guidance and develop an implementation plan to follow during the next few months. A Flash with guidance for submitting RFEP data to CALPADS based on 2026−27 summative results will follow.

Automated Reclassification Coming in 2027−28

The requirement to reclassify EL students based on assessment scores will be operationalized like the current process for identifying students’ English Language Acquisition Status (ELAS) of EL or Initial Fluent English Proficient (IFEP) based on their Initial ELPAC or Initial Alternate ELPAC scores. Currently, when students complete these assessments, their EL or IFEP statuses are determined based on their scores. The statuses, along with the Start Date for the statuses, are sent by the assessment vendor directly to CALPADS and are available for LEAs to access and download into their local student information system (SIS).

This automated process for RFEP statuses will begin with the release of the 2027−28 administration of the Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC results in Spring 2028 and will provide LEAs timely access to students’ RFEP statuses and lessen LEAs’ reporting burden. The CDE will keep LEAs updated on the implementation of the automated process for reclassifying EL students.

Assembly Bill 2555, however, requires EL students to be reclassified based on scores beginning with the 2025−26 summative ELPAC administrations, before the automated reclassification of EL students has been implemented. Therefore, the CDE provides the following guidance for submitting RFEP statuses to CALPADS for students who should be reclassified based on their 2025−26 Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC scores.

Guidance for Submitting ELAS Records for Students Reclassified Based on 2025−26 Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC Scores

Many LEAs have already submitted and certified RFEP statuses based on students meeting all 4 reclassification criteria, which included scores received from the 2025−26 summative ELPAC administrations, as part of their 2025−26 End-of-Year (EOY) 1 submission to CALPADS. No changes to these data are necessary; these students will be included in schools’ 2025−26 reclassification rates.

Moving forward, per AB 2555, students who achieved the required performance levels based on 2025−26 scores and who have not been reclassified “shall be reclassified as English proficient on or before January 31, 2027.”

To implement this statutory requirement, for currently enrolled students, LEAs should take the following steps over the next few months:

• Download the “ELPAC Students Meeting Reclassification Criteria 1 Report” for 2025−26 from the Test Operations Management System (TOMS). For specific instructions, refer to the LEA ELPAC Reports web page: http://ca-toms-help.ets.org/toms/reports/lea-elpac-reports/; this web page is located in the TOMS User Guide which is linked on the https://ca-toms-help.ets.org website.

The TOMS report identifies all EL students, currently enrolled at the LEA, who received the required reclassification performance levels on the 2025−26 Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC.

• For the students in this TOMS report, update the local SIS with the new RFEP statuses, and the Start Dates for those statuses as described in the next step.
• Upload to CALPADS, Student English Language Acquisition (SELA) records that include:
  • Reporting LEA = County District Code of reporting LEA (LEA submitting the record)
  • School of Attendance = School Code where student is currently enrolled
  • Academic Year = 2026−27
  • ELAS = RFEP
  • ELAS Start Date = A date between 9/27/2026 and 1/31/2027 that falls within the student’s enrollment period and is not equal to the Enrollment Start Date

The LEAs where students are currently enrolled are required to update students’ statuses. When SELA records are uploaded to CALPADS for these students, they will be identified in CALPADS as RFEP as of the ELAS Start Date provided in the record. These students will be included in the 2026−27 reclassification rate of the school of attendance submitted on the SELA record.

While the law specifies that students “shall be reclassified as English proficient on or before January 31, 2027,” the CDE strongly encourages LEAs to update statuses in the SIS and upload the statuses to CALPADS in the October 2026 timeframe, in order to:

• Reflect students’ RFEP statuses in CALPADS, which helps ensure they are served appropriately as reclassified students, particularly if they subsequently transfer to other LEAs.

• Appropriately reflect these students as RFEP on Census Day in their certified 2026−27 CALPADS Fall 1 submissions.

• Ensure that these students are not re-tested unnecessarily during the 2026−27 Summative ELPAC test administration window, which opens on February 1, 2027.

LEAs must reclassify these students by January 31, 2027. The CDE will monitor LEA progress in reclassifying students by reviewing their statuses in CALPADS.

Note: Later this fall, the CDE will reach out directly to select LEAs whose students attained reclassification scores on the 2025−26 Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC but did NOT enroll in a California public school in 2026−27.