College/Career Indicator FAQs

The following two flyers identifies the Prepared and Approaching Prepared criteria that have been approved by the State Board of Education:

• Career Readiness Flyer (Coming Soon)
• College Readiness Flyer (Coming Soon)

The following measures have been approved by the State Board of Education for inclusion into the CCI:

1. Advanced Placement
2. Met UC/CSU requirements
3. Career Technical Education (CTE) Pathway Completion
4. College Credit Course
5. International Baccalaureate
6. Leadership/Military Science
7. Registered Pre-Apprenticeships
8. Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments in English Language Arts/Literacy and mathematics (Grade 11)
9. State and Federal Job Programs
10. State Seal of Biliteracy
11. Transition Classroom and Work-Based Learning Experiences

Only once. A student can be prepared through multiple measures, but they are only counted once in the CCI.

All measures on the CCI are weighted equally. Preparing a student in one measure has the same impact on the CCI as preparing students in any other measure.

Yes. Students must receive college credit, pass the course with a grade of C minus or better (or Pass), and complete a minimum number of semesters, quarters, or trimesters of college coursework to be counted in the CCI.

Local educational agencies are encouraged to review their California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) data to ensure that the data are submitted or are submitted accurately. For example, at times, we find that college courses are either not submitted in the End-of-Year data collections, or they have been submitted as non-college credit course codes. Additionally, we have found final course grades submitted as numerical values (rather than a letter grade). Any of these errors will result in CDE being unable to provide any credit to schools/LEAs.

No. The intent is that students must complete two separate activities in order to be Prepared. For example, completing a CTE pathway in agriculture and a college course in astronomy would be considered Prepared. However, a CTE pathway in agriculture with the CTE capstone course in agriculture that is also college credit would not be considered Prepared.

No.The intent is that students must complete two separate activities in order to be Prepared. For example, completing a CTE pathway in agriculture and a college course in astronomy would be considered Prepared. However, a CTE pathway in agriculture with the CTE capstone course in agriculture that is also college credit would not be considered Prepared.

A pupil who has not attained English language proficiency within 7 years of initial classification as an English learner (EL) is a long-term English learner. For more information refer to the LTEL website here: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ad/lteldef.asp

For the CCI, students who have been an EL for 7+ years during the last four or five years in high school will be considered an LTEL.

Yes. A student that meets the LTEL criteria any time during the cohort period is counted as LTEL in the cohort.

There are two resources that identifies what data are used to calculate the measures in the CCI:

1. Dashboard Technical Guide for the CCI, and
2. Connecting California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to the Dashboard Handbook

Both documents can be accessed through the College/Career Indicator web page.

Yes. The Connecting CALPADS to the Dashboard Handbook identifies specific CALPADS reports you can review to confirm if your data is accurate prior to the close of the CALPADS certification window.

No. The California Department of Education extracts certified data from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) End-of-Year (EOY) submission. Any data revisions that are made in CALPADS after the submission deadline cannot be incorporated into the Dashboard (or DataQuest).

Under the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), states now have the option to offer a state-defined alternate diploma to eligible students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and to count students receiving that alternate diploma as graduates in the state’s four-year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR).

In California, the new alternate diploma is established in Education Code (EC) Sections 51225.31 and 51225.32, which requires LEAs to exempt eligible students from graduation requirements that are additional to statewide course requirements, and to award an alternate high school diploma to those students who were enrolled in grade 9 or higher in the 2022–23 school year or later.

Yes. Students exiting with this School Completion Status Code within four or five years of their initial ninth grade cohort entry year will be counted as graduates in the Four-Year and Five-Year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate and will be included in the CCI denominator.
Students who complete the new diploma pathway and are CCI prepared through their school or LEA will also be included in the numerator of the CCI.

Starting with 2027 Dashboard, the 9227: College Credit Course – Other state course code will no longer be included in the list of college credit courses used in the CCI. The 2025 and 2026 Dashboard will still include 9227: College Credit Course – Other on the CCI.

Due to the U.S. Department of Education’s denial of California’s waiver to continue using modified methods for accountability, the combined four-and five-year graduation rate that is calculated for the Graduation Rate Indicator is used as the denominator for the CCI for all schools.