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File Structure: ELA, Math, and Science Indicators

Field names, types, and descriptions for the English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science Indicator data files.
Field Name Description
cds

County-District-School Code

  • 14-character string
rtype

Record Type

  • S = School Record
  • D = District/Local Education Agency (LEA) Record
  • X = State Record
schoolname

School Name

  • Text
districtname

District Name

  • Text
countyname

County Name

  • Text
charter_flag

Charter School Flag

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school is a charter school
coe_flag

County Office of Education Flag

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The district is a county office of education
dass_flag

Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) Flag

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school is a DASS school
studentgroup

Student Group

  • ALL = All Students
  • AA = Black or African American
  • AI = American Indian or Alaska Native
  • AS = Asian
  • FI = Filipino
  • HI = Hispanic or Latino
  • PI = Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
  • WH = White
  • MR = Multiple Races/Two or More Races
  • EL = English Learner
  • LTEL = Long-Term English Learner (Available as of 2024 data files)
  • ELO = English Learners Only
  • RFP = Recently Reclassified Fluent-English Proficient Only
  • EO = English Only
  • SED = Socioeconomically Disadvantaged
  • SWD = Students with Disabilities
  • FOS = Foster Youth
  • HOM = Homeless Youth
  • CAST = Students who took the California Science Test (Science Indicator only)
  • SBA = Students who took the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment (ELA and Mathematics Indicators only)
  • CAA = Students who took the California Alternate Assessment
currdenom

Current Denominator

  • Integer

Current year number of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or the California Alternate Assessment in ELA plus the number of lowest obtainable scale scores added due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement.
currstatus

Current Status

  • Decimal

Average Distance From Proficiency (ELA and Mathematics Indicators) or Average Science Points (Science Indicator) of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or California Alternate Assessment (includes lowest obtainable scale scores added due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement). Rounded to the nearest tenth.
priordenom

Prior Denominator

  • Integer

Prior year number of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or the California Alternate Assessment in ELA plus the number of lowest obtainable scale scores added due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement.
priorstatus

Prior Status

  • Decimal

Average Distance From Proficiency (ELA and Mathematics Indicators) or Average Science Points (Science Indicator) of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or California Alternate Assessment (includes lowest obtainable scale scores added due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement). Rounded to the nearest tenth.
change

Change

  • Decimal

Difference between unrounded current status and unrounded prior status. Rounded to the nearest tenth.
statuslevel

Status Level

  • 1 = Very Low
  • 2 = Low
  • 3 = Medium
  • 4 = High
  • 5 = Very High
  • 0 = No Status Level

Determined after calculations and rounding.
changelevel

Change Level

  • 1 = Decreased Significantly
  • 2 = Decreased
  • 3 = Maintained
  • 4 = Increased
  • 5 = Increased Significantly
  • 0 = No Change Level

Determined after calculations and rounding.
color

Performance Level Color

  • 1 = Red
  • 2 = Orange
  • 3 = Yellow
  • 4 = Green
  • 5 = Blue
  • 0 = No Color
box

If a color was assigned, this value represents the specific 5x5 grid location

  • 10 = Very High, Declined Significantly
  • 20 = Very High, Declined
  • 30 = Very High, Maintained
  • 40 = Very High, Increased
  • 50 = Very High, Increased Significantly
  • 60 = High, Declined Significantly
  • 70 = High, Declined
  • 80 = High, Maintained
  • 90 = High, Increased
  • 100 = High, Increased Significantly
  • 110 = Medium, Declined Significantly
  • 120 = Medium, Declined
  • 130 = Medium, Maintained
  • 140 = Medium, Increased
  • 150 = Medium, Increased Significantly
  • 160 = Low, Declined Significantly
  • 170 = Low, Declined
  • 180 = Low, Maintained
  • 190 = Low, Increased
  • 200 = Low, Increased Significantly
  • 210 = Very Low, Declined Significantly
  • 220 = Very Low, Declined
  • 230 = Very Low, Maintained
  • 240 = Very Low, Increased
  • 250 = Very Low, Increased Significantly
  • 0 = No Color
currnsizemet

Current Year Denominator N-size Met

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school, district, or student group had 30 or more students in the current status denominator OR the district had 15 or more students in the current status denominator for the Foster, Homeless, or Long-Term English Learner student group

Schools and LEAs that had at least 30 students in the current status denominator have met the 'N-size' requirement and will receive a 'Y' (i.e., Yes) in this field. The 'N-size' of 30 is used to ensure that accountability results are statistically significant, valid, and reliable. Schools and LEAs with fewer than 30 students in the current status denominator will receive an 'N' (i.e., No) in this field. At the LEA level for the Foster, Homeless, and Long-Term English Learner student groups, a 'N-size' of at least 15 is required to receive a 'Y'.
priornsizemet

Prior Year Denominator N-size Met

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school, district, or student group had 30 or more students in the prior status denominator OR the district had 15 or more students in the prior status denominator for the Foster, Homeless, or Long-Term English Learner student group

Schools and LEAs that had at least 30 students in the prior status denominator have met the 'N-size' requirement and will receive a 'Y' (i.e., Yes) in this field. The 'N-size' of 30 is used to ensure that accountability results are statistically significant, valid, and reliable. Schools and LEAs with fewer than 30 students in the current status denominator will receive an 'N' (i.e., No) in this field. At the LEA level for the Foster, Homeless and Long-Term English Learner student groups, a 'N-size' of at least 15 is required to receive a 'Y'.
accountabilitymet

Indicates whether the school, district, or student group met the minimum n-size in both the current and prior year denominators to earn a Performance Level Color

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school, district, or student group met the minimum n-size in both the current and prior denominators to earn a Performance Level Color
hscutpoints

Indicates whether the school or district is held to high school cut points

  • Y or Blank
  • Y = The school or district is held to high school cut points

Note: The Science Indicator does not have separate high school cut points and this field is not available in the Science Indicator data files.

pairshare_method

Pair and Share School Method. This identifies schools that do not serve grade 3 or higher and were assigned a district average, county average, or weighted school average of up to three receiving schools for Distance From Standard.

  • DA = District Average
  • CA = County Average
  • WA = Weighted Average
  • Blank = Not a Pair and Share School

Note: The Science Indicator does not report on Pair and Share schools and this field is not available in the Science Indicator data files.
currprate_enrolled

Number of students included in the ELA participation rate denominator for the current year

  • Integer
currprate_tested

Number of students tested in ELA for the current year

  • Integer
currprate

Percentage of students tested in ELA for the current year

  • Integer

currnumPRLOSS

Number of lowest obtainable scale scores applied to currdenom and currstatus due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement

  • Integer
currdenom_withoutPRLOSS

Current Denominator without the Participation Rate Penalty applied

  • Integer

Current year number of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or the California Alternate Assessment in ELA.
currstatus_withoutPRLOSS

Current Status without the Participation Rate Penalty applied

  • Decimal

Average Distance From Proficiency (ELA and Mathematics Indicators) or Average Science Points (Science Indicator) of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or California Alternate Assessment in the current year. Rounded to the nearest tenth.
priorprate_enrolled

Number of students included in the ELA participation rate denominator for the prior year

  • Integer
priorprate_tested

Number of students tested in ELA for the prior year

  • Integer
priorprate

Percentage of students tested in ELA for the prior year

  • Integer
priornumPRLOSS

Number of lowest obtainable scale scores applied to priordenom and priorstatus due to the school, district, or student group not meeting the federal 95% participation rate requirement

  • Integer
priordenom_withoutPRLOSS

Prior Denominator without the Participation Rate Penalty applied

  • Integer

Prior year number of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or the California Alternate Assessment.
priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS

Prior Status without the Participation Rate Penalty applied

  • Decimal

Average Distance From Proficiency (ELA and Mathematics Indicators) or Average Science Points (Science Indicator) of continuously enrolled students who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment or California Alternate Assessment in the prior year. Rounded to the nearest tenth.
indicator

Dashboard Indicator

  • ELA = English Language Arts Indicator
  • MATH = Mathematics Indicator
  • SCIENCE = Science Indicator
reportingyear

Reporting Year

  • Text

File Structure Notes for the ELA and Mathematics Indicator Data Files

Please note the difference in file structure for the data files listed below.  If a data file year is not listed, the file aligns with the structure described above.

Year of Data Notes
2024–25

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.
2023–24

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.
2022–23

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.
2021–22

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.

The following fields in the file structure above are not available: priordenom, priorstatus, change, changelevel, color, box, currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, priorprate_enrolled, priorprate_tested, priorprate, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS, indicator.

The following fields were named without the "curr" prefix but indicate the current year (2022) participation rate information:

  • "prate_enrolled" is equivalent to "currprate_enrolled"
  • "prate_tested" is equivalent to "currprate_tested"
  • "prate" is equivalent to "currprate"
  • "numPRLOSS" is equivalent to "currnumPRLOSS"
2018–19

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.

The participation rate penalty was different than the current methodology, and the point adjustment is found in the "curradjustment" and "prioradjustment" fields.

The following fields in the file structure above are not available: currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, currprate_enrolled, currprate_tested, currprate, currnumPRLOSS, currdenom_withoutPRLOSS, currstatus_withoutPRLOSS, priorprate_enrolled, priorprate_tested, priorprate, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS, indicator.

The following fields appearing in this file were removed beginning with the 2022 Dashboard:

  • notestflag = Districts and schools that fail to test at least 10% of their testing population in either the Smarter Balanced or California Alternative Assessments and qualifies for a color at their overall level or student group levels, are automatically assigned an orange performance level.
  • curradjustment = The number of points removed from the current year status due to the participation rate being below 95%.
  • prioradjustment = The number of points removed from the prior year status due to the participation rate being below 95%.
2017–18

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Standard" in this file.

The participation rate penalty was different than the current methodology, and the point adjustment is found in the "curradjustment" and "prioradjustment" fields.

The following fields in the file structure above are not available: currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, currprate_enrolled, currprate_tested, currprate, currnumPRLOSS, currdenom_withoutPRLOSS, currstatus_withoutPRLOSS, priorprate_enrolled, priorprate_tested, priorprate, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS, indicator.

The following fields appearing in this file were removed beginning with the 2022 Dashboard:

  • curradjustment = The number of points removed from the current year status due to the participation rate being below 95%
  • prioradjustment = The number of points removed from the prior year status due to the participation rate being below 95%

The following fields appearing in this file were removed beginning with the 2019 Dashboard:

  • currdenom_swd = Current year number of valid students with disabilities who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment and have a current disability code in CALPADS. These students are included in the count to determine whether the SWD student group is assigned a performance level. (Note: This count of students does not include those who exited a special education program within the past two years (i.e., exited program after April 15, 2016).
  • priordenom_swd = Prior year number of valid students with disabilities who took the Smarter Balanced summative assessment and are included in the count to determine whether the SWD student group is assigned a performance level
  • caa_denom = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment
  • caa_level1_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 1
  • caa_level1_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 1
  • caa_level2_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 2
  • caa_level2_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 2
  • caa_level3_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 3
  • caa_level3_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 3
2016–17

"Distance From Proficiency" referenced above was labeled "Distance From Level 3" in this file.

The participation rate penalty was not applied.

The "ELA Grades 3-8" and "Math Grades 3-8" data files do not contain the following fields: dass_flag, currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, hscutpoints, pairshare_method, currprate_enrolled, currprate_tested, currprate, currnumPRLOSS, currdenom_withoutPRLOSS, currstatus_withoutPRLOSS, priorprate_enrolled, priorprate_tested, priorprate, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS, indicator.

The "ELA Grade 11" and "Math Grade 11" data files do not contain the following fields: dass_flag, statuslevel, changelevel, color, box, currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, hscutpoints, pairshare_method, currprate_enrolled, currprate_tested, currprate, currnumPRLOSS, currdenom_withoutPRLOSS, currstatus_withoutPRLOSS, priorprate_enrolled, priorprate_tested, priorprate, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS, indicator.

The following fields appearing in this file were removed beginning with the 2019 Dashboard:

  • caa_denom = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment
  • caa_level1_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 1
  • caa_level1_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 1
  • caa_level2_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 2
  • caa_level2_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 2
  • caa_level3_num = Current year number of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 3
  • caa_level3_pct = Current year percentage of valid students who took the California Alternate Assessment and scored achievement level 3

File Structure Notes for the Science Indicator Data Files

Please note the difference in file structure for the data files listed below.  If a data file year is not listed, the file aligns with the structure described above.

Year of Data Notes
2023–24

The following fields in the file structure above are not available: statuslevel, changelevel, color, box, currnsizemet, priornsizemet, accountabilitymet, currnumPRLOSS, currdenom_withoutPRLOSS, currstatus_withoutPRLOSS, priornumPRLOSS, priordenom_withoutPRLOSS, priorstatus_withoutPRLOSS.
Questions:   Analysis Measurement & Accountability Reporting Division | Dashboard@cde.ca.gov
Last Reviewed: Tuesday, October 06, 2026
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