English Learner Progress Indicator Calculation

Methodology for measuring performance on English Learner Progress Indicator.

The 2019 English Learner Progress Indicator (ELPI) methodology is currently under development. Final decisions on the 2019 ELPI methodology will be made by the State Board of Education (SBE) at their November 2019 meeting. The contents of this page are, therefore, preliminary and will be updated to reflect SBE decisions related to the ELPI once the Dashboard is released.

The ELPI is based on English learner (EL) performance on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) Summative Assessment (SA). For the 2019 Dashboard, the CDE will only have two years of ELPAC SA results from the spring 2018 and 2019 test administrations. As a result, the CDE will report ELPI Status only in the 2019 Dashboard.

ELPI Status measures progress toward English language proficiency (ELP). EL students taking the ELPAC SA in grades 1 through twelve in the current year with both a current and prior year ELPAC SA performance level are included in the ELPI Status calculation.

To determine EL progress toward ELP in ELPI Status, ELPAC SA student performance levels in both the current and prior year are converted to ELPI levels. Each student's current year ELPI level is compared to their prior year ELPI level. Those students increasing one or more ELPI levels or maintaining the ELP criterion (Level 4 on the ELPAC SA) are counted as making progress toward ELP. The student level results are aggregated to compute the ELPI Status Rate at the school-and LEA-level.

More information regarding the ELPI methodology will be available during the week of December 9, 2019 in the California School Dashboard Technical Guide (PDF).

Calculations

In the 2019 Dashboard, the ELPI Status rate reflects EL progress toward ELP.

ELPI Status Rate Calculation Formula

ELPAC SA Takers Who Increased at least 1 ELPI Level Between the Current and Prior Year

plus

ELPAC SA Takers Who Maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4) Between the Current and Prior Year

divided by

Total Number of ELPAC SA Takers with Both a Current and Prior Year ELPAC SA Level

The complete business rules will be available to view during the week of December 9, 2019 in the California School Dashboard Technical Guide (PDF).

Determining Status Levels from the Status Rate

The ELPI Status rate reflects the number of ELs who moved up at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4 on the ELPAC SA) from the prior to the current year divided by the number of ELPAC SA takers with both a current and prior year ELPAC SA level. The proposed Status rate cut scores for each of the Status levels are:

Status Level	Proposed Status Rate Cut Score
Very Low	Less than 35% of EL students increased at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4).
Low	35% to less than 45% of EL students increased at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4)
Medium	45% to less than 55% of EL students increased at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4).
High	55% to less than 65% of EL students increased at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4).
Very High	65% or more of EL students increased at least one ELPI level or maintained the ELP criterion (Level 4).