Information about the Annual RFEP Rate

Topic Summary

Overview
Defining and Calculating the RFEP Rates
Data Collection
Timeline and New Changes for 2025–26
Resources

Overview

In response to requests from educators, policy makers, and stakeholders across the state, the California Department of Education (CDE) has released the 2024–25 Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) Rates as a downloadable data file. The data in this file identify how many and what percent of English Learner (EL) students are reclassified at a school or local educational agency (LEA) during an academic year.

The sections below detail the definitions, data source, and methodology used to calculate the RFEP rates. For a visual representation of how the RFEP rate is calculated, please refer to the Annual Reclassified Fluent English Proficient Rates Flyer(PDF).

Defining and Calculating the RFEP Rates

The Annual RFEP Rate is defined as the percentage of students who were last enrolled at a school as an EL student during academic year who were reclassified as fluent English proficient (RFEP) during that academic year.

The Annual RFEP Rate is based on two data components: (1) the number of EL students enrolled during the academic year (denominator) and (2) the number of those EL students who reclassify during the academic year (numerator). The rate is calculated by dividing the number of RFEP students (numerator) by the total number of EL students (denominator) for an academic year (July 1 to June 30).

For example, if a school had 100 EL students who were last enrolled at the school during the academic year and 13 of these EL students were reclassified during the academic year, then the Annual RFEP Rate is 13 percent (13 RFEP divided by 100 EL) multiplied by 100.

English Learner (Denominator)

A student in grades K–12 is initially classified as an EL student if:

• There is a report of a language other than English on the Home Language Survey and
• The student is determined not to be fully proficient in English through the Initial ELPAC (English Language Proficiency Assessments for California) or Initial Alternate ELPAC.

Any student who is enrolled in the academic year as an EL is included in that year’s RFEP rate denominator.

EL students who are enrolled at one or more schools during the academic year will be counted at the school in which they were last enrolled as an EL student that academic year. Example 1 below demonstrates this point.

• Example 1: Student A was first enrolled at School 1, followed by enrollment at School 2, School 3, and finally at School 4. Although the student enrolled as an EL student at four different schools within one academic year, they are only counted in the RFEP rate denominator at their last school where they were enrolled as an EL student (School 4). Student A is not included in the RFEP rate denominator for Schools 1, 2, and 3.

Example 1

Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (Numerator)

Once an EL student meets specific reclassification criteria, the student is then reclassified to Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) status. Each LEA establishes a locally-approved reclassification process.

Any EL student who reclassifies during an academic year is counted in the school where they reclassified and will be included in the numerator of the RFEP rates for that school. (Note: EL students who reclassify at a school during the academic year will also be counted in the denominator as an EL student at that school because this is the last place they were enrolled as an EL student during the academic year.)

The two examples below show which school reclassified students are counted at for the RFEP rates based on different situations.

• Example 2: Student B was enrolled as an EL student at Schools 1, 2, and 3, with final enrollment at School 4, where the student was reclassified. Although the student was enrolled at four different schools within the 2024–25 academic year, they are only counted once at the school in which they were last enrolled as an EL student and reclassified (School 4). This student is not included in the RFEP rates for Schools 1, 2, and 3.

Example 2

• Example 3: Student C was enrolled as an EL student at Schools 1, 2, and 3. The student was reclassified at School 3 and was subsequently enrolled as an RFEP student at School 4. Although Student C was enrolled at four different schools within the same academic year, they are counted only once at the school in which they reclassified and enrolled as an EL student, which is School 3. This student is not included in the RFEP rate for Schools 1, 2, and 4. In addition, because the student is no longer an EL student and is counted as reclassified at School 3, they are not included in the numerator or denominator for School 4.

Example 3

RFEP Rates for District, County, and State Levels

The RFEP rate is calculated the same way at every level—school, district (LEA), county, and state. No matter how many entities an EL student was enrolled at during an academic year, the student is only included once in the RFEP rate at the school, district, county, and state levels.

As mentioned earlier, the final place of enrollment during the academic year is what determines where the EL student is included in the denominator of the RFEP rate, and their reclassification status determines whether the student is included in the numerator of the rate.

Data Collection

The EL and RFEP data used to calculate the RFEP rate are made available in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) in the following ways:

• EL data are populated directly into CALPADS from the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) based on a student’s results on the Initial ELPAC or Initial Alternate ELPAC.
• RFEP data are submitted and certified by LEAs as part of the CALPADS End-of-Year (EOY) data collection.

Timeline and New Changes for 2025–26

The 2025–26 Annual RFEP Rates downloadable data file is scheduled for release in Fall 2026. Subsequently, the Annual RFEP Rates will be released on an annual basis in the fall.

Note that for the 2025–26 data collection cycle, the RFEP Start Date cannot be the same date as the Enrollment Start Date and must be at least one day after the Enrollment Start Date regardless of the time period. This is important because the RFEP rate reflects the percentage of EL students at the school where the student reclassifies. If the RFEP Start Date is the same as the Enrollment Start Date, then the student will not be counted as an EL at that school and therefore not included in the school’s RFEP rate. Students must be classified as both EL and RFEP at the same school to be included in the RFEP rate. For more information, refer to CALPADS Flash #322.

Resources

• Annual RFEP Rate Data – Location where users can access the Annual RFEP Rate downloadable files, including the file structure with field names, types, and descriptions.
• Multilingual Learners
• California EL Roadmap
• Reclassification of English Learners
• CALPADS Flash #322 – Combines guidance that has been provided annually regarding reclassifying English Learner students in May and in the summer.