CALPADS Update Flash #322

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

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

Date:       March 16, 2026

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #322

Note: This Flash reconfirms and combines guidance that has been provided annually regarding reclassifying English Learner students in May and in the summer.

Overview: Reclassifying English Learners

LEAs should reclassify English learner (EL) students throughout the school year when they meet all four criteria required for reclassification (California Education Code Section 313[f]), which includes:

1. Overall Performance Level of 4 on the Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) or an Overall Performance Level of 3 on the Summative Alternate ELPAC.
2. Teacher evaluation.
3. Parent consultation and approval.
4. Basic skills relative to English proficient students.

Refer to the CDE’s Reclassification web page (https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ml/reclassification.asp) for more information on reclassification criteria.

This Flash provides guidance for LEAs related to:

• Reclassification decisions toward the end of the school year in May based on prior year 2024−25 scores on the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC.

• Reclassification decisions at the end of the school year or during the summer, based on current year 2025−26 scores on the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC.

Reclassifying English Learners in May using 2024−25 Scores and Updating CALPADS with New Reclassified Statuses

Note: This Flash reconfirms guidance provided annually (previous Flash #298).

Reclassification activities during the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC window, which closes on May 31, are important because it impacts LEAs’ English Learner Progress Indicator (ELPI) on the California School Dashboard (Dashboard). Below are key reminders regarding when to make reclassification decisions in May, uploading new Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) statuses to CALPADS, and assessing EL students who are not reclassified.

Reminder #1: Review 2024−25 Summative Scores for Reclassification in 2025−26 prior to May 15, 2026

The 2024–25 assessment results may be used for reclassification in 2025−26 only until the close of the 2025–26 Summative ELPAC testing window.  

The CDE recommends that LEAs review the English Language Acquisition Status (ELAS) of students who are close to meeting reclassification criteria based on their 2024−25 results by May 15, 2026 to provide adequate time for the LEA to: (1) assess by May 31, 2026, EL students who are not reclassified, as required by law; and (2) upload any new RFEP statuses to CALPADS so that those statuses are reflected in the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) by May 31, 2026.

If students have not met all four reclassification criteria by May 15, 2026, LEAs should proceed with administering the Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC to ensure compliance with testing requirements.

This approach helps avoid unnecessary testing and reduces the need for corrective actions through the Security and Test Administration Incident Reporting System (STAIRS), which may be required if a student takes more than one summative ELPAC assessment and the most recent test must be reset in order to use an earlier score for reclassification purposes.

Reminder #2: Upload new RFEP statuses to CALPADS by May 15, 2026

Student RFEP statuses are sent from CALPADS to TOMS on a nightly basis. For students who are reclassified, LEAs should upload their new RFEP statuses to CALPADS by May 15, 2026 to ensure the statuses are in TOMS by May 31, 2026. This is important because students who are RFEP in TOMS as of May 31, 2026 do not need to be tested. 

Reminder #3: Assess by May 31, 2026, any EL students who are not reclassified

LEAs are required to assess all EL students annually by May 31, 2026. Therefore, LEAs should assess any EL students who are not reclassified by May 15, 2026 to ensure they are assessed with the Summative ELPAC/Alternative ELPAC by May 31, 2026. Assessing less than 95 percent of current EL students negatively impacts LEAs’ ELPI on the Dashboard.

What is the ELPAC participation rate and why is it important?

LEAs are required to assess all EL students annually on the Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC. LEAs that do not meet this threshold will receive correspondence from the California Department of Education (CDE) regarding their test completion rate (also referred to as “participation rate” in the context of the ELPI on the Dashboard).

Additionally, the ELPI on the Dashboard uses both the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC results taken each spring and the ELPAC participation rate to determine the progress EL and Long-Term English Learner (LTEL) students are making toward English language proficiency. To ensure that districts, county offices of education (COEs), and schools are testing all current EL students, they must meet or exceed a participation rate of 95 percent on the Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC. The CDE calculates this participation rate based on the combined summative data in TOMS as of May 31, 2026.

The participation rate is calculated by dividing the total number of EL students who have been assessed by the total number of EL students. Students with RFEP statuses in TOMS are not included in the participation rate calculation. Therefore, if any RFEP statuses are not loaded into CALPADS and transferred to TOMS, those students are showing up in TOMS as EL students who have not taken the test. This will lower the LEA’s participation rate, and if the rate is below 95 percent, the LEA’s ELPI is negatively impacted.

Therefore, it is important to determine by May 15 whether students will be reclassified based on 2024−25 scores. For EL students who are reclassified, LEAs must upload the RFEP statuses to CALPADS so that the statuses are reflected in TOMS by May 31, 2026. For EL students who are not reclassified, LEAs must assess students by May 31, 2026.

For additional information about the ELPI on the Dashboard, see the English Learner Progress Indicator Flyer on the CDE’s English Learner Progress Indicator web page: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/cm/documents/elprogressindicator25.pdf

Reporting RFEP Statuses for Students Reclassified After May 31 When Students are Still Enrolled or During the Summer When Students Are Not Enrolled

Note: This section reconfirms guidance provided in previous CALPADS Flashes (#300, #277). The guidance remains the same, with one addition that was not included in prior Flashes: The English Language Acquisition Status (ELAS) start date on the Student English Language Acquisition (SELA) file for EL students reclassified to RFEP must be at least one day after the enrollment start date on the Student Enrollment (SENR) file. This guidance applies to all ELAS start dates on the SELA for EL students reclassified to RFEP, regardless of time period.

The CDE uses data certified in CALPADS as part of the End-of-Year (EOY) 1 (formerly EOY 3) submission, to determine RFEP rates, which are used in Annual Reclassification Rate reports. In order for the CDE to credit the appropriate schools for reclassifying students, it is important that the date that students are reclassified overlaps an appropriate enrollment. This section provides guidance on submitting RFEP records after May 31, at the end of the school year when students are still enrolled, and during the summer when students are not enrolled in a school.

Reclassifying Students Based on 2025−26 Summative ELPAC Scores

English learner students not reclassified by May 31, 2026, can no longer be reclassified based on 2024−25 Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC scores, and must be reclassified based on 2025−26 scores. Once the results are available, to the extent feasible, LEAs are encouraged to review the status of their EL students and make reclassification decisions soon after students meet the four reclassification criteria and prior to the end of the school year. This helps LEAs plan for the upcoming school year and provide appropriate services beginning the first day of school.

The CDE recognizes that students assessed with the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC in the spring may not receive results before the end of the school year, making it difficult to finalize reclassification decisions for students who have not yet met the required performance level on the Summative ELPAC/Alternate ELPAC. This may result in LEAs finalizing reclassification decisions during the summer when students are no longer enrolled in a school.

How to ensure the appropriate schools are credited for reclassifying students

For the CDE to identify the schools that reclassified students, especially when students are no longer enrolled in those schools:

• The RFEP Start Date on the SELA record must overlap the student’s enrollment at a school. SELA0652 – Missing Enrollment Record for RFEP – will trigger for any SELA record when the RFEP Start Date does not overlap an enrollment.

• The RFEP Start Date can never be the same date as the Enrollment Start Date and must be at least one day after the Enrollment Start Date regardless of time period. It is an issue for determining the Reclassification Rate when LEAs use the same enrollment and RFEP start dates. An example of when this might occur is when a student who has been exited at the end of the school year, is then reclassified during the summer, and the LEA needs to send an SENR enrollment in order to upload the RFEP status on the SELA. Currently, this requirement is not validated, and the CDE is evaluating the feasibility of implementing a validation for the 2025–26 EOY 1 submission. In the meantime, LEAs should ensure that the RFEP Start Date is at least one day after the Enrollment Start Date. This is important because the Reclassification Rate is the percentage of EL students at a school who are reclassified at that same school. 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 the CDE will not include that student in the calculation of the Reclassification Rate. Students must be both EL and RFEP at the same school in order to be included in the Reclassification Rate.

LEAs are reminded that for reclassified students to be included in any Annual Reclassification Rate report, the RFEP status must be entered and certified in CALPADS before the close of the EOY 1 submission (formerly EOY 3), which includes the applicable enrollment record. Any reclassification information for students reclassified by July 31, 2026 that is submitted after the close of the EOY 1 submission will not be counted in 2025−26 or any other year. It should be noted that the 2025−26 EOY 1 submission closes on July 31, 2026, which is one week earlier than the previous year.

Determining RFEP Start Dates

This section provides guidance for determining the RFEP Start Date that should be used and that overlaps an enrollment so that the appropriate schools are credited with reclassifying students. Table 1 in this document, Guidance for Submitting RFEP Records to CALPADS, describes the RFEP Start Date that LEAs should use based on when the student is reclassified and where the student will be enrolled in the next school year. Specifically, Table 1 provides guidance for the following scenarios:

Scenarios where students are reclassified by the school where they were last enrolled:

• Scenario 1: The student is reclassified before school ends and is still enrolled in that school during that current school year.
• Scenario 2: The student is reclassified after July 1, before the next school year begins and before EOY 1 closes; however, the student is no longer enrolled at the school but is expected to re-enroll in the next school year.
• Scenario 3: The student is reclassified after school ends and before EOY 1 closes; however, the student is no longer enrolled and will not be returning to the school in the next school year.
• Scenario 4: The student is reclassified after July 1, the next school year has begun, and the student is enrolled in the same school they were enrolled in during the prior school year.

Scenario where the student is reclassified by a different school in the next school year:

• Scenario 5: The student is reclassified after July 1, the next school year has begun, and the student is now enrolled in a different school (in the same LEA or different LEA).

The guidance for these scenarios is provided in Table 1, using 2025−26 as an example.

Table 1: Guidance for Submitting RFEP Records to CALPADS