Growth Data FAQs

Growth is a way of measuring how students' academic scores change between the current year assessment scores and the previous year assessment scores.

Average growth scores can provide a picture of growth for students within a local educational agency (LEA), school, or student group. California’s student growth model was developed specifically to be used for accountability purposes only, and not at the individual student level, and therefore is focused on producing reliable and valid average growth scores. An individual growth score looks at the difference between the students' expected test score and their actual test score.

Growth results are limited to students who were administered the Smarter Balanced English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics (Math) assessments in grades 4 through 8. Students in grades 3 and 11 will not have growth scores because there are no prior year test scores available to calculate growth. This means that K-3 schools, high schools that only serve grades 9-12 and high school districts that only serve grades 9-12 will not see growth data on their Dashboard.

Growth scores are calculated using scale scores from the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments in ELA and math from the current year and two prior years. Scores from the California Alternative Assessments (CAAs) and local assessments are not used in the growth score calculation.

First the expected growth score needs to be calculated. To do this, all students who completed the assessment in the current year are grouped together by grade level, with their current year scores on one single assessment along with their previous assessment scores in both ELA and math. For example, all students in Grade 4 who took the ELA assessment in 2024–25 would have their current year scores along with their 2023–24 Grade 3 ELA assessment and 2023–24 Grade 3 math assessment scores. All of that information is used to calculate the score expected of those students in 2024–25 in grade 4. We then compare their actual score on the 2024–25 Grade 4 ELA assessment to the expected score calculated using the growth model.

Individual student growth scores are calculated using two years of assessment data. For the 2025 Dashboard, assessment data from 2023–24 and 2024–25.

Average growth scores, however, are calculated using either one year or two years of student growth scores. A simple average growth score, using only one year of student growth (for the 2025 Dashboard, two years assessment results from 2023–24 and 2024–25), is valid and reliable when it’s based on many student scores. Therefore, a simple average is used to calculate average growth scores for student groups with more than 500 students in an LEA. However, low year-to-year stability was found when using just one year of growth at other aggregation levels. To increase the accuracy of these average growth scores, California uses a weighted average of two years of growth scores (that is, three years assessment results from 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25) at the LEA, school, and school student group levels.

Individual student growth scores involve two data points on two different assessments in two different years, which causes more statistical “noise” or imprecision than a single year achievement score. This can make them “bounce” up and down from year to year, especially for small groups of students. The “bounce” from year to year is addressed by the weighting. The weighting balances the need for score stability from year to year with the need to show changes in true growth as soon as it can be done with reasonable confidence. That is one reason that the weight of the current year growth is always higher than for the previous year.

The growth scores released for the 2025 Dashboard are calculated using Smarter Balanced assessment data from 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25.

No. When growth scores are calculated, the groups of students are not separated by any demographic factors (that is, all grade 4 students are grouped together in the calculation). This allows us to see differences in growth between demographic groups once all final scores are calculated.

Interim assessments are typically used several times throughout the school year to inform teaching and learning. They can be assessments of learning, or assessments for learning, and the scores from these assessments give teachers information they need to adapt teaching and learning in the moment.

Growth scores are based on summative assessment growth for an entire year, and shows the expected assessment score compared to the actual student assessment score. Summative assessments give teachers the overall picture of student learning for the year.

Growth data released in December 2025 on the Dashboard is not used for Accountability support determinations.

The Growth results released for the 2025 Dashboard are published for informational purposes only and will not have an associated Technical Guide. However, please visit the Student Growth Data web page for more information on how growth was calculated and used for the 2025 Dashboard.

LEAs and schools will not receive individual growth scores for their students.

Individual student growth scores are not shared, as they should NOT be used for measuring individual student progress. Individual student growth scores are only computed as one step of the methodology for creating average growth scores at the LEA, school, and student group levels.

Parents will not receive individual growth scores for their students.

Individual student growth scores should NOT be used for measuring individual student progress. Just like the assessment target reports from the Smarter Balanced assessments, the data are more robust and usable at the LEA, school, and student group levels. Individual student growth scores should not be used or shared with others such as teachers or families. Individual student growth scores are computed as one step of the methodology for creating average growth scores at the LEA, school, and student group levels.

Instead parents should access their child’s annual Student Score Report to get information on their current performance on the statewide assessments. Parents can also reach out to teachers to discuss classwork, grades, and other measures of student success.

A LEA, school, or student group needs to have 11 students in the reporting year in order to receive an average growth score. Growth data is shared for informational purposes only and therefore is displayed when there are 11 or more students.

While most DASS schools are high schools and would not receive a growth score, if a DASS school has the appropriate grade range and at least 11 students in the reporting year, they will receive a growth score.

Action would need to be taken by the State Board of Education to add growth scores to the Academic Indicator on the California School Dashboard, or to replace DFS with any other measurement such as growth scores.

We will be working with LEAs and others to evaluate the released growth scores, file format and data visualization prior to the next release. At that time, we may revisit the file format and data shared in our releases to better fit the needs of LEAs and stakeholders.

Expected scores are not predicted in the prior year, but rather the current year's score and looking back at the prior year's score. Each year the expected growth changes based on the performance of students across California in the current year and those with similar scores in the prior year.

The growth categories below were adopted by the California State Board of Education at their July 2025 meeting:

The State Board of Education adopted Performance Categories for growth in July 2025, and data for the 2025 Dashboard has been published on both the Dashboard itself and within downloadable data files.

Growth scores for LEAs are calculated on an annual basis using a student’s current year score at the LEA where they tested and calculating an expected score and growth score from their previous year test information no matter where they tested.

CDE and CORE use a similar methodology to calculate student growth.

CORE’s model does not use data from all students in the state of California, whereas CDE’s measurement does.

CORE's growth model includes demographic information in their calculation whereas CDE's does not.

Additionally, the CDE growth score incorporates weighting and two years of growth scores to increase year-to-year stability when there are less than 500 individual growth scores.

LEAs do not have full information to calculate growth scores.

No. California Education Code Section 44258.9 prohibits the use of specified data from being used by a local educational agency for purposes of evaluating certificated employees, certificated employee performance determinations, or employment decisions.