IE11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

California Soft Launches New Schools Dashboard

California’s new school dashboard launched Wednesday, six months after it was approved, in response to the Every Student Succeeds Act’s federal mandate to develop a new performance metric.

California’s new school dashboard launched Wednesday, six months after it was approved, in response to the Every Student Succeeds Act’s federal mandate to develop a new performance metric.

The website is currently in a field test stage and includes a warning that the design and features will change until full launch in fall 2017. It will include performance information that can be viewed at the local educational agency, school or student group level. The performance data is measured against state and local parameters to call out improvements and areas of weakness.

“The state priorities define a quality education more broadly than a single test score. The new system reflects a clear expectation that all districts and schools can and should improve,” the California Department of Education website states.

Indicators assessed on the dashboard will include suspension rates, graduation rates, academic performance and English learning progress. Eventually data on pupil absences will be included in the indicators. These indicators were included in the Local Control Funding Formula, a law signed in 2013 that offers more flexibility in spending based on student needs.

“One of the powers of the way that this report is designed is that it really displays one of the main criteria that we kind of believe here in California around, ‘Yes, it matters what the overall performance of students are at this point in time, but it also matters the progress that schools and school districts are making,'” said Jason Willis, WestEd director of strategic development, during a Department of Education Meeting last week.

WestEd is a nonpartisan, nonprofit service agency helping to develop the dashboard alongside stakeholder groups.

The indicators will also target differences among student groups, such as socio-economically disadvantaged students, and allow for assistance in closing performance gaps.

The indicators will be arranged in color-coded grids to compare changes in performance to previous year performance. Overall performance, which is based on annual assessments and reported data, compares the current year’s performance to past performance. Reported data comes from the district level unless a school is an exempt, independent school, such as a charter school.

The dashboard will allow individuals to search single schools or entire districts. It includes a glossary page and can be translated into multiple languages for ease of use.

The March launch is off-cycle from the annual calendar the state Department of Education hopes to maintain. Excluding this year, March will be the time period when discussions about indicators and action plans take place, ahead of a September launch. This would allow any changes to be reflected when annual data is updated in November.

An example: One indicator still in its development phase is the college/career indicator, which will include grades 11 and 12 in reported data. Over the next six to 18 months, the indicator will be improved with input from colleges and school boards, Cindy Kazanis, director of the department's Analysis Measurement, and Accountability Reporting Division, said during the March meeting.

Kayla Nick-Kearney was a staff writer for Techwire from March 2017 through January 2019.