California School Dashboard

June 9, 2021

Leaving ‘apples to oranges’ behind, California has a chance to paint a true picture of our schools’ performances

Pandemic has created a window of opportunity for California to add a growth measure to the dashboard for evaluating schools.

Annette Gonzalez

May 3, 2021

California state board likely to adopt long-awaited ‘student growth model’ to measure test scores

The new method of tracking individual students' Smarter Balanced scores should provide a more useful measure of schools' and districts' progress.

John Fensterwald

April 28, 2021

Let's commit to a positive school climate to reconnect and heal as pandemic recedes

Educators and policymakers alike must listen to students to understand what they need to heal and recover from the traumas of the past year.

Meghann Seril

November 4, 2020

California’s misleading K-12 dashboard could lead to closure of the wrong schools

Dashboard calculations of school performance can obscure the success of schools helping students who are several grade levels behind.

Steve Rees and David Osborne

April 14, 2020

In pandemic’s wake, California needs to rethink system of support for schools

When the coronavirus crisis has run its course, all of California’s schools and districts will need help to get back on their feet.

Daniel C. Humphrey

December 13, 2019

How are students — and schools — doing in California?

This week: LA County Superintendent Debra Duardo cites low performing student groups' progress, while USC Professor Morgan Polikoff faults the dashboard design.

EdSource staff

December 12, 2019

Some ratings rise in 3rd year of California School Dashboard

Fewer districts will require help from county offices, but colors tell a bigger story; disparities among student groups persist.

John Fensterwald

December 12, 2019

Search and compare data from the California School Dashboard, 2019

Search and compare all California public schools, districts, cities and counties for data from the state's school accountability dashboard.

Justin Allen, Daniel J. Willis, And Yuxuan Xie

December 5, 2019

LA Unified releases new data measuring academic success of students over time

California’s largest school district published academic growth data, which measure how students improve from year to year.

Michael Burke

November 22, 2019

California is poised to confront high proportions of underqualified teachers in low-income schools

Uncredentialed teachers are concentrated where students struggle academically; the State Board may soon have data to support a teacher equity index.

John Fensterwald

November 6, 2019

LA Unified drops ranking system for schools but promises to share student growth data

The district is suspending implementation of the School Performance Framework but plans to use some of its elements.

Michael Burke

October 21, 2019

LA Unified should release data on student academic growth to parents

Political arguments are getting in the way of sensible solutions.

Paige Kowalski and Seth Litt

October 9, 2019

LA Unified moves away from plan to assign schools a single rating

Push to kill single rating for schools wins support of a key committee. LAUSD board will vote on it on Nov. 5.

Michael Burke

September 6, 2019

Q&A with Michael Kirst: Single rating for schools ‘just too simplistic’

Former State Board of Education president says that there is strong support in California for the California School Dashboard.

Louis Freedberg

September 6, 2019

Debating the merits of ranking schools; finding funding to repair them

This week: We interview Michael Kirst, the former president of the State Board of Education, about why adopting a ranking system for district and charter schools can be arbitrary and unhelpful; and we also discuss the possibility of a state construction bond for K-12 and community college facilities on the March 2020 ballot.

EdSource staff