Science Indicator FAQs

The State Board of Education (SBE) has not yet adopted Performance Levels for the Science Indicator. It is anticipated that the SBE will take action on establishing status and change cut points for inclusion in the 2025 Dashboard. Additionally, the SBE will also need to approve a Science Indicator Color Scheme for the Five-by-Five Color Grid for accountability purposes.

No, the Science DFS scale is different from the Academic Indicators. It is not recommended that the DFS results be compared between the Science and Academic Indicators.

While we encourage full student participation in the assessments, reaching less than 95% for the Science test has no impact on Accountability for the 2024 Dashboard. With the adoption of this metric by the SBE in 2024, they delayed the inclusion of a 95% participation rate penalty to start with the 2025 Dashboard.

No. Under California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), LEAs can access test completion rates, which is based on the total number of students who took the test at a given school. The participation rates for the Dashboard only includes students enrolled during the “accountability testing window.” This accountability window includes the application of grace periods, which hold an LEA/school harmless when there is inadequate time to administer the assessments.

Yes. A participation rate of 95% is required by the U.S. Department of Education to not receive a participation rate penalty. All students should be tested; however, students taking the California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for Science who receive a LOSS are removed from the DFS calculation. In other words, they need to be tested but will not count against the district if they are unable to perform.

DFS results for schools, LEAs, and Student groups will be based on grades that are tested at your school. For example, a Transitional Kindergarten through grade eight school with students testing in grades five and eight will only include scores from students in grades five and eight.

TOMS is a great tool for looking at real-time testing rates within a school or LEA. Completion rates, however, are a similar but different metric than the participation rate. Additionally, students remain in TOMS at their last known school in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Therefore, if a student never enrolled in another California school, they will appear as needing to test in TOMS. Since these students left before the testing window opened, they will not be included in the numerator or the denominator of the participation rate.

Students need to log on to the CAST or all four domains of the CAA for Science in order to be counted as participating. If the student only logged on to one of the four domains of the CAA for Science, they will not be counted as participating. If the student did not complete the tests but were provided a score, that score will be used in the DFS calculations.

If the student is expected to test and did not test, the school and LEA will be held accountable for the student not testing. If the student falls under any of the exemptions including grace periods and is not expected to test, the school and LEA will not be held accountable for the student not testing.

Where can I view my school or district participation rates?

A student left my school during the LEA selected testing window but before we tested any students. Will they affect my participation rate?

How does the Science Indicator calculate participation rate and DFS for high school students?

Why are my completion reports on the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) not the same as my participation rate on the dashboard?