English Learner Progress Indicator FAQs
Frequently asked questions related to the California School Dashboard (Dashboard) English Learner Progress Indicator (ELPI).What grades are included in the English Learner Progress Indicator (ELPI)?
Grades 1–12. Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) testing occurs in kindergarten through grade 12 for current English learner (EL) students. However, only EL students in grades 1–12 are included because EL students must have two years of Summative results to determine progress. Note that grade one students included in the ELPI included those students results from kindergarten.
Are Reclassified as Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students included in the ELPI?
No. Only students who are current EL students (at the time of testing are included).
Who is Counted as Participating in the Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) and Summative Alternate ELPAC?
For the Summative ELPAC, EL students who log on to at least one domain (i.e., Listening, Speaking, Reading, or Writing) in each composite are counted as participating in the Summative ELPAC.
For the Summative Alternate ELPAC, EL students must be administered, at a minimum, one Receptive item and one Expressive item from anywhere within the assessment. Please note that a “Mark as No Response” is also considered a valid response and, therefore, counts as a completed item.
Do RFEP Students Count in the Participation Rate?
No. EL students who are RFEP in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) before the EL students begin testing on the Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC are not included in the participation rate calculation. EL students who are RFEP after the EL students take the Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC are included in the participation rate calculation.
Our district is assigned an ELPI Status level even though our "n Size Met" indicates we did not meet the minimum number of EL students receiving valid current and prior year test scores. Shouldn't we receive a "No Status" for the ELPI on the 2023 Dashboard?
An ELPI Status is assigned to a district or school having 10 or more students receiving valid current and prior year test scores. The "n Size Met" information is not used in ELPI Status assignments.
Our district was not assigned an ELPI performance color even though we had more than 30 EL students tested on the Summative ELPAC Status this year. Shouldn't we receive a performance color for the ELPI on the 2023 Dashboard?
An ELPI performance color is assigned to schools and districts that have 30 or more EL students with Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC results in the current year and 30 or more EL students with Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC results in the prior year.
Are EL students who log on to at least one domain on the Summative ELPAC but do not complete the Summative ELPAC assigned a score?
For more information on EL students who are assigned a score, please reference Summative ELPAC Participation and Scoring (PDF).
Are EL students who log on to at least one task (i.e., Receptive and Expressive) on the Summative Alternate ELPAC but do not complete the Summative Alternate ELPAC assigned a score?
For more information on EL students who are assigned a score on the Summative Alternate ELPAC, please reference Alternate ELPAC Participation and Scoring (PDF).
An EL student left our district (or school) before the testing window started (i.e., February 1), but the EL student is included in the ELPAC participation rate calculation. Shouldn’t this EL student be excluded from the ELPAC participation rate calculation because the EL student exited before the testing window started?
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) enrollment information indicating an EL student is enrolled any time during the testing window makes the student eligible for testing. Submitting a student’s enrollment exit record during or after the testing window does not make the student ineligible. Enrollment records must be updated in CALPADS prior to February 1st.
For example, an EL student exits Haifa High School District in January 2022. However, the LEA does not update the student’s enrollment record to reflect the EL student exited until March 2022 and the EL student does not enroll in another district in California. In this case, the EL student will be counted as not being tested in the ELPAC participation rate.
Our school had 30 EL students take the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics assessment but only 29 EL students on the ELPI. Why are the number of the EL students different?
The number of EL students in the ELPI reflects the number of EL students with 2023 Summative ELPAC results and 2022 ELPAC Summative results. EL students who take the 2023 Summative ELPAC but do not have prior year results will not be included in the ELPI.
Our school has more than 30 EL students in the ELPI but our school’s performance color is grayed out. Why doesn’t our school have a performance color?
Districts and schools need to meet the n-size requirement of 30 or more EL students in both the current year and prior year. Districts and schools that have 30 or more students in the current year but less than 30 in the prior year will not be assigned a performance color, only a Status level.