English Learner Progress Indicator FAQs

Grades 1–12. Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) and Summative Alternate ELPAC (Alt-ELPAC) testing occur 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 (i.e., grade 1 students have both their current year score and their prior kindergarten score).

Yes and No.

EL students are required to take the ELPAC or Alt-ELPAC annually. If a student is reclassified after they have taken that year's assessment and received a score, then they will be included in thte ELPI.

However, if a student is already an RFEP at the time of testing then they are not current EL students, and therefore, are not included.

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 Alt-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.

No and Yes.

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 reclassified between May 31 and June 30 of each year are included in the participation rate calculation.

Yes. In the past, the ELPI had only one student group, namely the EL student group. However, beginning with the 2024 Dashboard, California has added its 14th student group, the LTEL student group. As a result, the LTEL student group will receive an ELPI Status, Change, and overall performance level if the LTEL student group meets the minimum n-size.

For the California School Dashboard, the definition of an LTEL is: A pupil who has not attained English langauge proficincy within 7 years of initial classification as an English learner.

For districts and county offices of education (COEs), the minimum n-size is 15 or more LTEL students with current and prior year Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC results.

For schools, including charters, the minimum n-size is 30 or more LTEL students with current and prior year Summative ELPAC or Summative Alternate ELPAC results.

Yes, for those districts, COEs, or schools that meet the minimum n-size.

For districts, the Summative ELPAC participation rate will be reported when there are 15 or more LTEL students enrolled during the testing window (i.e., February 1 to May 31).

For schools, the Summative ELPAC participation rate will be reported when there are 30 or more LTEL students enrolled during the testing window (i.e., February 1 to May 31).

An ELPI performance color is assigned to schools, districts, and COEs 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.

For more information on EL students who are assigned a score, please reference Summative ELPAC Participation and Scoring (PDF).

For more information on EL students who are assigned a score on the Summative Alternate ELPAC, please reference Alternate ELPAC Participation and Scoring (PDF).

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 2024. However, the LEA does not update the student’s enrollment record to reflect the EL student exited until March 2024 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.

The number of EL students in the ELPI reflects the number of EL students with 2024 Summative ELPAC results and 2023 ELPAC Summative results. EL students who take the 2024 Summative ELPAC but do not have prior year results will not be included in the ELPI.

Schools, districts, and COEs need to meet the n-size requirement of 30 or more EL students in both the current year and the prior year. Schools, districts, and COEs 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.