DASS Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Requirements

Alternative schools participating in the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) program are limited to certain eligibility requirements. Schools are identified as "alternative" through one of two methods:

Defined Alternative Schools

The school has a school type identified in California Education Code (EC) Section 52052(d), which automatically qualifies them with an alternative status. These schools will be automatically placed into DASS. The school types identified in EC Section 52052(d) are:

• Continuation
• County or District Community Day
• Opportunity
• County Community
• Juvenile Court
• California Education Authority, Division of Juvenile Justice
• County-Run Special Education Schools

In addition, any district-operated special education schools that have at least 70 percent of the students enrolled in grades three through eight and grade eleven participating in the California Alternate Assessments (CAA) will also be automatically placed into DASS. District-operated special education schools with less than 70 percent of students participating in the CAA must complete the DASS application process if they would like to be considered an alternative school in the new accountability system.

Other Alternative Schools

Other alternative schools serve high-risk youth, but are not explicitly required to do so in the EC. These include: (1) alternative schools of choice and (2) charter schools that serve high-risk students. These schools must have an unduplicated count of at least 70 percent of the school's cumulative enrollment (upon first entry to the school) comprised of high-risk student groups to be eligible for DASS. The high-risk groups include the following:

• Expelled (EC Section 48925[b]) including situations in which enforcement of the expulsion order was suspended (EC Section 48917)
• Suspended (EC Section 48925[d]) more than 10 days in a school year
• Wards of the Court (Welfare and Institution Code [WIC] Section 601 or 602) or dependents of the court (WIC Section 300 or 654)
• Pregnant and/or Parenting Youth
• Recovered Dropouts – State Board of Education (SBE) defines recovered dropouts based on EC Section 52052.3(b) as students who: (1) are designated as dropouts pursuant to the exit and withdraw codes in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), or (2) left school and were not enrolled in a school for a period of 180 days
  
• Habitually Truant (EC Section 48262) or Habitually Insubordinate and Disorderly whose attendance at the school is directed by a school attendance review board or probation officer (EC Section 48263)
• Retained more than once in kindergarten through grade eight
• Students who are credit deficient (i.e., students who are one semester or more behind in the credits required to graduate on-time, per grade level, from the enrolling school’s credit requirements)
• Students with a gap in enrollment (i.e., students who have not been in any school during the 45 days prior to enrollment in the current school, where the 45 days does not include non-instructional days such as summer break, holiday break, off-track, and other days when a school is closed)
• Students with high level transiency (i.e., students who have been enrolled in more than two schools during the past academic year or have changed secondary schools more than two times since entering high school)
• Foster Youth (EC Section 42238.01[b])
• Homeless Youth

Schools that meet the "other alternative schools" criteria above will need to apply for alternative status. If interesting in applying, please visit the DASS Application Instructions.

Terms of Dashboard Alternative School Status Participation

All DASS participants must maintain documentation of the 70 percent of students reflected on Part 1 of their DASS Participation Form. The California Department of Education (CDE) will conduct annual reviews and failure to provide such documentation may result in termination of the school's DASS.

All schools voluntarily participating in DASS will be required to re-certify their high-risk student enrollments every three years (i.e., if a school is approved in 2024 for the 2024–25 school year to participate in DASS, this school must reapply in 2027 for the 2027–28 school year to continue their participation in DASS for the Fall 2020 Dashboard). If a school fails to re-certify its high-risk student enrollment or the school's enrollment of high-risk students falls below 70 percent, the school will be removed from DASS.