Oakland, CA — In response to the release of updated data on the California School Dashboard, Melissa Valenzuela-Stookey, Director of P-16 Research at EdTrust-West, issued the following statement:  

We applaud the California Department of Education for sharing this data earlier than required, providing Californians with more timely information about students’ needs and experiences. We’re also excited to see much-needed data on long-term English learners, a group that deserves much greater attention and support, included in the Dashboard for the first time. Now, educators, policymakers, and advocates can make better-informed decisions. 

This year’s data in the California School Dashboard reflects what so many students and families of color live every day: that while TK-12 schools are succeeding in some respects, in others, it’s the same story with the same lack of progress. But improvements to the Dashboard are still desperately needed to make sure Californians can see that clearly. Right now, the Dashboard design hinders our ability to monitor change over time, and implies that outcomes are better than they are in its color-coding system. While some of the new data indicates sustained progress, particularly steady reductions in chronic absenteeism, other improvements are gains in name only. We should not celebrate improvements of a single percentage point—or less—because they don’t tell the real story: that yet another year has gone by for Californian students of color and multilingual learners, and not enough has changed.  

Key findings: 

• Academic indicators, in the form of  California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) scores in math and English language arts, show only marginal improvements and persistent failure to close gaps for students of color.  

• Black students, Native American students, and Pacific Islander students are more than twice as likely as white students to be chronically absent, with roughly 1 in 3 students in each group classified as chronically absent in 2023-24. This indicates that even with recent decreases in absenteeism rates, schools still have more work to do to ensure these students and their families feel welcomed and are consistently engaged.  

• Fewer than half of English learners were supported to make progress toward English proficiency, declining from 48.7% in 2022-23 to 45.7% in 2023-24.  

• Graduation rates have remained relatively stable for all racial groups, with the exception of Asian students for whom the graduation rate decreased by 2.3 percentage points. A total of 78% of English learners graduated high school in four years, representing an increase of 4.4 percentage points since the prior year. In 2023-24, 81% of long-term English learners graduated in four years, representing an increase of 2.4 percentage points.  

For more on the policy and practice changes that will most effectively accelerate racial equity in California’s schools, please read Staying Committed to Racial Equity in Challenging Times: EdTrust-West’s 2025 Policy Agenda. 

EdTrust-West 

EdTrust-West is an evidence-driven advocacy organization committed to advancing policies and practices to dismantle the racial and economic barriers embedded in California’s education system. For over two decades, EdTrust-West has worked to improve racial equity in education by engaging diverse communities and increasing political and public will to build an education system where students of color and multilingual learners will thrive. For more information, see edtrustwest.org.