LCAP Dashboard Update - March 1, 2017

Note:  This email was originally distributed on March 1st, 2017 to the Calfiornia Dashboard Coordinator's listserv:

Dear Dashboard Coordinators: 

March 1, 2017 

UPDATE ON PUBLIC RELEASE AND NEW FUNCTIONALITY 

The California School Dashboard local educational agency (LEA) preview period continues through early March. This correspondence provides an update on the public launch, new system functionality, and future system features expected to rollout prior to the public launch. 

Public Launch 

The public launch is tentatively scheduled for the week of March 13, 2017. We encourage LEAs to continue to use this period to share their performance data with local stakeholders. A communications toolkit (see Resources section below) is available to assist in that effort. As the specific date of public launch nears, we will notify Dashboard Coordinators and Public Information Officers about the communications rollout for state, regional, and local media outlets. 

New Web site Features 

Since the LEA preview began on February 10, 2017, several new Dashboard features are now available. Most notably, users can now select Single Student Group Reports to see how a particular student group is performing with respect to any of the state indicators. This feature can be accessed by selecting a state indicator from any of the report tabs and then selecting a student group within the Single Indicator Report. In response to user feedback, updates are now available to assist with navigating throughout the site, including ensuring that report navigation tabs are present on all pages. 

Functionality Under Development 

The following features are under development and are expected to rollout prior to the public launch in March 2017. 

• Student Group Report Availability: The Student Group Report provides the performance of all students and each student group on the state indicators. Users can choose to highlight only the student groups in the Blue and Green performance levels, the Yellow performance level, or the Orange and Red performance levels.
  
• Local Performance Indicators-New Performance Categories: Based on stakeholder feedback, the three performance levels for the local indicators, Met, Not Met, and Not Met for Two or More Years are being changed to Data Reported, Data Not Reported, Data Not Reported for Two or More Years. This change is designed to clarify that meeting the standard is based on whether the LEA collected and reported the local performance data for each of the local indicators.
  
• Grade 11 Smarter Balanced Assessment Results: The Grade 11 Smarter Balanced Assessment results will be available on the College/Career Single Indicator Report. This data is a component of the College/Career Indicator that will be made available in fall 2017.
  
• Additional Data on English Learners: English learner (EL) only and ELs who have not been reclassified as fluent English proficient (RFEP) will be available on the English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments Single Indicator Reports.
  
• Optional Narrative Box: The Optional Narrative Box functionality will be operational prior to the public release to provide LEAs the opportunity to explain their local context or identify any circumstances that may have impacted their performance. 

Resources
In conjunction with the LEA preview of the Dashboard, the embargo of the downloadable data files and five-by-five grid (by district) placement reports continues. These reports display (by district) the schools' and student groups' placement on each of the five-by-five color tables. The embargo will continue until the public launch of the Dashboard in March. Once the embargo is lifted, these files will be available to the general public on the California Accountability Model and School Dashboard Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/dashboard/ . These resources will also be linked from the Dashboard and DataQuest ( http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ ). 

Please note that the downloadable data files are being updated and will be posted to the embargoed Web page prior to the public release. These updates will impact the Dashboard report for a select number of LEAs and schools. Additionally, in response to user feedback, the California School Dashboard Technical Guide will also be updated and posted to the public California Accountability Model and School Dashboard Web page prior to the Dashboard’s public release. 

New resources, including an introductory video, parent resources tab, and translation of select pieces of the communications toolkit will be added prior the public launch to the California Accountability Model and School Dashboard Web pages ( http://www.cde.ca.gov/dashboard/ ). Please note that these Web pages are accessible to the general public and are not subject to the embargo that is in place for the downloadable data files and five-by-five placement grids.