A practical guide for school and district teams
California Education Data Tools and Resources
Find the right resource for the question you are trying to answer. These 26 entries cover public data, surveys, team discussion guides, observation tools, and specialized support for school improvement.
Some resources provide existing numbers. Others help you collect experiences, examine local practices, or interpret what you find. Each entry explains what it offers and gives an example of how a local educational agency (LEA) might use it.
Find public data
Start with published reports, comparisons, and directory files to understand outcomes and context.
01. California School Dashboard
California Department of Education (CDE)
California’s school and district accountability overview helps readers spot strengths, concerns, and differences among student groups. It is a useful starting point for deciding which outcomes deserve a closer look.
Resources, example use, and access — California School Dashboard
- School and district reports covering academic performance, attendance, graduation, suspension, English learner progress, and other indicators.
- State and local indicator information, with technical guides explaining calculations and reporting rules.
Example use: Begin an improvement discussion by identifying an indicator and student group that need attention, then investigate the underlying data.
Access and context: Public access. Read the reporting year and indicator definitions; results summarize reported periods rather than current daily conditions.
02. CDE Data & Statistics
California Department of Education
This is the front door to CDE’s education data resources. It helps you find the appropriate report, download, directory, or collection when you know your topic but do not yet know which system contains it.
Resources, example use, and access — CDE Data & Statistics
- Links to DataQuest, topic-based reports, downloadable files, and school directory information.
- Entry points for financial data, student groups, data collections, and data requests.
Example use: Find an official source for an enrollment, staffing, finance, or student outcome question.
Access and context: The hub is public. Linked collection systems and restricted data requests have their own access conditions.
03. California Healthy Kids Survey Data
CalSCHLS / WestEd for CDE
The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) asks students about experiences such as school safety, connectedness, and well-being. It belongs to the California School Climate, Health, and Learning Survey system (CalSCHLS), which also includes staff and parent surveys.
Resources, example use, and access — California Healthy Kids Survey Data
- Public dashboards, searchable district and county student/staff reports, statewide summaries, and factsheets.
- Survey instruments, scoring keys, raw-data request forms, and a separate district dashboard service.
Example use: Explore whether students’ sense of belonging helps explain attendance patterns, then follow up locally.
Access and context: Public reports are available; school reports and parent results are not publicly posted. The private district dashboard is a paid subscription. Participation, sample size, and survey year affect coverage.
04. County-District-School Administration
California Department of Education
This resource explains how California identifies schools and districts through County-District-School (CDS) codes and keeps their official directory records current. A school’s 14-digit CDS code is especially useful when matching records across datasets.
Resources, example use, and access — County-District-School Administration
- CDS code explanations and guidance for obtaining codes.
- Processes and resources for maintaining school and district directory information.
Example use: Confirm the correct school identifier before joining an enrollment file to another state report.
Access and context: Public guidance. Changes to official records follow CDE’s designated administrative process.
05. DataQuest
California Department of Education
DataQuest produces detailed public reports about California students, schools, and districts. It is useful when a summary dashboard raises a question and you need counts, rates, historical results, or a more specific student group.
Resources, example use, and access — DataQuest
- Reports on enrollment, English learners, attendance, discipline, graduation, staffing, and other topics.
- Report choices by geographic level, topic, and year, with additional breakdowns where available.
Example use: Examine whether an attendance concern is concentrated in particular grades or student groups.
Access and context: Public access. Available years, breakdowns, and suppressed small counts vary by report; check each report’s notes.
06. Ed-Data
CDE, EdSource, and FCMAT/CSIS partnership
Ed-Data presents California education data in approachable profiles, graphs, and comparisons. It is particularly helpful when a team wants to see several schools or districts together and understand the financial or demographic context behind a result.
Resources, example use, and access — Ed-Data
- Student, staffing, performance, and district finance information; school and district comparison tools.
- Graph sharing, data exports, explanatory articles, and guided tutorials.
Example use: Build a comparison of districts with similar enrollment and examine their staffing or spending patterns.
Access and context: Public access. Most data come from CDE; check the source and year for each graph. Financial comparisons are available at district level.
07. English Learners in California Schools
California Department of Education
This CDE page brings together information about English learner students and their educational outcomes. It connects demographic context and terminology with reports that support a more focused review of student experiences and progress.
Resources, example use, and access — English Learners in California Schools
- Statewide outcome summaries and links to English learner reports in DataQuest.
- Definitions, report-access instructions, and information about long-term English learners and related student groups.
Example use: Clarify which English learner population a report includes before comparing graduation or attendance results.
Access and context: Public access. English learner, reclassified, and long-term English learner groups use different definitions; compare like groups and years.
08. Public Schools and Districts Data Files
California Department of Education
These files provide school and district directory records for use in a spreadsheet, database, or reporting system. They are useful building blocks for identifying organizations and attaching consistent names and identifiers to other data.
Resources, example use, and access — Public Schools and Districts Data Files
- Downloadable public school and district directory information.
- File-layout documentation explaining fields such as identifiers, contact information, and school characteristics.
Example use: Create a school lookup table to standardize CDS codes and school names across local reports.
Access and context: Public downloads. These are directory records, not student records or achievement results. Read field definitions and school status information before filtering.
Investigate local questions
Use protocols, surveys, and assessment resources to explore the experiences and practices behind the numbers.
09. Problems of Practice: The Necessary Steps
UC Davis School of Education
This guide helps teams turn a broad concern into a specific problem they can observe and influence through teaching and learning. It also introduces a theory of action: an explanation of how a proposed change is expected to help.
Resources, example use, and access — Problems of Practice: The Necessary Steps
- Questions for defining an evidence-based problem of practice.
- Guidance on instructional rounds and connecting the problem to an improvement strategy.
Example use: Refine “students struggle in mathematics” into a focused question about classroom tasks, instruction, or student responses.
Access and context: Public reading resource. Bring local evidence; the guide does not supply district data.
10. Office of Personnel Management Assessment and Validity
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
OPM explains how to judge whether an assessment produces consistent results and supports its intended use. The linked page is called Designing an Assessment Strategy and was written for employment assessment.
Resources, example use, and access — Office of Personnel Management Assessment and Validity
- Plain-language explanations of reliability, validity, and sources of measurement error.
- Considerations for selecting assessment methods and reviewing supporting evidence.
Example use: Use the concepts to ask better questions about a proposed survey, observation rubric, or assessment before adopting it.
Access and context: Public guidance. Applying it to education is an adaptation; it does not establish that an instrument is valid for students or school improvement.
11. Improvement Data Center (IDC)
System Improvement Leads (SIL)
The IDC brings together tools for examining special education performance and the systems behind it. It links statewide indicator reporting with local analysis tools that can help a district investigate its own results.
Resources, example use, and access — Improvement Data Center (IDC)
- State Performance Plan Indicator (SPPI) Dashboard and LEA Data Drilldown snapshot reports.
- BASICS infrastructure assessment and an interactive Data Quality Toolkit.
Example use: Review an indicator trend, then use local drilldown reports to explore which student groups or circumstances need investigation.
Access and context: Local Educational Agency (LEA) Data Drilldown requires account activation and authorized CALPADS extracts. Support materials explain file preparation and upload.
12. Historical Data Protocol
System Improvement Leads
This protocol gives a team a structured way to record and discuss special education performance over time. It helps participants distinguish a persistent pattern from an isolated year and identify questions that need more evidence.
Resources, example use, and access — Historical Data Protocol
- A downloadable Historical Data Protocol in the Data Best Practices collection.
- A structure for documenting past indicator results and reflecting on change.
Example use: Bring several years of State Performance Plan Indicator results to a meeting and agree on the trend that warrants follow-up.
Access and context: Public download. The team supplies the performance data; use comparable definitions across years.
13. LEA Snapshot Report Protocol
System Improvement Leads
This protocol helps teams discuss the snapshot reports generated in the IDC’s LEA Data Drilldown. It supports a shared interpretation of special education data and a focused list of follow-up questions.
Resources, example use, and access — LEA Snapshot Report Protocol
- A downloadable protocol for collaborative analysis of snapshot reports.
- Related support materials for generating reports and preparing the required CALPADS files.
Example use: Use a snapshot report during a special education team meeting to identify a pattern and decide which local records or practices to examine.
Access and context: The protocol is public. Generating local reports requires authorized drilldown access and the appropriate data files.
14. Affinity Protocol
System Improvement Leads
An affinity activity helps a team organize many comments or ideas into meaningful themes. Participants contribute individual observations, group related ideas, and discuss what the resulting clusters suggest.
Resources, example use, and access — Affinity Protocol
- A downloadable facilitation protocol with participant roles, materials, and activity steps.
- Options for working in person or in a shared virtual workspace.
Example use: Group staff interview notes into themes such as communication, scheduling, and access to instructional support.
Access and context: Public PDF. Plan at least 30 minutes. The resulting themes organize perspectives; they do not establish how common an experience is across the district.
15. Infrastructure Assessment
System Improvement Leads
The source document’s Infrastructure Assessment points to the BASICS for Special Education Infrastructure Tool. It helps a district examine the organizational conditions that support effective special education and prioritize gaps.
Resources, example use, and access — Infrastructure Assessment
- Review of collaboration and communication, staffing, policy and procedures, data systems, resource management, and instructional practices.
- A structured online process for identifying strengths and improvement priorities.
Example use: Explore whether inconsistent services relate to staffing processes, unclear responsibilities, or gaps in data access.
Access and context: The overview is public; the tool offers registration and sign-in. Bring evidence of how local processes actually operate.
16. Educational Benefit Review Intro
California Technical Assistance Network (CalTAN)
Educational Benefit Review (EBR) helps teams examine how an Individualized Education Program (IEP) connects a student’s needs, goals, services, and progress over time. Reviewing multiple files can reveal broader strengths and gaps in district practice.
Resources, example use, and access — Educational Benefit Review Intro
- An EBR activity handout and introductory training materials.
- Student file worksheets, summary materials, and tools for identifying trends in practice on CalTAN’s monitoring resource pages.
Example use: Investigate whether IEP goals and services are being adjusted when students make limited progress.
Access and context: Public training resources; local review requires authorized access to student files. Use the materials and directions appropriate to the district’s current monitoring assignment.
17. Seeds of Partnership Parent Survey
Seeds of Partnership / CDE Special Education Division
This survey gathers parents’ experiences with their child’s special education services and with opportunities for family involvement. It contributes family perspectives to California’s special education monitoring process.
Resources, example use, and access — Seeds of Partnership Parent Survey
- Online parent survey access when a participating district’s collection window is open.
- Parent instructions and a Spanish-language survey entry point.
Example use: Compare family-reported communication experiences with the district’s own description of its parent engagement practices.
Access and context: Intended for families in the current monitoring cycle. At review, the page reported no active collection window. Responses are anonymous; the provider asks families to omit confidential details from comments.
18. Root Cause Analysis Inquiry Guide 2022–23
System Improvement Leads
This guide helps teams investigate possible reasons behind recurring special education problems. It connects common concerns with questions and evidence sources so a team can examine explanations before choosing an intervention.
Resources, example use, and access — Root Cause Analysis Inquiry Guide 2022–23
- A downloadable guide focused on common special education problems of practice.
- Prompts and suggested quantitative and qualitative evidence for investigating contributing factors.
Example use: Plan which reports, records, and conversations could help explain a persistent special education outcome gap.
Access and context: Public PDF. This is the 2022–23 edition named in the source document; use it as an inquiry resource and verify any time-sensitive references separately.
19. Empathy Interview Protocol
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
Empathy interviews invite people to describe specific experiences in their own words. The goal is to understand how a process feels and works for the people using it, including needs that a survey or dashboard may miss.
Resources, example use, and access — Empathy Interview Protocol
- A downloadable interview protocol linked from the CASEL School Guide.
- A structured starting point for gathering perspectives during continuous improvement.
Example use: Ask students to describe a recent time they felt supported or disconnected at school, then look for recurring needs.
Access and context: Public resource. Interview stories deepen understanding; a small interview sample should not be treated as a districtwide prevalence estimate.
20. Office of Personnel Management Structured Interview Guidance
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Structured interviews use consistent questions and evaluation criteria so responses can be considered more consistently. OPM’s guidance focuses on assessing job candidates through past experiences and hypothetical situations.
Resources, example use, and access — Office of Personnel Management Structured Interview Guidance
- An overview of structured interviewing and its uses.
- A Structured Interview Guide covering development and implementation.
Example use: For a local inquiry, adapt the consistent-question approach when asking staff about a shared process such as student referrals.
Access and context: Public guidance. School improvement use is an adaptation: revise the purpose, questions, and analysis rather than applying employment scoring to students or parents.
21. Classroom Observation Protocols and Teaching Inventories
Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
This resource explains two ways to examine instruction: an observer records what happens in a lesson, or an instructor completes a self-report inventory. It helps readers select an approach that matches the teaching practice they want to understand.
Resources, example use, and access — Classroom Observation Protocols and Teaching Inventories
- Examples including TDOP, RTOP, and COPUS observation protocols, plus teaching inventories.
- Guidance on choosing measures, preparing observers, debriefing, and repeating observations.
Example use: Select an observation approach for examining opportunities for student participation across several lessons.
Access and context: Public guidance. Many examples were developed in higher education; check suitability for K–12 use. Reliable observation may require training and multiple visits.
22. RESET: Qualitative Teacher Observation Tool
Boise State University research team
RESET stands for Recognizing Effective Special Education Teachers. It uses observation rubrics to examine how teachers implement evidence-based instructional practices and to support specific feedback about instruction.
Resources, example use, and access — RESET: Qualitative Teacher Observation Tool
- University-hosted research describing the observation system, rubric development, and validity evidence.
- Examples of how trained raters connect lesson evidence to rubric scores and instructional feedback.
Example use: Explore how a special education coaching process could provide more specific feedback on instructional practice.
Access and context: The original project homepage could not be retrieved during review. The research paper remains available; current access to the full rubric package or training was not confirmed. Despite the source label, RESET includes numerical ratings.
Explore specialized support
Find resources for early childhood, disproportionality, and positive behavior support.
23. Center for Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy)
DaSy Center
DaSy helps early intervention and early childhood special education programs strengthen their data systems and use evidence to improve results. Its resources are especially relevant to teams working with young children with disabilities and their families.
Resources, example use, and access — Center for Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy)
- DaSy Data System Framework, early childhood data learning resources, and SPP/APR introductory modules.
- Child Outcomes Summary learning and fidelity tools, family data leadership resources, and examples from states.
Example use: Help an early childhood team review the quality and consistency of its child outcome data practices.
Access and context: Public resource library. Many materials focus on state IDEA Part C and Part B Section 619 programs; select those relevant to local responsibilities.
24. Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP)
Desired Results for Children and Families
The DRDP helps early childhood educators document children’s development through observations collected during everyday activities. Results support understanding of progress and planning for learning experiences.
Resources, example use, and access — Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP)
- DRDP instruments and forms, observation resources, training, and rater certification links.
- DRDP Online for managing assessment information, with registration and user support materials.
Example use: Review observations across a classroom to plan learning experiences and identify where more evidence of development is needed.
Access and context: Public reference materials; DRDP Online requires an account. The site now features the 2025 instrument alongside older resources for specified uses; select the version appropriate to your program.
25. State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP)
Napa County Office of Education project funded by CDE
SPP-TAP supports districts examining disproportionate representation in special education. Its resources help teams look at policies, practices, and decision points that may contribute to differences among racial and ethnic groups.
Resources, example use, and access — State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP)
- Self-assessment options, including an annotated disproportionality checklist and root-cause tools.
- Webinars and training materials explaining how to use the assessment approaches.
Example use: Examine referral and identification practices alongside quantitative disproportionality findings.
Access and context: Public resources. The linked page is now titled CDE Required Self-Assessment Options; confirm which option applies to the district’s assigned process.
26. Positive Environments, Network of Trainers (PENT)
California Positive Behavior Initiative
PENT offers practical resources for understanding behavior and building positive learning environments. It can help a team move from a broad concern about behavior to more specific observations, supports, and monitoring.
Resources, example use, and access — Positive Environments, Network of Trainers (PENT)
- Resources for behavior assessment and intervention planning, behavior goals, reinforcement, and implementation.
- Instructional supports, classroom environment guidance, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) materials.
Example use: Identify a behavior data-collection approach and use the findings to inform a support plan.
Access and context: Public resources. Select tools for the student’s context and the specific behavior question; the site is a support library rather than a statewide behavior dataset.