ELPAC Scores Explained

Before looking at any numbers, it helps to be clear about what they describe. The Summative ELPAC measures how far a student's English has developed against the 2012 California English Language Development Standards. It does not measure subject knowledge, effort, or ability in any other language.

The result is also a snapshot. It reflects how a student performed on the days they were tested, across four domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing. That is useful information. It is not the whole picture of a child, and the teacher who has watched them all year has a much larger sample to draw on.

The Summative ELPAC reports four performance levels. Level 1 is the least developed and Level 4 the most developed. Each level is a description of what a student can generally do in English, not a mark out of four.

The scale scores that fall inside each level differ by grade (grades 9–10 and 11–12 share ranges) and are set by the state. This page does not publish cut points. They belong to the official program, they are printed on your own child's report, and a number copied from the wrong grade span or the wrong year would be worse than no number at all. If you want the range that applied to your child, the report itself and your district are the places to get it.

Alongside the overall level, the report gives two composite results. Oral Language combines listening and speaking. Written Language combines reading and writing. The overall score is built from the two composites: in kindergarten oral language counts for 70 percent and written language for 30 percent, and from grade 1 through grade 12 they count equally.

A gap between the two is common, and it is worth paying attention to. Many students who have spent a few years in English-speaking classrooms speak and understand English comfortably while their reading and writing trail behind, because the English of textbooks and essays is not the English of conversation. The reverse also happens, often with students who studied a great deal of written English before arriving.

The composites are where the useful teaching information sits. An overall Level 2 tells you that a student needs support. An overall Level 2 with a much weaker written composite tells you where to start.

Reports usually break results down by individual domain as well, though often in broader bands rather than a level from 1 to 4. Read the labels printed on your own report rather than assuming a domain breakdown uses the same scale as the overall level.

Districts send a Student Score Report for the Summative ELPAC, often with a cover letter of their own. Report layouts are redesigned from time to time, so the wording on your copy may not match a sample you find elsewhere online. Work through it in this order:

If any part of it is unclear, ask the teacher or the school's English learner coordinator to go through it with you. They read these reports every year and the request is a normal one. Schools can usually arrange an interpreter if you would prefer to have the conversation in another language.

• The student's name, grade and the school year being reported. Check you are reading the right year before anything else.
• The overall performance level, from 1 to 4.
• The oral language result and the written language result, and whether they sit close together or far apart.
• Any breakdown by domain, and the labels used for it, which may not be the 1 to 4 scale.
• Anything comparing this year with last year. Not every report shows this; if yours does not, ask the school for the previous report and put the two side by side.
• The district's own note about what happens next: which support the student will receive, and whether reclassification is being considered.

A performance level describes English language proficiency on one test. Read that way, it is genuinely useful. Read as anything larger, it misleads.

It is normal for a level to stay the same for a year, particularly at the upper end, where more growth is needed to move up than it was lower down. A level that has not changed is not the same thing as a student who is not learning.

A level can also go down. One test day, an unfamiliar task, illness or plain nerves can all show up in a result. If a drop does not match what you and the teacher see day to day, say so, and ask what the classroom evidence shows.

• A level does not measure intelligence, effort or potential.
• It does not measure knowledge of math, science or any other subject.
• It says nothing about the student's first language, which is often the stronger one and is an asset rather than a problem.
• It is not a permanent label. Students move between levels as their English develops, which is the whole reason for testing each year.

Reclassification is the point at which a student is no longer identified as an English learner. The ELPAC is part of that decision and it is not the whole of it.

State law sets out the areas a district has to consider and districts fill in the local detail. In practice a reclassification decision typically weighs the student's ELPAC result, the teacher's evaluation of their English in class, a comparison of the student's basic skills with those of English-proficient students of the same age, and the parent's opinion, with an opportunity for the parent to take part.

That last point is often overlooked: you are meant to be consulted, and you can ask questions before agreeing to anything.

Because the local criteria vary, two districts can treat the same ELPAC result differently. Ask your district for its written reclassification policy. It should be able to give you one.

Reclassification is also not the end of support. Districts monitor reclassified students for four years afterwards to check the move was the right one, so ask what that monitoring looks like at your school.

A score report is most useful in the first week you have it, while there is still time to ask questions.

One thing not to do is re-test a child at home to chase a number. Practice is worth doing for the sake of familiarity with the task formats and confidence in English; the practice sets on this site are not calibrated against the real test and cannot estimate a level.

• File it somewhere you will find it next year. Two reports side by side say more than one.
• Identify the weaker of the two composites and make that the focus, rather than trying to work on everything at once.
• Ask the teacher what English language support your child receives now, and whether it changes on the basis of this result.
• If reclassification is close, ask what the remaining criteria are and where your child stands on each.
• If the result surprises you, ask for the conversation rather than assuming the number is either wrong or final.