​California Students Making Progress, According To State Dashboard: EdSource

California schools raised graduation rates and academic achievement and improved college and career readiness last school year, according to the California School Dashboard.

The dashboard, released Thursday by the California Department of Education, uses student data to measure academic performance, chronic absenteeism, college and career readiness, English learner progress and graduation and suspension rates.

Graduation rates continued to increase, reaching 87.5% -- the highest level since 2017, according to the state. College and career readiness increased by 3.1%, and chronic absenteeism decreased by 1.5 percentage points.

"Today's dashboard results show California continuing to make important strides in post-pandemic recovery. We're getting more students reengaged in the classroom, graduating students in greater numbers, and getting more of them prepared for college and careers," said California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond.

The recently released statewide test scores also show that students are making progress academically, Darling-Hammond said.

During the 2024-25 school year, the number of students who were advanced or proficient in math and English Language Arts improved by 1.8 percentage points in each subject -- the largest year-over-year increase since before the Covid pandemic.

The dashboard uses an array of colors to show whether a school or district has improved or declined in several areas -- with blue indicating the best performance, followed by green, yellow, orange and then red. School districts with a red rating in one or more priority areas are referred to their county Offices of Education for assistance.

Last school year, and for the third year in a row, fewer California school districts scored low enough on tests to require support from their county offices. This year, 418 districts qualified for help, compared with 436 last year.

By Diana Lambert / EdSource

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