Test scores
How to read California school test scores
Learn what a California school proficiency percentage means, which students take the test, how the four levels work, and what a trend can show.
6 min read
A school's proficiency percentage is the share of tested students who met or exceeded California's target for their grade. If a school has 58% reading proficiency, about 58 out of every 100 students who took the reading test scored Proficient or Advanced. That is the basic meaning of the number.
What test are we talking about?
California gives a statewide reading and math test called Smarter Balanced. It checks how students are doing against the reading, writing, and math standards California teaches at each grade level.
You may also see the name CAASPP. CAASPP is California's larger testing program. Smarter Balanced is the reading and math test within that program.
These scores give every public school the same statewide yardstick. They show how students performed on one test. They do not include grades, classwork, attendance, school climate, or everything else a child learns during the year.
Only certain grades take the test
Students take the Smarter Balanced reading and math tests every year from grade 3 through grade 8. They take them once more in grade 11.
Federal law requires states to test reading and math every year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. California uses grade 11 for the high school test.
This explains an easy-to-miss detail on school pages: the proficiency percentage does not include every student at the school.
At an elementary school, kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students are not part of the Smarter Balanced result. At a high school, the result usually comes from eleventh graders rather than the entire student body.
Most students in the tested grades take Smarter Balanced. Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities may take California's alternate assessment instead. Some English learners in their first 12 months at a school in the United States are also exempt from the reading test.
What the four levels mean
California places each score into one of four levels. Starting with the 2025-26 reports, the levels are called Advanced, Proficient, Developing, and Minimal.
- Advanced, previously called Standard Exceeded, is the highest level.
- Proficient, previously called Standard Met, means the student reached California's target on the test.
- Developing, previously called Standard Nearly Met, is below the proficiency target.
- Minimal, previously called Standard Not Met, is the lowest level.
California changed the names, but it did not change the score needed to reach each level. Older results can still be compared with newer ones.
When California School Trends displays a proficiency percentage, it combines the students in the Advanced and Proficient levels. The other students scored in Developing or Minimal. A 58% proficiency rate does not mean the remaining 42% learned nothing or failed every part of the test.
Reading the number on a school page
The reading percentage combines the available results from the tested grades at that school. The math percentage does the same for math.
Suppose an elementary school shows:
- Reading proficiency: 58%
- Math proficiency: 46%
That means 58% of its tested students reached the reading target, while 46% reached the math target. It does not mean the average student earned 58% of the reading questions or 46% of the math questions. Proficiency is the share of students who crossed the state's score threshold.
The percentage is still useful when a school has a smaller class. It is the best public measure available. Just expect the number to move more from year to year when fewer students take the test, because each student accounts for a larger part of the total.
Trends are useful, but incomplete
A trend shows whether the school's reported results have risen, fallen, or stayed close to the same level over several years.
It does not prove why the change happened. A rising result may reflect improvements at the school, changes in the students being tested, or both. The same is true for a decline. Each year usually covers a new group of students, especially when you are looking at one grade.
One unusual year can happen. A pattern that continues for several years tells you more about the direction of the school's results.
What the score can tell you
The proficiency percentage gives a clear answer to one question: What share of the tested students met or exceeded California's target in reading or math?
It cannot tell you why the students earned those scores, whether a particular child will thrive at the school, or how strong the school is in subjects and experiences the state test does not measure. Those questions need other information. The proficiency percentage is still a useful place to start because it gives every school the same statewide measure.
