Colton Joint Unified presents 2025 California Dashboard: gains in ELA, graduation rates; some subgroups remain in differentiated assistance

Colton Joint Unified School District staff presented the district's 2025 California Dashboard to the board on Nov. 18, outlining mixed academic results and subgroup trends.

Dr. Peterson (presenter) said the dashboard, released Nov. 13, reports district status and year‑over‑year change using a color system tied to distance‑from‑standard (DFS). "As a district, we were yellow," Dr. Peterson said, while highlighting an increase in ELA and math points and a 91% graduation rate on the four- and five-year cohort measure.

Presenters noted English learners showed steady gains and that the district is no longer in differentiated assistance for that subgroup. "We are actually out of differentiated assistance with English learners," the presenter said, citing multi-point improvements among English learner measures.

But officials warned that other subgroups still require focus: long-term English learners, students with disabilities and African American students were listed as areas needing sustained growth and possible continued differentiated assistance next year unless improvements persist for two consecutive years.

The presenters explained technical elements of the dashboard including DFS numbers, subgroup reporting thresholds (less than 11 students is not displayed as a color), and the new science points measure that the state is still interpreting. They also outlined next steps for the district: a Dec. 3 webinar and a February team meeting to determine targeted improvement plans.

Board members asked for more detailed breakdowns by grade level and school site, especially for the mathematics red flags flagged in the slides. The staff said site-level breakdowns exist and can be provided to board members and data coordinators for deeper analysis.

What happened: staff presented data, recognized gains in key indicators and identified subgroups that will continue to receive focused supports under the state's differentiated assistance framework.

Why it matters: the dashboard determines eligibility for state supports and frames district improvement priorities. Officials said maintaining growth over multiple years is required to exit differentiated assistance for affected groups.

What's next: the district will take part in state webinars, meet with improvement teams in February and provide board members with school- and grade-level breakdowns on request.