2026 CAASPP Scores: What the New Labels Mean

After California's spring English and math tests, families receive an individual CAASPP Student Score Report. Here is what to expect before it arrives.

What is a CAASPP Student Score Report?

It shows how your child scored in English and math. Families receive this standard report after grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11, not after every grade. It includes a scale score, performance level, subject details, and score history.

Start checking for your child's report in June. California's 2025–26 release timeline says reports begin releasing in late May and continue daily. Final remaining Smarter Balanced and science reports are expected in mid-August. District delivery varies, so a later report may arrive during summer or when school starts.

The California Department of Education says scores usually reach districts three to four weeks after a student's test. Districts then have 20 days to send them to families. If scores arrive after school ends, that 20-day period starts with the new school year. Check your school portal, email, and mail. If the report is missing, ask your school or district where it was sent.

Statewide school and district results come out October 15. That is the public aggregate release, not your child's report.

When the report arrives, you may see Developing where an older report said Standard Nearly Met. It sounds like the score changed, or maybe the test did. It did not. California changed the names on 2025–26 reports without moving the score cutoffs.

What do the 2026 CAASPP score labels mean?

Starting with 2025–26 results, the California Department of Education renamed the four CAASPP reporting levels in its May 2026 notice. Level 4 is now Advanced instead of Standard Exceeded. Level 3 is Proficient instead of Standard Met. Level 2 is Developing instead of Standard Nearly Met. Level 1 is Minimal instead of Standard Not Met. The state says the criteria and cut scores did not change, so results at the same level can still be compared across years. The new descriptions apply to the Smarter Balanced English language arts and math tests and the California Science Test. Advanced describes sophisticated use of grade-level knowledge. Proficient describes thorough use of grade-level knowledge. Developing describes an initial understanding of grade-level knowledge. Minimal describes limited understanding. California's assessment FAQ also says Levels 2 through 4 show grade-level performance at different degrees of complexity. The rename left your child's underlying score unchanged.

Advanced does not mean your child is working above grade level. It is the highest performance category on this grade-level test. That distinction matters when you talk with a child who reads the label as a verdict on how smart they are.

Why did California change the names?

California says the change corrects an inaccurate cutoff assumption. Its May 2026 notice says Level 3 is not a grade-level cutoff that makes every child below it “below grade level.” Every test item measures standards for the student's grade. The levels show a range of understanding and complexity.

The new words shift the emphasis from whether a child “met” a line to what the child showed on the test. That is our reading of the change, but the words are not trivial. In a 2022 survey of teachers and parents, Francis O'Donnell and Stephen Sireci found that labels attached to the same achievement level were perceived differently in tone, clarity, and level of performance.

We looked for a scoring change behind the new words and found none. The state's reporting guide says the cut scores and criteria stayed put. A score that landed in Standard Nearly Met now lands in Developing.

Can you compare a 2026 score with an older score?

Yes. The level numbers and cut scores still line up across years. Advanced maps to Standard Exceeded, Proficient to Standard Met, Developing to Standard Nearly Met, and Minimal to Standard Not Met.

SchoolScope will use the current names across all California years so charts are easier to read. A 2024–25 result that the source called Standard Exceeded will appear as Advanced. We will keep the reporting year and original source term in the data notes. Older state reports will still use the old words.

This changes the display wording, not the historical value. A percentage changes only when the underlying results change. Our historically framed article on the old Exceeded-versus-Met split keeps the source-year terms; read them as Advanced and Proficient in current California language.

What can “Proficient or Advanced” hide?

Schools with nearly the same combined rate can have very different shares in the top category. We checked 202 California public schools that SchoolScope displays as elementary. Each had at least 30 tested fifth graders and between 68% and 72% at Standard Met or Exceeded in English language arts in 2024–25. Within that narrow band, the median share at Standard Exceeded was 38.3%. The middle half of schools ran from 34.1% to 42.9%. Across the middle 90%, the range was much wider: 27.8% to 49.1%.

Since California did not move the cut scores, Standard Exceeded in that 2024–25 file maps to Advanced on a 2025–26 report. Schools with the same roughly 70% headline still differed by more than 21 points in their Advanced share across the central 90%. The combined number hides that split.

This is SchoolScope analysis of the all-student group in 2024–25 California Department of Education CAASPP data, imported August 13, 2026. It covers one grade, one subject, traditional public and charter schools, and different groups of students at each school. Some profiles include K–8 or K–12 schools whose primary SchoolScope display is elementary. This descriptive check cannot prove teaching quality, explain what caused the difference, or predict an individual child's score. Our methodology explains how we handle state data and its limits.

How should you read your child's score report?

Start with the subject details, then compare the result with work you have already seen. The overall label is broad. The state's 2025–26 sample score reports show where to find each subject area.

Try this order:

1. Look at English language arts and math separately. A child can have a very different story in each.
2. Find the subject-area detail. That gives you a better first question than the overall label does.
3. Compare it with class assignments, grades, and the teacher's feedback.
4. Ask the teacher whether the result fits what they see in class and what skill would be most useful to work on next.

The California Department of Education gives the same basic advice: read CAASPP results alongside report cards, class assignments, and teacher feedback. If those sources disagree, ask the teacher before you use a school comparison site or buy a tutoring package. The disagreement may tell you more than the label.

What is different in grade 11?

Grade 11 English and math results also include an Early Assessment Program status for the California State University system. Students can authorize the release of their English and math results to CSU, and they must authorize each subject separately. According to the California Department of Education's EAP guide, releasing those results has no effect on admission.

CSU uses the result after admission as one of several measures of readiness and placement for first-year English and math courses. High school and college coursework can also enter that decision. Read the EAP status as an early piece of planning information, not a college-admission score or a final judgment about whether a student is ready for college.

Is a school-level CAASPP result the same thing?

No. Your child's report describes one child; a school result combines many tested students. A school where 60% of students are Proficient or Advanced tells you how that tested group performed. It does not predict where your child will land or explain why the percentage is high or low.

School-level test results can help you compare patterns across subjects and years. They still cannot show how a teacher responds when a child gets stuck, whether the classroom feels warm, or whether your kid will want to walk through the door each morning. Explore California public-school results, then use the numbers to form questions for the school. If a lower percentage is what sent you here, our guide to what a low school score can and cannot mean adds context.

Does “Proficient” mean the same thing on every test?

No. Keep the test and state attached to the label. California reports Advanced, Proficient, Developing, and Minimal. Texas STAAR reports Masters, Meets, Approaches, and Did Not Meet, with Approaches or higher counted as passing. Those categories belong to different tests with different standards and cut scores. A California Developing result cannot be translated into Texas Approaches because both happen to sit third in a four-level list.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress uses Proficient differently too: the federal NAEP site says its Proficient level does not mean meeting grade-level expectations.

For this report, use the full phrase “Proficient on California's CAASPP.” That small wording change keeps one test result from becoming a label for the child.

What is SchoolScope changing?

SchoolScope launched California-first on purpose, and our pages have used California's source terms. We are updating every year to Advanced, Proficient, Developing, and Minimal so historical charts use one set of words. The reporting year and original state terms stay in the data notes.

Only the display words change. Historical values and the current California Scope Score stay the same. We still separate the highest category from the broader share at the state's benchmark.

Our national plan already uses each state's labels and mappings. Comparisons stay within the same state, year, grade, and subject and favor within-state standing. California Advanced and Texas Masters are not interchangeable. If a state lacks a sound higher-tier split, we will omit or reweight it and explain why. Some methodology and interface copy still uses older California wording during this update.

By SchoolScope — Published August 13, 2026