About Grade Trends

Grade Trends shows how each US public school's state test results have changed over the years, and lets you compare nearby schools side by side — useful when you are buying or renting a home, or choosing a school.

What you can see

• Math, English and science: the share of students who met or exceeded the state standard, by grade and for the whole school, every year, next to the district and state averages.
• Graduation: four-year graduation rate, share of graduates meeting UC/CSU (A–G) requirements, and the share who enrolled in college within 12 months (California high schools).
• Students: race and ethnicity, low-income share (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), enrollment and students per teacher, each year since 2017-18.

Coverage

School directory and demographics cover all ~100,000 US public schools. Test scores are added state by state; currently available: California, New York and Washington.

Data sources

• School directory, enrollment, race/ethnicity, free/reduced-price lunch, teachers: NCES Common Core of Data. The year-by-year history is loaded by your browser directly from NCES.
• California tests: CAASPP Smarter Balanced (English language arts and math, grades 3–8 and 11, since 2015) and CAST (science, grades 5, 8 and high school, since 2019).
• California graduation and college-going rates: CDE Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate and College-Going Rate.
• Washington tests and graduation rates: OSPI Report Card data on data.wa.gov (Smarter Balanced English and math, grades 3–8 and 10; WCAS science, grades 5, 8 and 11; four-year graduation rate).
• New York tests and graduation rates: NYSED data on data.nysed.gov (English and math, grades 3–8; science, grades 5 and 8, since 2023-24; high school Regents exams in English, Algebra I and biology; four-year graduation rate).
• ZIP code locations: U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer files.

Reading the numbers

What does “Math 42%” mean? It is the share of tested students who met or exceeded the state standard. California sorts every student into four levels: exceeded (advanced), met (proficient), nearly met (developing) and not met (minimal). “Met the standard” means the student mastered the skills expected for that grade and is on track for college and careers — a higher bar than just passing. So 42% means 42 of every 100 tested students reached that level; many of the rest are close to it.

• Years are school years: “2024-25” is the test given in spring 2025.
• There were no state tests in spring 2020. In 2020-21 many California schools did not give the state test, so that year is missing for most schools.
• Starting in 2025-26 California reports “Proficient and above” instead of “Standard met or exceeded”. Grade Trends shows it as the continuation of the same measure (statewide results moved by about one point, in line with earlier years).
• Washington: high school results start in 2017-18, when the high school test moved from grade 11 to grade 10; science (WCAS) also starts in 2017-18. The 2020-21 test was given in fall 2021 on the previous grade's content, so it isn't shown. Percentages are out of students who took the test.
• New York: the grades 3–8 tests changed in 2017-18 and 2022-23, and Algebra I in 2023-24; the charts break at those years. 2020-21 isn't shown. High schools show Regents exams (English, Algebra I, biology); eighth graders who take a Regents exam skip the grade 8 test, so grade 8 results leave them out. Many families opt out of the tests, so a school's results may cover only some of its students.
• “vs state” compares a school with the state average for the same grades: a high school is compared with the state's grade 11 results, a middle school with grades 6–8 (weighted by how many students the school tested in each grade).
• Results for fewer than 11 students are not published, so small grades can be missing.
• Each state has its own test and standard. Compare schools within the same state only.
• Some districts provide free meals to every student (Community Eligibility), which can make the low-income share look higher or lower than the real share of low-income families.
• Test scores are one measure of a school. Visit, talk to parents and teachers, and check the school's own reports.

Contact

Questions or corrections: isppub.com@gmail.com