Aloft Education
ALOFT EDUCATION · DOCUMENTATION

Help Center & User Guides

Step-by-step directions for every major feature of our five California data applications — including district and school searches, reports, charts, Excel workbooks, PDF creation, and 2027 improvement planning.

Documentation reviewed against the application interfaces · October 29, 2026

Before you begin

Choose the app below, then select the year, district, school, indicator or assessment, and student group that you want to study. The order and exact labels differ between apps. Look at the selected entity and year before you export.

District values are not usually the average of school values. A blank or suppressed state result is not zero. The 2027 planning figures are hypothetical and are not official CDE results.

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APPLICATION 01 / 05

Dashboard Studio

Create individual school dashboards, district and school summaries, Distinguished School screening, similar-school comparisons, three-year trends, and 2027 analysis reports.

Open Dashboard Studio ↗Checking live version…

1. Find a district and generate reports

  1. Open Select District in Dashboard Studio.
  2. Enter the Dashboard year, normally 2026.
  3. In Find a California district, type the district name or CDS code and choose it from the suggestions. Use Refresh district list if necessary.
  4. If entering a code manually, type the seven-digit District CDS prefix; Garden Grove USD is 3066522.
  5. Choose the School levels to include (Elementary, Intermediate, High, Other).
  6. Click Generate district reports. Wait for the reports to appear before opening subsequent tabs. To switch districts, return here and regenerate.

2. Create an individual school dashboard

  1. After generating the district, click Individual School Dashboards.
  2. In Find a school, type a school name or CDS code; choose it under School dashboard.
  3. Use the Student subgroups choices at the top to select which groups appear. The Select all and Clear buttons adjust the selection.
  4. Adjust the optional report header and shared notes, including font, size, color and borders. Use Back up note (.txt) or Load saved note to preserve notes.
  5. Click Print selected school to PDF; in your browser print window choose Save as PDF, check colors and layout, then save.

3. Download all schools as Excel, CSV, or PDF

  1. Return to the Select District tab with your reports generated.
  2. Under Export your reports, click Download all schools — Excel (.xlsx) for a workbook compatible with Excel 2021.
  3. Click Source data CSV for spreadsheet-ready source records.
  4. Click Print all to PDF for a PDF packet and choose Save as PDF in your browser.

4. Create a District Summary

  1. Open District Summary after loading a district.
  2. Review the district entity's performance indicators. These are source-reported district values, not averages of the district's schools.
  3. Choose Summary Excel, Summary CSV, or Print Summary to PDF.
  4. For PDF, use your browser's print dialog and save the resulting file.

5. Create School Summaries

  1. Open School Summaries.
  2. Choose All schools or Selected schools; use Find schools to filter the selection.
  3. Choose the schools and indicators to include; use Clear all if starting a custom selection.
  4. Click Excel, CSV, or Print portrait PDF for the school-by-school summary.

6. Produce Distinguished School predictions and DA screening

  1. Open Distinguished School Predictions.
  2. Choose the School levels to display: Elementary/K–8, Middle & High, or All.
  3. Search by school name or CDS code and review the displayed eligibility reasons and DA screening information.
  4. Click Download screening CSV or Print screening report to save the result.
  5. These are preliminary screening results. Verify final eligibility using the linked CDE Distinguished Schools and DA rules.

7. Create Similar Schools reports (GGUSD elementary)

  1. Generate Garden Grove USD; this unlocks Similar Schools for the applicable elementary sites.
  2. Select one school or all applicable schools; search for a school if necessary.
  3. Choose the indicators and student subgroups to compare with the six similar schools.
  4. Customize heading colors, cell borders, table header, and PDF footer under Similar Schools report formatting.
  5. Click Print landscape PDF and save from the browser print dialog.

8. Generate a Three-Year Dashboard Trend report

  1. Open Three-Year Trends.
  2. If requested, provide the 2025 indicator files; 2024 files can be added for historical color verification.
  3. Click Generate Three-Year Trend Reports.
  4. Customize the optional header and editable footer and inspect the Report preview.
  5. Filter schools using Filter schools to select for printing, Select all schools, or Clear schools.
  6. Click Print / Save as PDF — Selected Reports. The output is a one-page report for each chosen district or school.

9. Create Dashboard Analysis and 2027 Goals reports

  1. Open Dashboard Analysis & 2027 Goals.
  2. Choose a School or district and the goal level: Realistic (60th percentile) or Stretch (90th percentile) when peer data are available.
  3. Use Load 2025 colors when needed. Review current indicator colors and proposed 2027 Color Goal values.
  4. Edit the Celebration and Reach narratives for All Students and significant subgroups. Use Add optional subgroup goals where appropriate.
  5. Complete the team planning prompts, including next steps and when results will be shared with staff.
  6. Under Reports to print or save as PDF, choose the selected entity, district, all schools, or district and all schools.
  7. Click Print / Save as PDF for two-page analyses, Save Word (.docx) for editable documents, or Download goal audit CSV for goal checks.
  8. Use Restore suggested values if you need to revert your edits to suggested content. The 2027 goals are planning values, not official forecasts.
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APPLICATION 02 / 05

Visual Dashboard

Compare California School Dashboard data by district, school, indicator, subgroup and year. Create charts, statewide district rankings, and data exports.

Open Visual Dashboard ↗Checking live version…

1. Find and compare California districts

  1. Open California Dashboard on the top navigation.
  2. In the left panel under Analysis Level, choose Districts.
  3. Set the Reporting year (2024, 2025, or 2026) and Student group.
  4. Type a district name in Search districts…; check the desired district in the list. Repeat for additional districts, up to 20.
  5. Use Selected chips to verify your selection; Clear to remove it; Top 5 for a quick shortlist; or Select visible for all matching filtered districts.
  6. Use the focus selector on the main page if you want one selected district's summary numbers highlighted.

2. Find and compare schools in a district

  1. Click Schools under Analysis Level.
  2. Choose the district from District containing schools.
  3. Choose the School level: Elementary, Middle/Intermediate, High, Combined/Other or All.
  4. Type part of a school name in the school search box; click the matching school in the list. Add other schools if needed.
  5. To compare all schools in a level, select the desired level, then use Select visible for the schools listed.
  6. Switch back to Districts when you want district-level results rather than individual schools.

3. Select a Dashboard indicator and interpret comparisons

  1. Under Performance indicators, click ELA, Mathematics, Science, EL Progress, Chronic Absence, Suspension, College/Career or Graduation.
  2. Review District comparison or school comparison, Dashboard colors, and Three-year performance trend.
  3. Change Reporting year, Student group, or selected entities and watch the charts refresh.
  4. For ELA, Mathematics, and Science, interpret Distance from Standard points. For Chronic Absence and Suspension, lower rates are better.
  5. A single school's or entire district's value comes from its CDE source record. Subsets of schools may require calculated results, which should be marked as calculated.

4. Use statewide district rankings

  1. Scroll to Statewide district rankings.
  2. Click All districts for statewide ranking or Selected only to rank only the districts selected in the left panel.
  3. Under Sort, choose Best performance, Lowest performance or Alphabetically.
  4. Read the Dashboard color, current value, 2024–2026 and 2025–2026 changes, and student count N in the table.
  5. Remember that the favorable ordering for Chronic Absence and Suspension is the lowest rate first.

5. Download a chart PDF, print, or export CSV

  1. Make your district/school, subgroup, indicator and year selections before exporting.
  2. Click Download Charts PDF to download chart pages directly.
  3. Click Print Charts for printer or Save as PDF options in your browser.
  4. Click Export CSV to download a spreadsheet-ready table.
  5. Some selections are saved in your browser. Click Reset view to restore defaults for the current tab if you want to start again.
  6. To explore testing research files instead of Dashboard indicators, click Visual CAASPP or Visual ELPAC at the top. Their instructions appear in separate sections of this Help Center.
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APPLICATION 03 / 05

5×5 Improvement Planner

Find schools and districts, review 2025 and 2026 Dashboard grid placements, compare student groups, and simulate 2027 improvement targets.

Open 5×5 Explorer ↗Checking live version…

1. Find a California school or district

  1. Open the 5×5 Explorer.
  2. Under School level, choose Elementary, Middle, High, District, or All levels.
  3. Use Search California schools and enter a distinctive part of the school or district name.
  4. Select the matching entity from the results in the left column. Check the school or district name at the top of the report before proceeding.
  5. If no result appears, try All levels and a shorter name. The search must resolve to a real selected entity, not just text in the box.

2. Inspect 2025 and 2026 actual Dashboard placements

  1. Choose a Dashboard indicator, such as ELA, Math, Science, ELPI, Chronic Absence, Suspension, Graduation, or College/Career where applicable.
  2. Select the Student group. Its recorded performance appears on the indicator matrix when CDE data are available.
  3. Read the 2025 and 2026 performance-color labels and actual placements. Use the 2025 and 2026 view controls if they appear above the timeline.
  4. The tool uses the applicable indicator-specific CDE table. The CDE denominator rule handles 5×5 or 3×5 use according to indicator and N.
  5. Use All applicable indicators or Student group comparison to review other indicators/groups without leaving the selected school.

3. Plan 2027 improvement by selecting a destination square

  1. Open 2027 Planning if the timeline view control is displayed.
  2. Select a subgroup marker on the matrix. The planning view starts groups in a Maintain-change position relative to their 2026 status.
  3. Drag the marker or choose a target square within the valid destination area to model the 2027 goal.
  4. Gray/unreachable squares indicate placements the configured one-year scenario cannot attain.
  5. Read the tool's resulting status, change and color feedback. Keep hypothetical 2027 targets separate from official 2025/2026 results.

4. Calculate an exact numerical 2027 goal

  1. In 2027 Goal Simulator, confirm or enter the actual 2026 Status value if required.
  2. Select a 2027 target square, or type a Hypothetical 2027 Status.
  3. Review the automatically recalculated annual change and projected color.
  4. Pay attention to units: Distance from Standard points, percentages and rates are not interchangeable.
  5. Suppressed or unavailable starting records cannot yield a reliable numeric goal from a performance color alone.

5. Print or save the improvement plan

  1. Verify the school, indicator, student group, year, and 2027 target first.
  2. Click Print near the indicator matrix, or use the browser's Print command.
  3. Select a printer or Save as PDF, choose your filename, and enable background graphics if needed to preserve all color shading.
  4. Open the saved PDF to confirm the grid, labels, and selected goals appear as intended.
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APPLICATION 04 / 05

Visual CAASPP

Inspect state ELA and Mathematics research-file results, achievement distributions, mean scores, claim areas, subgroup comparisons, and trends.

Open Visual Dashboard → Visual CAASPP ↗Checking live version…

1. Open CAASPP and search for a district

  1. Open Visual Dashboard and click Visual CAASPP along its top navigation. It opens the assessment reporting interface.
  2. Verify that Visual CAASPP is selected in the assessment header.
  3. Choose the Assessment subject: ELA or Math.
  4. Choose Reporting Year: 2024, 2025, or 2026.
  5. Enter part of a district name in Find district…. The Districts list filters to matching names.
  6. Click the district to select it. On desktop hold Ctrl while clicking other districts to select more than one, up to 20.
  7. The school list updates based on the selected district(s). Check which districts are highlighted before continuing.

2. Find individual schools and filter by grade or group

  1. Under School / District, click a school or Ctrl+click multiple schools to compare them.
  2. For source-reported district totals, leave individual school selection empty or use ALL SCHOOLS — District totals. Selecting all individual schools is not the same as requesting the official district aggregate.
  3. Set Grade to All tested grades or the specific available grade.
  4. Choose the reported Student Group. The available groups and grade options depend on the source records.
  5. Confirm the year, assessment subject, district/school and student group shown in the results summary.

3. Review achievement levels, proficiency and mean scores

  1. Set Display to Counts and percentages, Percentages, or Counts.
  2. Under Focus, select All performance levels, Proficient / Meeting Standard, or Not Proficient / Below Standard.
  3. Review Achievement distribution and Selected entity comparison for the selected school(s) or districts.
  4. In Source-reported results, read N, Levels 1–4, Met/Exceeded, and Mean.
  5. For CAASPP, Levels 3 and 4 together mean Met / Exceeded. Mean scale scores should come from official source results, not an average of school means.
  6. Scroll to Claim / Domain performance for available ELA claims or Math reporting areas. Suppressed or missing results are shown as unavailable, not zero.

4. Build a comparison table of student subgroups

  1. Scroll to Student-group proficiency comparison.
  2. Use Displayed subgroups search or a preset: Core, Race/Ethnicity, Language, Program, or Parent Education.
  3. Click Select All or Clear if you want to start again.
  4. Use Sort subgroups to order by Largest combined N, Highest proficiency, Lowest proficiency, or Largest proficiency gap.
  5. Use the display setting for Percentage and N, Percentage only, or Number only, and choose Top 20, Top 40, or All selected rows.
  6. Read each selected entity in its own column; the app does not invent aggregates for missing school records.

5. Create a three-year CAASPP trend

  1. Scroll to Three-year proficiency trend and click Load 2024–2026 Trend if a refresh is needed.
  2. Review the line/chart values by school or district and the 2024–2026 change in percentage points.
  3. Keep the same grade and student group for a valid year-to-year comparison.

6. Export the CAASPP research results

  1. Set the desired subject, year, districts, schools, grade and group.
  2. Click Export CSV above the charts to download the selected source results into a .csv file.
  3. Click Print / Save PDF to open the browser print dialog, then choose Save as PDF and save the tables and charts.
  4. Open the file after saving to verify the correct selection, labels, and page breaks.
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APPLICATION 05 / 05

Visual ELPAC

Explore English-language proficiency levels, ELPAC means, oral and written language composites, four language domains, subgroup comparisons and three-year patterns.

Open Visual Dashboard → Visual ELPAC ↗Checking live version…

1. Open ELPAC and find a California district

  1. Open Visual Dashboard and click Visual ELPAC along the top navigation.
  2. Confirm that the Visual ELPAC tab is selected in the assessment reporting page. The ELA/Math Assessment field is hidden in ELPAC mode.
  3. Choose Reporting Year: 2024, 2025 or 2026.
  4. Type a district name in Find district…, then select the matching entry from the Districts list.
  5. Hold Ctrl to select multiple districts, up to 20, and confirm the highlighted choices.

2. Find schools, grades and student groups

  1. Use School / District to select one or several individual schools.
  2. Leave the school selection empty or select ALL SCHOOLS — District totals to use source-reported district results.
  3. Choose an available Grade or overall grade aggregate.
  4. Choose Student Group, then confirm the selected district/school, year, grade and group in the summary above the charts.
  5. Only combinations that exist in the research files can populate; suppressed data do not display as zero.

3. Interpret ELPAC performance and language domains

  1. Set Display to show counts, percentages, or both.
  2. Use Focus to display All performance levels, Level 4 · Proficient, or Levels 1–3.
  3. Review Achievement distribution to see the four overall ELPAC performance levels.
  4. Read Source-reported results for the student count N, Level 1–4 percentages/counts, Level 4 proficiency, and mean.
  5. Scroll to Language domains and composites for Oral Language and Written Language plus Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, where the underlying data provide the fields.
  6. Unavailable results stay blank or unavailable; they are not assumed to be zero.

4. Compare ELPAC outcomes for student groups

  1. Scroll to Student-group proficiency comparison.
  2. Use the subgroup search or the Core, Race/Ethnicity, Language, Program, and Parent Education buttons to choose groups.
  3. Use Select All or Clear to replace your choices.
  4. Sort by Largest combined N, Highest proficiency, Lowest proficiency, or Largest proficiency gap.
  5. Choose Percentage and N, Percentage only, or Number only and set Top 20, Top 40 or All selected rows.
  6. Compare Level 4 proficiency for the same subgroup and reported grade across entities; inspect N as well as percentages.

5. Create an ELPAC three-year trend

  1. Scroll to Three-year proficiency trend and load the 2024–2026 trend if necessary.
  2. Review Level 4 proficiency by year for the chosen school(s)/district(s), grade and subgroup.
  3. Read the 2024–2026 percentage-point change. A missing historical record cannot support a calculated historical trend.

6. Download ELPAC CSV or create a PDF

  1. Verify the selected year, district/school, grade and student group.
  2. Click Export CSV to download the underlying selected source-reported research results.
  3. Click Print / Save PDF and choose Save as PDF in the browser print dialog.
  4. Verify that tables, domain results, trend graphics, and the correct year are included before sharing the saved document.
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Common Questions

How do I locate a school that isn't showing in the list?

Select the correct district first where required; try a shorter school name or a CDS code if that app supports CDS searching. Clear school-level filters and check the reporting year.

Why am I getting district totals when I wanted a school?

Visual CAASPP and Visual ELPAC show district totals if no school is selected. In Visual Dashboard, explicitly switch Analysis Level from Districts to Schools.

Where are my downloads?

The browser normally saves downloads in its Downloads folder. Print/Save as PDF opens a print dialog where you choose the PDF name and destination; turn on background graphics for accurate Dashboard colors if necessary.

Why are some grades, subgroups, or indicators absent?

Results depend on CDE publication, subgroup minimum-size rules, school grade span, indicator applicability and missing/suppressed data. Missing does not mean zero.

Can the tools remember my last view?

Some apps save selections in local browser storage. Returning in the same browser may restore them. Use Reset view in Visual Dashboard to clear stored preferences if needed.

Does this page automatically reflect application updates?

This Help Center reads the live version label from each hosted application when you open it. Feature instructions are reviewed and revised alongside releases as an application-maintenance responsibility. A version-label update alone cannot rewrite changed behavior; if you notice a mismatch, use the app's latest controls and flag the guide for a documentation correction.

Is Aloft Education an official CDE service?

No. These are independent analytical and planning tools. For accountability and program rules, consult the official California School Dashboard.