The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is California’s assessment system that is used to determine the English language proficiency of learners whose primary language is not English. The ELPAC assesses four domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
The Initial ELPAC is used to identify students as being either an English learner or fluent in English. It is administered only once during a student’s time in the California public school system based on the results of the home language survey. The Initial ELPAC administration window is open from July 1 through June 30. For more information on the Initial ELPAC, visit here.
Beginning around March, English language learners will take the Summative ELPAC. The summative assessment is given to learners in grades TK–12 who have been identified as English learners, and it measures how well a learner is progressing with English development in each of the four domains. EL learners continue to take the assessment annually until they are reclassified as fluent English proficient. In order to be considered proficient in English and reclassify, a learner must score a 4 on each of the four domains AND receive a score of 50% or higher on the MAP test or SBAC Language Arts test. For more information on the summative assessment, visit here.
Parents/guardians cannot opt their child out of the ELPAC. State law (California Education Code section 313 and California Education Code section 60810 ) and federal law Titles I and Ill of the Every Student Succeeds Act) require that all students whose primary language is other than English be assessed for English language proficiency.
For more additional information on the ELPAC, including practice and training tests, please visit the ELPAC website.