AB 2555 and ELPAC Reclassification: What California Teachers Need to Know This Year

If you teach English learners in California, the rules for reclassification changed this fall. Assembly Bill 2555 replaced the old four-criteria process with a single criterion: the student's Summative ELPAC score. Here is a plain-language summary of what the California Department of Education (CDE) says, what it means for your classroom, and what to tell families.

What changed under AB 2555

  • The ELPAC score is now the only criterion. According to the CDE's AB 2555 FAQ, English learners are reclassified "based solely on meeting the SBE approved threshold": an Overall Performance Level 4 on the Summative ELPAC, or an Overall Performance Level 3 on the Summative Alternate ELPAC.
  • No added local requirements. Districts may not require anything beyond the score. That means no reclassification committee, no teacher sign-off and no extra local tests. On existing reclassification forms, districts complete only the Criterion 1 (ELPAC) portion and disregard Criteria 2–4.
  • A deadline this school year. Students who met the threshold on their 2025–26 Summative ELPAC must be reclassified with dates between September 27, 2026 and January 31, 2027. The CDE recommends doing it as soon as possible.
  • Automatic reclassification is coming. Beginning with the 2027–28 Summative ELPAC and Summative Alternate ELPAC administrations, reclassification becomes automatic.
  • Monitoring continues. Districts must still monitor reclassified (RFEP) students for four years after reclassification.

Source: CDE, AB 2555 Frequently Asked Questions. Always follow your district's guidance on local procedures and timelines.

What it means in the classroom

With teacher sign-off and local criteria gone, the ELPAC itself is now the whole picture. Two of its four domains, Speaking and Writing, are scored by people using rubrics, and they are where many students who are close to Level 4 lose points. Students who have been English learners for six or more years (long-term English learners) often have strong conversational English but need direct practice with academic speaking and writing.

Three practical shifts many teachers are making:

  1. Short daily speaking and writing routines that use the same task types students see on the ELPAC, such as explaining a process, supporting an opinion and summarizing a text.
  2. Academic language in every subject, not only in designated ELD time. Sentence frames in math, science and social studies give students structured practice using academic English where they need it.
  3. Clear communication with families, who may have heard about committees and report-card criteria that no longer apply.

What to tell families

Many families will have questions this year: why their child was reclassified without a meeting, why a sibling was not, or what "monitoring" means. A short, clear letter in the family's language helps. It should explain the ELPAC score report, what Level 4 means, that reclassified students are still monitored for four years, and simple ways to support English at home. School English Learner Advisory Committees (ELACs) are also a natural place to explain the change to parents.

Ready-to-use resources

We built these printable kits for California schools after AB 2555:

Everything is a printable PDF. No student data is collected. Schools can pay by purchase order; see our School Portal for site and district licenses.

This article summarizes public CDE guidance as of October 2026. It is not legal advice; check with your district's English learner program office for local procedures.