Tools for Educators

About CaliforniaColleges.edu

CaliforniaColleges.edu is California’s state-funded comprehensive digital platform with the tools students need to develop their college and career plans, available at no cost to students, educators, and parents/guardians in public school districts.

The platform enables 6th-12th grade students to obtain the information and guidance they need to successfully complete college and financial aid processes, while also providing tools for educators to identify students that need the most help and target their interventions effectively.

All Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) that enroll 9th-12th grade students are required to enter into a data-sharing agreement with the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) to provide transcript-informed “Partner Accounts” by January 2026, as detailed in California Education Code Section 60900 (see CCGI in the California Education Code for full details).

Tools for Students Benefits of Partnership with CCGI

How We Support Districts and Educators

CaliforniaColleges.edu provides tools to LEAs that support each district’s existing priorities for improving college and career readiness outcomes, such as those aligned to their Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), and/or College and Career Indicator (CCI) measures. These outcomes may include increasing the number of students completing A-G requirements, increasing college application rates, and/or expanding access to college and career knowledge).

Click on the tabs to explore each section and learn more about how the tools on CaliforniaColleges.edu support districts and educators.

Tools Available to All Educator Accounts

By registering an Educator Account, educators will get:

  • Access to college, career, and financial aid information and lesson-planning content
  • The ability to track students’ progress on activities within the platform
  • Financial Aid Lessons that students can complete independently, which helps educators district satisfy financial aid education requirements
  • The ability to track the status of student applications to the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), and University of California (UC) systems, if the applications were launched from CaliforniaColleges.edu
  • Reporting tools that help educators confirm Financial Aid Lesson completion, financial aid application progress, and identify seniors with incomplete FAFSA or CADAA applications
  • Year-round support and web-based resources from CCGI to make district- or school-wide implementation of CaliforniaColleges.edu easier

Tools Available to Partner Educator Accounts Only

With a Partner Educator Account, educators can additionally:

  • Use reporting tools that help track students’ progress towards A-G course completion at a glance
  • View progress toward CSU and UC eligibility by student and/or across a school or district
  • Use advanced filtering on reports to segment student populations by race, ethnicity, gender, or special population to help address equity gaps
  • Send verified electronic transcript data directly to the CCC and CSU systems to support decisions about admissions and first-year course placement

The reporting tools on CaliforniaColleges.edu are designed to help educators gather actionable data about their students’ interests and activities. Educators can use the information from the reports to inform their practice:

  • Design targeted student programming informed by students’ interests, needs, and overall student trends.
  • Identify individual students, or groups of students, who may need extra support in career planning or the college and financial aid application process.

As a tool, CaliforniaColleges.edu can be leveraged as a Tier 1 level support within the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework (access and learning for all students). Making use of the many educator reports available on the platform to increase efficiency and the ability for educators to strategically intervene with those students who could thrive with Tier 2 or Tier 3 level support is the goal.

Click on the blue bars below to expand each section and learn more about the types of reports available to educators, or check out Reports.

Overview of Reports

Which students have planned coursework in the Academic Planner?

Educators in both Partner Districts and districts using Basic Accounts can run the “Which students have planned coursework in the Academic Planner?” report to determine which students have and have not planned their courses in the Academic Planner, as well as which students have not yet registered their CaliforniaColleges.edu account.

CSU and UC Eligibility Reports

To help students make informed decisions about their college plans, educators need accurate information about their students’ eligibility for admission to a California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC). CaliforniaColleges.edu’s CSU and UC Eligibility Reports can help educators in Partner Districts see how their students are progressing towards meeting CSU and UC eligibility requirements.

A-G Course Alignment Reports

To ensure students are able to navigate the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) application processes, educators need to be able to identify any issues with a student’s eligibility that could affect their admission.

Which students have SMS enabled?

Educators in both Partner Districts and districts using Basic Accounts can run the “Which students have SMS enabled?” report to determine which students in their district can receive text message updates from CaliforniaColleges.edu.

How many CaliforniaColleges.edu accounts are there at my school site?

Before your students can take advantage of CaliforniaColleges.edu’s wide range of college and career planning and application tools, they must first register their CaliforniaColleges.edu account. Educators are able to run the “How many CaliforniaColleges.edu accounts are there at my school site?” report to quickly identify which students have yet to register and help them ensure they have access to their CaliforniaColleges.edu accounts. Note, this report is not available to Educator Accounts with Counselor-Caseload Only and Educator user roles.

College Eligibility and Application Status Report

Educators can run the “Download Only: Current College Eligibility and Application Statuses” report that helps them quickly identify each students’ individual college eligibility, college and application, and financial aid statuses in one place for a specific grade level.

The report is a comprehensive .CSV file containing all students’ progress toward meeting CSU and UC eligibility, and college application statuses to the CSU, UC or CCC, as well as their financial aid application status. The report seeks to help educators prioritize their work and provide guided support to their students through the college and financial aid application cycles. Please note, the single-select grade level filter is required for this report.

Financial Aid Applications and Lessons Progress Reports

Educators can run the “What is the status of FAFSA/California Dream Act Application launched from CaliforniaColleges.edu?” report on CaliforniaColleges.edu to confirm student completion of their financial aid application. Educators can also find information about a students’ FAFSA/California Dream Act Application status in the report “Download Only: Current College Eligibility and Application Statuses,” alongside information about students’ CCC, CSU and UC Application statuses. The information on the reports can help districts meet California Education Code 51225.8 compliance requirements.

CCCApply Report

To effectively help students apply to California Community Colleges, educators need to be able to easily monitor student application progress. When students launch their CCCApply applications from CaliforniaColleges.edu, educators can run the “Which students applied to a California Community College using CCCApply?” report to track their applications and identify which students might benefit from greater support in submitting their application.

Cal State Apply Report

To effectively help students apply to a California State University, educators need to know where each student is in the application process and have the ability to identify which students need more support. When students launch their Cal State Apply Application from CaliforniaColleges.edu, educators can monitor their progress using two reports that show the status of student Cal State Apply applications at a glance and prioritize follow-up to students who need it most.

UC Application Report

To effectively help students apply to a University of California (UC), educators need to know how far along their students are in the application process. When students launch their UC Application from CaliforniaColleges.edu, educators with Partner Accounts can run the “Which students have applied to a UC using their CaliforniaColleges.edu account?” report to view the status of all their students’ applications in one place and focus their interventions effectively.

“Favorited” Colleges and Majors

Educators in both Partner Districts and districts using Basic Accounts can run several reports that inform them about students’ “favorited” colleges and majors when using the College and Major Search Tools. These reports include:

  • Which students have favorited (❤) at least one major?
  • Which students have favorited (❤) at least one college?
  • Which colleges have students favorited (❤)?
  • Which majors have students favorited (❤)?
  • Which colleges have been favorited (❤), by Institution Type?

“Favorited” Careers

Educators in both Partner Districts and districts using Basic Accounts can run several reports that inform them about students’ “favorited” careers when using the Career Assessments and Career Search Tool. These reports include:

  • Which students have favorited (❤) at least one career?
  • Which careers have students favorited (❤)?

Career Assessment Reports

Educators can run several reports to determine student completion of the different Career Assessments and ensure students are planning postsecondary goals that best connect to their skills and interests. These reports include:

  • Which students have completed the Interest Profiler?
  • Which students have completed the Personality Assessment?
  • Which students have completed the Learning & Productivity Assessment?
  • Which students have completed the Intelligences Assessment?
  • Which students have completed the Work Values?
  • Which students have completed the Skills Assessment?
  • Which students have completed a Career Assessment?
    • This is a summary report. Educators will need to click each individual Career Assessment’s link under the first column on the report to drill down to see which students have completed each assessment.

Financial Aid Lessons Progress Reports

Educators can run the Financial Aid Module Completion report to see which students have not yet completed the Financial Aid Lessons and target their interventions to those who need it most. The report indicates Not Started, In Progress, and Completed statuses for each Financial Aid module. The information on the report can help districts meet California Education Code 51225.7 compliance requirements.

College and Career Lessons Progress Report

Educators can run the “What are the statuses of students’ college & career modules for their current grade level?” report to determine their students’ progress through the College and Career Lessons on CaliforniaColleges.edu. Educators can use this report to identify students who may benefit from the information in the College and Career Lessons and encourage those students to take advantage of them.

When students sign in to their account, the home page shows their grade level and presents them with the option to click My Activities. Under My Activities on CaliforniaColleges.edu, students will find grade-level specific activities to complete.

Each activity includes an associated student worksheet. These activities guide students through a series of actions to help them develop their postsecondary plan. Trackable activities associated with each worksheet, such as taking an assessment or favoriting careers, will be saved in students’ My Plan.

Educators in both Partner Districts and districts using Basic Accounts can track completion of students’ activities on CaliforniaColleges.edu by running the following reports:

  • How many students have created a Life Plan?
  • Which education levels have students selected for their Life Plans?
  • How many students have added an entry in Planning My Future?
  • Which students have uploaded to My Documents?
  • Which students have completed at least one Experience?
  • Which students have completed the Grade Level Activities?
  • Which students have completed the Statewide Journals?

Reporting tools enable district administrators to track progress on key college, career, and financial aid planning and application metrics. They also support the implementation of state policies and mandates, such as those listed in our CCGI in the California Education Code document.

Download CCGI in the California Education Code CCGI and CaliforniaColleges.edu

Click on the thumbnails below to watch testimonials from educators about how they used CaliforniaColleges.edu.

Benefits of College Application Integrations

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School Site Implementation

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District-Wide Implementation

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Financial Aid Tools

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Career Pathways

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How to Get an Educator Account

Ready to get started on CaliforniaColleges.edu? Use our District Lookup Tool to see what your specific next steps are for getting a CaliforniaColleges.edu account.

District Lookup Tool