What is the DEMI?

San Diego Unified School District's innovative DEMI (District Essential Mathematics Indicators) assessment captures growth in our mathematics program across the areas of knowledge, application, and communication.

The DEMI:

Continue scrolling to learn more about these DEMI design features, our DEMI score report, or to review our Frequently Asked Questions.  

Multi-Dimensional Mathematics

The DEMI assesses Essential Mathematics across grade spans, content domains, and Critical Concepts, painting a portrait of student growth across their K-12 experience in San Diego Enhanced Mathematics.  

The DEMI collects evidence of the mathematics students know, how they apply the mathematics that they know, and how they communicate their mathematical ideas and understanding.

Asset-Based Assessment

The DEMI provides an opportunity for students to showcase their mathematical understanding in a way that makes sense to them. 

Student submissions are analyzed for evidence of their unique understanding, which is represented in many beautiful ways, whether or not they arrive at the correct answer. We identify students' ways of thinking to identify assets and better understand their mathematical strengths and areas of growth. 


Student Agency

The DEMI is designed to highlight student voice and agency. Items are purposefully designated as open response so that students have the flexibility and independence to submit an answer in the way that makes sense to them. 

Students' neurodiversity is captured in our question items, allowing for students to express themselves as they see and make sense of a question. For example, a student can submit their answer in Spanish or add cultural context to their response. 


Timely & Actionable Formative Data

The DEMI collects interesting and useful evidence of student thinking across a variety of prioritized content (Elementary and Secondary Critical Concepts). 

Data is shared with students, families, educators, and site/district leaders to help influence next steps and provide timely data that informs changes in the classroom and policy. 

The way in which student responses are shared and reported is through an innovative tool called Math ANEX.  


Making Sense of the DEMI Report

DEMI Report SAMPLE (2022 Website)

How to read the DEMI Score Report?

The DEMI Overview

The DEMI Score Report begins with a short overview of the purpose of the DEMI and how it aligns to the SDUSD modernized vision of mathematics. The San Diego Enhanced Math TK-12 math initiative began in 2018 to enact this vision across curriculum, instruction, equitable assessment practices, and leadership support. The DEMI is a district-wide math assessment that is part of our efforts to integrate equitable assessment practices at the district level. 


Focus Domains and Categorical Scores

SDUSD defines mathematical rigor as mastery in the focus domains of Knowledge, Application, and Communication. These domains reflect a synthesis of the California Common Core state math content and practice standards. 

Each DEMI item is matched to a prioritized CA Common Core math standard(s) and SDUSD focus domain. The scoring of the DEMI is focused on searching for evidence of understanding in what students have submitted for each item. When a sufficient amount of evidence has been collected for a specific focus domain, students receive a categorical score of "Evidence of Mathematical Proficiency". If not enough evidence was found, we suggest seeking out additional data from the student/teacher. If more than sufficient evidence has been collected, a student would receive the categorical score "Evidence of Mathematical Strength". 

A Window Into Your Child's Problem Solving

The second page of the DEMI Report includes sample items and a few examples of ways students thought about those math questions. These unique ways of thinking shared are included to highlight the neurodiversity and creative problem-solving approaches of our SDUSD student mathematicians. These samples also highlight the different ways of explaining students leverage to communicate their thinking. 

Our report includes your child's submissions to these items and a few questions that you might explore as you review the submissions from other students and your child's submission. 

Continuing Your Child's Math Journey

The DEMI collects evidence of students' strengths as growing mathematicians and also honors that we are all still learning. We provide a resource link to learn more about multi-dimensional mathematics and access free resources to support your child's learning. 

DEMI Frequently Asked Questions