Golden State Seal Merit Diploma (GSSMD) Report

What is the GSSMD Report?

The Golden State Seal Merit Diploma (GSSMD) report helps you identify which of your current seniors are on track to earn California's Golden State Seal Merit Diploma — a distinction awarded to students who demonstrate mastery across six required subject areas by the end of high school.

This report is available to district administrators and school administrators only.

How to generate the report

1. In Scout, go to Reports → Administrative → California Government Reporting.

2. In the left sidebar, click GSSMD Report.

3. Select the School you want to run the report for.

4. Select the School year you want to evaluate.

5. Click Generate report.

Once the report loads, a summary bar at the top shows the total number of grade-12 students, how many are eligible, and how many are not yet eligible.

To download the results, click Export CSV after generating the report.

Reading the report table

Each row represents one grade-12 student. The columns are:

• Student — Student name, linked to their Scout profile.

• State ID — The student's California state identifier.

• ELA, Math, Science, U.S. History — Whether the student has met the requirement in each of the four core subject areas (see below).

• Additional — How many of the two required additional subjects the student has met (shown as a fraction, e.g. 1 / 2).

• Eligible — Whether the student has met all requirements and is eligible for the seal.

Each subject cell shows a green check (✓) if the requirement is met, or a grey X if it is not. When the requirement is met via coursework grades, the cell also displays the specific courses and the school year in which mastery was achieved — for example: English 10A, English 10B (2022-2023). When met by a standardized assessment, the assessment name is shown instead.

How subject mastery is determined

Scout evaluates each subject using the student's grades and standardized assessment scores. A subject is considered mastered when either of the following is true:

Option 1 — Qualifying grade(s)

The student must earn a qualifying grade in at least one of these patterns, all within the same school year:

• Two semester-length courses in the same subject area during the same school year — for example, English 10A in the fall and English 10B in the spring of 2022-2023. Both courses must meet the grade threshold.

• One full-year course (a single grade that covers the entire year) at or above the threshold — for example, a year-long Biology course graded once for the full year.

Important things to know about how grades are counted:

• The two semesters must come from the same school year. A qualifying grade in the fall of one year and another qualifying grade in the fall of a different year will not combine to satisfy the requirement.

• A single semester grade alone — even from a high-credit dual-enrollment college course — does not satisfy the requirement. The student needs both semesters (or a full-year grade) in the same year.

• Two courses in the same term (for example, Biology Lecture and Biology Lab both in the same semester) count as only one semester of coursework, not two.

• Failing grades in earlier years are ignored — if a student later earns qualifying grades in both semesters of the same school year, that year still counts.

• Courses in a subject area do not need to have the same name. For example, "US History A" and "American Government" can together satisfy the U.S. History requirement if they both fall in the same year and meet the grade threshold.

Option 2 — Standardized assessment

The student has achieved a qualifying score on an approved standardized assessment for that subject (such as an AP exam or the Smarter Balanced assessment). When this is how a requirement is met, the assessment name appears in the subject cell.

Grade thresholds by subject

• ELA and U.S. History — B or above

• Math, Science, and additional subjects — B+ or above

Grades earned in middle school (below grade 9) are not counted. Grade-12 coursework is included for U.S. History and the additional subject areas, but the exact subjects your school tracks may vary by configuration.

Transferred-in (external) grades

Courses from a student's transcript that were completed at another school are also evaluated. Scout uses the school year listed on the transcript to group semesters together. If a transcript doesn't include a school year, Scout groups semesters by the student's grade level at the time — so two semesters listed at the same grade level are treated as the same year.

Frequently asked questions

A student has a high-credit dual-enrollment college grade but is still showing as not eligible. Why?

A single semester-length course — regardless of how many credits it carries — does not satisfy the subject mastery requirement on its own. The student needs both semesters of coursework (or a full-year grade) in the same subject area and the same school year.

A student completed one semester of English in 10th grade and another in 11th grade. Does that count?

No. Both qualifying semesters must fall within the same school year. Qualifying grades from different years cannot be combined to satisfy one subject requirement.

The report now shows a school year next to the qualifying courses. What does that mean?

When a student's subject requirement is met by grades, Scout now displays the school year in which those qualifying courses were completed — for example, English 10A, English 10B (2022-2023). This helps you quickly verify which year's coursework satisfied each subject.