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U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Risk/Return [Heading] rr_RiskReturnHeading U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio
Objective [Heading] rr_ObjectiveHeading Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block] rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The investment objective of the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio (the “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading] rr_ExpenseHeading Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio
Expense Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text] rr_ShareholderFeesCaption Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None
Operating Expenses Caption [Text] rr_OperatingExpensesCaption Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay eachyear as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading] rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

A mutual fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when mutual fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s portfolio turnover rate was 30% of the average value of its investment portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate 30.00%
Expense Example [Heading] rr_ExpenseExampleHeading EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Strategy [Heading] rr_StrategyHeading Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block] rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

To achieve the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s investment objective, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification

across companies and sectors. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of readily marketable securities of U.S. small cap companies that the Advisor determines to have high profitability and high relative prices compared to other U.S. small cap companies at the time of purchase. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. Securities are considered higher relative price (growth) stocks primarily because a company’s shares have a high price in relation to their book value (a “price to book ratio”) when compared with other U.S. small cap companies. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the small-cap growth segment of the U.S. market. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios, as well as economic conditions and developments in the issuer’s industry. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small cap U.S. companies. As of the date of this Prospectus, for purposes of the Portfolio, the Advisor considers small cap companies to be companies whose market capitalizations are generally in the lowest 10% of total market capitalization or companies whose market capitalizations are smaller than the 1,000th largest U.S. company, whichever results in the higher market capitalization break. Total market capitalization is based on the market capitalization of eligible U.S. operating companies listed on a securities exchange in the United States that is deemed appropriate by the Advisor. Under the Advisor’s market capitalization guidelines described above, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2022, the market capitalization of a small cap company would be below $7,650 million. This threshold will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

The U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.
Risk [Heading] rr_RiskHeading Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block] rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

Because the value of your investment in the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Growth Investment Risk: Growth stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures, and options thereon, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the Portfolio uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and the Portfolio could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Securities Lending Risk: Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the Portfolio may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Portfolio could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside the Advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. The Portfolio and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: The Portfolio’s and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the Portfolio to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the Portfolio and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.
Risk Lose Money [Text] rr_RiskLoseMoney Because the value of your investment in the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money.
RIsk Not Insured [Text] rr_RiskNotInsured An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block] rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized one year, five year and ten year returns, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text] rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year.
Performance Availability Website Address [Text] rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text] rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results.
Bar Chart [Heading] rr_BarChartHeading U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio Institutional Class Shares—Total Returns
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block] rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock

January 2013-December 2022

 

 

 

Highest Quarter
27.16% (4/20–6/20)

  

Lowest Quarter
-30.33% (1/20–3/20)

Highest Quarterly Return, Label rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel Highest Quarter
Highest Quarterly Return, Date rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate Jun. 30, 2020
Highest Quarterly Return rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn 27.16%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel Lowest Quarter
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate Mar. 31, 2020
Lowest Quarterly Return rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn (30.33%)
Performance Table Heading rr_PerformanceTableHeading Annualized Returns (%)Periods ending December 31, 2022
Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text] rr_IndexNoDeductionForFeesExpensesTaxes (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate The after-tax returns presented in the table for the U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Russell 2000® Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales)  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (26.36%)
5 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 3.51%
10 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 9.20%
U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Institutional Class  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
Management Fee rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets 0.28% [1]
Other Expenses rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets 0.03% [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses rr_ExpensesOverAssets 0.31% [1]
Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 $ 32
Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 100
Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 174
Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 $ 393
Annual Return 2013 rr_AnnualReturn2013 42.73%
Annual Return 2014 rr_AnnualReturn2014 4.23%
Annual Return 2015 rr_AnnualReturn2015 (1.61%)
Annual Return 2016 rr_AnnualReturn2016 17.13%
Annual Return 2017 rr_AnnualReturn2017 16.21%
Annual Return 2018 rr_AnnualReturn2018 (12.34%)
Annual Return 2019 rr_AnnualReturn2019 26.16%
Annual Return 2020 rr_AnnualReturn2020 19.34%
Annual Return 2021 rr_AnnualReturn2021 25.93%
Annual Return 2022 rr_AnnualReturn2022 (17.77%)
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (17.77%)
5 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 6.45%
10 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 10.54%
U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (18.52%)
5 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 5.51%
10 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 9.83%
U.S. Small Cap Growth Portfolio | Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares  
Risk/Return: rr_RiskReturnAbstract  
1 Year rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 (9.96%)
5 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 5.02%
10 Years rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 8.63%
[1] The “Management Fee” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” have been adjusted to reflect the decrease in the management fee payable by the Portfolio from 0.33% to 0.28% effective February 28, 2022.