The investment objective of the DFA California Short-Term Municipal Bond Portfolio (the "Portfolio") is to seek to provide current income that is expected to be exempt from federal personal income taxes and California state personal income taxes.

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 and hold shares of the Portfolio.

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment):

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

February 28, 2013

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

The Portfolio 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 Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio's performance. Because the Portfolio is new, information about portfolio turnover rate is not yet available.

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 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 and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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

The Advisor believes that fixed income investing should involve a long-term view and a systematic focus on bond market risk and return, not on interest rate forecasting or market timing.

In constructing an investment portfolio, the Advisor identifies a broadly diversified universe of eligible securities with precisely defined maturity ranges and credit quality characteristics. The Advisor will then seek to purchase a broad and diverse portfolio of securities meeting these credit quality standards. In making these purchase decisions, if the anticipated maturity risk premium is greater for longer-term securities in the eligible maturity range, the Advisor will focus investment in that longer-term area, otherwise, the portfolio will focus investment in the shorter-term range of the eligible maturity range. The Advisor also places priority on efficiently managing portfolio turnover and keeping trading costs low.

The Portfolio seeks its investment objective by investing primarily in a universe of municipal securities issued by or on behalf of California state or local governments and their agencies, instrumentalities and regional governmental authorities, the interest on which is exempt from regular federal income tax and the state personal income tax of California. The Portfolio invests primarily in municipal securities issued by or on behalf of California state or local governments and their agencies, instrumentalities and regional governmental authorities. The Portfolio may also invest a portion of its assets in municipal securities issued by U.S. territories that are exempt from state taxation under federal law. Municipal securities in which the Portfolio may invest include, among others, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, industrial development bonds, municipal lease obligations, commercial paper variable rate demand obligations and other instruments (including participation interests in such securities). The Portfolio intends to invest in municipal securities that in the opinion of bond counsel for the issuers and under current tax law provide interest that is exempt from California and federal personal income taxes. As a fundamental investment policy, under normal market conditions, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest exempt from federal personal income tax and California state personal income taxes. The Portfolio does not currently intend to invest its assets in securities whose interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.

Generally, the Portfolio will acquire obligations that mature more than three years from the date of settlement. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will maintain a dollar-weighted average portfolio maturity of more than three years but less than ten years. The Portfolio intends to maintain a dollar-weighted average credit quality equal to or better than the lower of: (i) a credit quality rating of AA by S&P or Aa2 by Moody's or AA by Fitch or (ii) the credit quality of general obligation bonds issued by the state of California. For purposes of the above policy on dollar-weighted average credit quality, unrated securities may be included if such securities have been determined by the Advisor to be of comparable quality. The Portfolio may invest in individual municipal securities of any credit quality rating, including securities considered to be below investment grade. If a security has been redeemed by the issuer at a date prior to the stated final maturity date for the purposes of the above maturity restriction, the early redemption date shall be considered the maturity date regardless of the stated final maturity.

Municipal securities are often issued to obtain funds for various public purposes, including the construction of a wide range of public facilities, such as bridges, highways, housing, hospitals, mass transportation facilities, schools, streets and public utilities, such as water and sewer works. Municipal securities include municipal leases, certificates of participation, municipal obligation components and municipal custody receipts. The Portfolio may invest more than 25% of its assets in municipal securities issued to finance projects in a particular segment of the bond market including, but not limited to, health care, housing, education, utilities, and transportation. The Portfolio also may invest more than 25% of its assets in industrial development bonds.

The Portfolio may (1) purchase certain municipal securities that are insured, (2) invest in municipal securities secured by mortgages on single-family homes and multi-family projects, (3) invest in pre-refunded municipal securities, (4) purchase tax-exempt municipal securities on a "when-issued" basis and (5) use bond (interest rate) futures and options contracts, credit swaps, interest rate swaps and other types of derivatives to hedge against changes in interest rates. The Portfolio may also use derivatives, such as futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to gain market exposure on its uninvested cash pending investment in securities or to maintain liquidity to pay redemptions.

Although the Portfolio attempts to invest all of its assets in tax-exempt securities, it is possible, although not anticipated, that a portion of its assets may be invested in securities that pay taxable interest, including interest that may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. These investments could generate taxable income for shareholders.

The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The Portfolio is primarily designed for investment by California taxpayers.

Risk [Heading]

rr_RiskHeading

PRINCIPAL RISKS

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, political, and issuer-specific events will cause the value of securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall. Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money.

Interest Rate Risk: Fixed income securities are subject to interest rate risk because the prices of fixed income securities tend to move in the opposite direction of interest rates. When interest rates rise, fixed income security prices fall. When interest rates fall, fixed income security prices rise. In general, fixed income securities with longer maturities are more sensitive to these price changes. In addition, falling interest rates may cause the Portfolio's income to decline.

Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security may be unable to make interest payments and/or repay principal when due. A downgrade to an issuer's credit rating or a perceived change in an issuer's financial strength may affect a security's value, and thus, impact the Portfolio's performance. Credit risk is greater for fixed income securities with ratings below investment grade (BB or below by S&P or Ba or below by Moody's). Fixed income securities that are below investment grade involve high credit risk and are considered speculative. Below investment grade fixed income securities may also fluctuate in value more than higher quality fixed income securities and, during periods of market volatility, may be more difficult to sell at the time and price the Portfolio desires.

Tax Liability Risk: Tax liability risk is the risk that distributions by the Portfolio become taxable to shareholders as ordinary income due to noncompliant conduct by a municipal bond issuer, unfavorable changes in federal or state tax laws, or adverse interpretations of tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities. Such adverse interpretations or actions could cause interest from a security to become taxable, possibly retroactively, subjecting shareholders to increased tax liability. In addition, such adverse interpretations or actions could cause the value of a security, and therefore, the value of the Portfolio's shares, to decline.

State-Specific Risk: Because the Portfolio focuses its investments primarily in California municipal securities, the value of the Portfolio's investments will be highly sensitive to events affecting the fiscal stability of the State of California and its agencies, municipalities, authorities and other instrumentalities that issue securities. Having a significant percentage of its assets invested in the securities of fewer issuers, particularly obligations of government issuers of a single state, could result in greater credit risk exposure to a smaller number of issuers due to economic, regulatory or political problems in California. Also, to the extent that the Portfolio makes significant investments in securities issued to finance projects in a particular segment of the California municipal securities market such focused investment may cause the value of the Portfolio's shares to change more than the value of shares of funds that invest more broadly. The deterioration of California's fiscal situation as a result of the economic recession that began in the first quarter of 2008 increases the risk of investing in California municipal securities, including the risk of potential issuer default, and also heightens the risk that the prices of California municipal securities will experience greater volatility. These risks are disclosed in more detail in the Portfolio's Statement of Additional Information.

Derivatives: Derivatives are securities, such as futures contracts, whose value is derived from that of other securities or indices. Derivatives can be used for hedging (attempting to reduce risk by offsetting one investment position with another) or non-hedging purposes. Hedging with derivatives may increase expenses, and there is no guarantee that a hedging strategy will work. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered more speculative than other types of investments. When the Portfolio uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of that derivative. Derivative securities are subject to a number of risks including liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, and the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of the 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: 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 potential adverse tax consequences.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

rr_RiskLoseMoney

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

PERFORMANCE

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Performance information is not available for the Portfolio because it has less than one calendar year of performance. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained in the future by visiting www.dimensional.com.

Performance One Year or Less [Text]

rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess

Performance information is not available for the Portfolio because it has less than one calendar year of performance.

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress

www.dimensional.com

[1]

The shares of the Portfolio are new, so the "Other Expenses" and "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses" shown are based on anticipated fees and expenses for the fiscal year ending October 31, 2011.

[2]

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the "Advisor") has agreed to waive all or a portion of its management fee in certain circumstances. The Fee Waiver and/or Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2013, and shall continue in effect from year to year thereafter unless terminated by the Fund or the Advisor. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.