Strategy. To achieve the Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolios 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 Portfolios design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisors research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisors 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 Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities associated with emerging markets authorized for investment by the Advisors Investment Committee (Approved Markets), … Show more… To achieve the Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolios 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 Portfolios design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisors research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies, sectors, and countries. The Advisors 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 Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolio is designed to purchase a broad and diverse group of equity securities associated with emerging markets authorized for investment by the Advisors Investment Committee (Approved Markets), which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development) but which does not include China. The Portfolio will invest in companies of all sizes, with meaningfully increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies. The Portfolios meaningfully increased exposure to smaller capitalization, lower relative price, and higher profitability companies may be achieved by decreasing the allocation of the Portfolios assets to larger capitalization, higher relative price, or lower profitability companies. An equity issuer is considered to have a high relative price (i.e., a growth stock) primarily because it has a high price in relation to its book value. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. 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 Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets equity investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Market securities. In determining which countries are eligible Approved Markets for the Portfolio, the Advisor may consider various factors, including, without limitation, the classification of countries recognized by global index providers, market liquidity, relative availability of information to investors, government regulation, including fiscal and foreign exchange repatriation rules, the availability of other access to these markets, clearing and settlement processes, taxes, fees, duties, and other costs of transacting in the market, and observance of property rights. The Advisor may also increase or reduce the Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolios exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a companys price momentum, short-run reversals, and investment characteristics. In assessing a companys investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a companys 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 Emerging Markets ex China Core Equity Portfolio may gain exposure to companies in Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuers domicile country. The Portfolio may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. Because many of the Portfolios investments may be denominated in foreign currencies, the Portfolio may enter into foreign currency exchange transactions, including foreign currency forward contracts, in connection with the settlement of foreign securities or to transfer cash balances from one currency to another currency. The Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income. Show less