New National Education Web Site Provides Critical Information and Analysis on America’s Public Schools, Districts, and States

WASHINGTON — SchoolMatters.com, a Web-based national education data service that provides in-depth information and analysis about public schools, districts and state education systems, was unveiled today by the National Education Data Partnership, a collaboration among the Council of Chief State School Officers, Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services, Achieve, Inc., and the CELT Corporation. The National Education Data Partnership is funded by a $45 million investment by The Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

SchoolMatters.com is the largest easily searchable collection of education performance data ever assembled. In addition to student achievement information, financial data and demographic breakdowns, the service includes powerful analytical tools and objective analyses provided by Standard & Poor’s that provide education leaders with the information they need to make better-informed decisions about schools and school systems.

“While much of public education is doing well, there are no easy solutions to fix the more challenging aspects facing our system,” said Tom Houlihan, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “SchoolMatters will provide the kind of advanced analytical tool that education leaders need to help them make the very difficult decisions they face.”

Despite increased investments in per-pupil spending over the past two decades, fewer than 1 in 3 students can demonstrate proficiency in reading or math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Additionally, only 68 percent of public high school students nationally will graduate, according to a recent report from the Urban Institute, and Latino and African American students have little more than a 50 percent chance of finishing high school with a diploma. SchoolMatters.com democratizes access to information and ultimately will help fuel the national dialogue about how to improve our nation’s public schools.

With this Web site, educators in a given school will be able to find schools that have similar demographics with higher academic performance. This can be a useful start for schools and districts looking to develop comprehensive improvement programs and provides a first step in identifying promising practices of school reform.

“By using SchoolMatters to identify schools with successful practices, principals can adjust instructional methods to further student achievement and help drive overall school improvement,” said Brian Galdes, principal of Fisher Elementary School in Redford, Mich.

The type of information available on SchoolMatters.com varies state-by-state. Among the information the Web site provides:

• Student proficiency results on statewide reading and math tests, broken down by student subgroups and grades, for every public school, district and state;
• Student demographic information including socio-economic, special education and English language learner populations at the school, district and state levels;
• District and state financial data like spending allocations, revenue streams, staff compensation and long-term debt;
• Community demographic data, such as income levels, housing values, household parental status, and adult educational attainment levels.
  • Standard & Poor’s unique ratios that simultaneously examine academic and financial performance in demographic context.

“Better information is critical to making better policy decisions that will improve our country’s education system,” said Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation. “Performance analysis is widely available in corporate and financial sectors, and we need the same critical information about our schools.”

“Creating a common platform in which to view our nation’s education data is paramount in our collective efforts to find effective practices and strategies that can be shared from school to school or from district to district,” said William Cox, managing director of Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services. “To this end, Standard & Poor’s has worked not only to create a service that transforms the way Americans use and view education data, but also one that can help inform and improve student performance across the nation.”

“Through SchoolMatters, users can learn about creative reforms throughout the country and consider whether similar efforts would benefit their local schools,” said Tom Vander Ark, executive director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Educators and policymakers can examine the relationship between spending decisions and student achievement, which may help to identify cost-effective solutions to improve student performance.”

The National Education Data Partnership was formed in August 2004 to help transform the way education information is used by educators, policymakers, superintendents and parents.

SchoolMatters.com is one of three education data efforts of the partnership. In addition, the partnership, through CELT, offers consulting and technical assistance to improve state data infrastructure, and Achieve, Inc., helps local, state and national policymakers use data to identify policy priorities and engage the public and key stakeholders in addressing those priorities.

To access SchoolMatters, go to www.SchoolMatters.com.