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OpenSchoolData

About OpenSchoolData

How is your school actually doing?

What we do

OpenSchoolData turns federal NCES data into readable school profiles covering enrollment, staffing, and student outcomes.

We focus on U.S. K-12 school enrollment, outcomes, and demographics. Every page on openschooldata.org is built from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), via the Urban Institute API, cited and linkable so readers can trace any number back to its source.

Who this is for

OpenSchoolData is built for parents, teachers, school-board candidates, and education reporters.

Why this exists

Public data on U.S. K-12 school enrollment, outcomes, and demographics is technically free, but practically locked behind file formats, acronyms, and paywalled dashboards. OpenSchoolDataexists to close that gap: take the raw federal and public-sector data, and turn it into pages a normal person can read in thirty seconds.

How we work

  • Primary source only. We pull from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), via the Urban Institute API and cite the exact dataset and version on every page.
  • No invented numbers. If a figure is not in the underlying public data, it does not appear on openschooldata.org. We never generate synthetic statistics to fill gaps.
  • Refreshed on a schedule. Data is refetched on a published cadence — you can see the "Last updated" date on every dataset page.
  • Corrections welcome. Readers flag issues all the time. When the source fixes a record, OpenSchoolData follows.

Independence

OpenSchoolData is an independent publication. We are not funded, owned, or directed by any of the agencies, companies, or organizations that appear in our data. Hosting is paid for by advertising — see our Privacy Policy for details — and we do not take paid placements, sponsored rankings, or "remove-my-entry" fees.

History

OpenSchoolData launched in 2025 as part of a small portfolio of independent public-data sites. It has been maintained and updated continuously since.

Contact

Tips, corrections, data-partnership questions, and press inquiries: [email protected]. More options on our contact page.