Schoolie course enrollment data will provide a more complete picture of learning opportunities in neighborhood schools across America
San Francisco Bay Area, July, 20, 2016 — GreatSchools, the Oakland, California-based nonprofit organization committed to empowering parents to get a great education for their children, announced today its acquisition of Schoolie, the education technology company which has pioneered the collection of in-depth, public school-level data on access to academic courses and school program information.
Schoolie’s school quality data will be incorporated into GreatSchools’ website in the coming months, and will help parents more efficiently compare and evaluate academic rigor and understand how well schools provide access to a well-rounded education.
“Schoolie provides access to information that parents deserve to know but until now has been rarely available,” said Samantha Olivieri, VP of Program for GreatSchoools. “Now, we can offer millions of GreatSchools users critical insights that fill in the picture of school quality in addition to test scores and other student outcomes.”
Schoolie spent two years carefully and methodically collecting — through individual letters and conversations with thousands of school districts across America — local data on school performance. Though this data and information should be made easily accessible to the public by state governments, that has been far from the case. Schoolie set out to solve this data access challenge, and the results of those efforts will have significant impact for parents across the country.
“Figuring out how many schools offer high level math courses or how schools compare in their foreign language offerings should not be an astronomical task,” said Nasha Fitter, the founder and CEO of Schoolie. “I am thrilled that GreatSchools will now be able to offer our data on a much broader national platform to give vital insight and information to parents. There is no other group of people who care more about getting school quality data into the hands of American parents than GreatSchools.”
GreatSchools will analyze the new Schoolie data to identify how many students gain exposure to high level courses vs. basic courses. GreatSchools will also have the ability to shed light into the depth and breadth of courses, including academic courses by subject and elective courses broken down by arts, vocational ed, business classes and will list what courses are offered school-by-school, amplifying the programmatic information that is currently reported in GreatSchools school profiles.
The Schoolie acquisition comes at the heels of a recent collaboration between GreatSchools and the U.S. Department of Education on the Civil Rights Data Collection. Together with the CRDC data and the new Schoolie information and analysis, GreatSchools will be able to highlight issues of equity and opportunity in schools across the United States.
“We know that a child’s learning opportunities are important to parents, and course enrollment information provides the kind of visibility families need to make informed decisions when looking for a school,” said Matthew Nelson, President of GreatSchools.“The Schoolie data together with GreatSchools ratings, community reviews, program information and the Civil Rights Data Collection will provide the most complete picture of neighborhood schools American parents have ever seen in one, easily accessible place.”
About GreatSchools
GreatSchools is the leading national nonprofit empowering parents to improve educational opportunities for their child. GreatSchools trusted ratings and school quality information help parents find the right school for their family and take action to improve schools in their communities. The thousands of articles, tips and interactive tools help parents support their child’s learning and well-being every day. Families, community leaders and policy-makers turn to GreatSchools for the school information they need to guide children to great futures.
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