Posted on: Thursday, March 31, 2005

New Web site helps users track performance of school districts

Advertiser staff and news services

A new Web site launched by education and business leaders this week allows users to find detailed information about various school districts, as well as compare student performance and other factors in school districts across the country.

The Web site, SchoolMatters.com, bills itself as "the largest easily searchable collection of education performance data ever assembled."

Because Hawai'i has a single statewide school district, there are limitations to the comparisons. For instance, there is no way to tell how Honolulu schools compare with those on the Big Island or Maui.

However, Hawai'i can be compared to other states using measures such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, college preparatory data and certain state-level demographic and spending data.

States have different assessment systems and standards, however, so test scores on these unique assessments are not comparable.

"SchoolMatters will provide the kind of advanced analytical tool that education leaders need to help them make the very difficult decisions they face," Tom Houlihan, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, one of the site sponsors, said.

The site also has resources for parents and educators to help them better use the site.

The Web site is run by the Education Data Partnership, a collaboration that includes the Council of Chief State School Officers, Standard & Poor's, the nonprofit group Achieve Inc. and the CELT Corp. The partnership is supported by $45 million from The Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.