Articles
Longer-form pieces on U.S. public school data, education finance, NCES metrics, teacher staffing, student demographics, and the policies shaping American public education.
Title II and Teacher Quality: Federal Investment in Professional Development
Title II of ESSA directs over $2 billion annually toward teacher and principal quality. Here's what the money funds and what the evidence shows.
Rural School Challenges: Transportation, Distance, and Declining Enrollment
Rural schools face a unique set of structural challenges that urban data analysis often misses. Here's what the federal data reveals.
Special Education Funding: How IDEA Dollars Flow to Schools
IDEA Part B distributes billions annually to states for special education. Here's how the funding formula works and why many districts say it's not enough.
Comparing School Quality Across Districts: What Data Can and Can't Tell You
Data tools like SchoolDataLookup are powerful — but they have real limits. Here's how to use school data well and avoid common interpretive pitfalls.
How to Find a School's State Report Card Rating
Every state publishes an annual school report card under ESSA requirements. Here's how to find it and what to look for beyond the summary rating.
English Language Learner Programs: What School Data Reveals
ELL students are among the fastest-growing demographic in U.S. schools. Here's what administrative data captures about program access and outcomes.
The Demographics of Public School Teachers vs. Students
The racial and demographic gap between the teaching workforce and student population is one of the most persistent patterns in U.S. education data.
Back-to-School Enrollment: What 2024–25 Data Shows
The 2024–25 NCES data is now fully loaded into SchoolDataLookup. Here's a snapshot of the major enrollment trends it reveals.
How State Education Funding Formulas Work
Every state distributes education funding differently. Understanding the basic architecture of these formulas is key to interpreting school finance data.
Gifted Education Data: Who Gets Identified and Why It Varies
Gifted and talented identification rates vary widely by state, district, and demographic group. Federal data illuminates a system with significant equity gaps.