I don’t have kids yet (but one on the way). However, lots of my friends do and one of their biggest worries is schooling.
What school should their kid go to? X or Y? Public, private, charter school? Which of the 10 options should they send their kid too?
So I thought it was fascinating that at a dinner party the other day, two of my friends were debating where to send their kids to high school. There were 3 public school options, 1 charter, and 1 private school that they were all considering.
What I found really interesting is that they all did a ton of research on the Internet on schools to make the decision – and 99% of them use greatschools.org
What an awesome site built on top of open data:
(1)-Test scores – They have all the standardized test scores so you know where your school ranks. They also have statistics on student-teacher ratio and education of students.
(2) -User reviews – Additionally they have user reviews where parents and students share their experience.
(3) -Combination – Then they come together & create a 1-10 ranking of a school based on test scores & user reviews. You have all the details if you want but if you just want a quick glance, you get the answer.
It’s now the leading source for schooling information in the U.S. with 200,000 schools and 800,000+ reviews and according to Guidestar, an annual budget of over $8 million.
It’s another open data success story we should highlight. It truly solves a huge problem (helping parents decide where to send their kids to school) but leveraging existing data combined with consumer facing reviews and experst.
Just wondering, does Gov. Loop or this blogger have any financial or other connection?
I wish 🙂 no connection at all – I just am a fan
That’s awesome. I am personally going to use it.