If you’ve ever researched schools with the Missouri or Kansas departments of education, you know the websites are comprehensive, but a little hard to wade through.
It took three years for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City to gather the 14 million pieces of data that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Kansas State Department of Education have collected.
It's called EdWise and with a few clicks, you can sort 25 years of data, ranging from graduation rates to salaries. In all, there are 600 metrics.
Kauffman Vice President of Education Aaron North says none of this information is new, but it is way more usable for parents, districts and other foundations.
“There’s just so much data out there," North said. "It’s a way for it to be organized in a way that it hasn’t been organized before.”
Perhaps the most useful feature is that all the information can be mapped with easy-to-understand visualization.
“Efficient access to well-managed data will improve the ability of educators and policymakers to add and grow quality seats for all Kansas City students,” Kansas City Mayor Sly James said in a statement.
North says the foundation will update the data as Kansas and Missouri make it available.
