The Condition of Education is here... and soon too will be the Public Charter School Dashboard

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released The Condition of Education 2009 today. The Condition is a gold mine for researchers and policy wonks: acres of test scores and survey results, Excel sheets groaning with figures on school spending and teacher demography.

However, you’ll have to go back to the 2007 edition to get a detailed report on students attending public charter schools and the 2005 edition to get characteristics of public charters themselves. NCES collects massive amounts of data, and does it with terrific care and credibility – but there’s a little moss on the rock when it arrives in the mail. 

But watch this space for a new alternative. In the next month, we will launch the Public Charter School Dashboard, an interactive database on the Alliance’s website that will provide users with accurate and timely charter school data (as well as non-charter school comparisons) through the most current academic year, 2008-09. Charter schools continue to grow and the Dashboard will provide the play by play in nearly-real time. (And for you Luddites who might prefer it, there will be a companion hard-copy version available for thumbing through.)

AN