Alabama Public School Data

Yesterday the Department of Education announced that Alabama’s fourth-graders led the nation in reading improvements last year. For more information about the reading section of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, check out the publication ‘The Nation’s Report Card: Reading 2007′ on the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) web site.

While I was looking for the report that the newspaper article cited, I stumbled onto a neat tool produced by NCES - the School District Demographic System.  Combining Census data with School District data, you can access information about particular schools, school districts, etc.  Once you’ve selected your geographic area, then you can apply demographic information.  I mapped the Tuscaloosa County School District, and was able to see data on race, total population, educational attainment, etc.  Unfortunately, that was based on data from the 2000 Census, which is now 7 years old.  This could grow to become a very useful tool for planning programs, services, etc., or for learning more about a particular school district when relocating to an area.  I encourage you to play with it!