After two years of development the Connecticut Department of Education has launched a new interactive data portal, EdSight, to centrally locate, streamline and improve access to public school system information.
The site will allow the gamut of education stakeholders to access and analyze data on dozens of topics including school finances, performance, staffing levels, enrollment, graduation rates and more.
The information can be sorted, filtered, and compared across schools and districts as well as across racial, ethnic, and gender lines and users can export the information for their own analysis.
Data can also be broken down by subgroups such as English language-learners, special education students, and students who receive free or reduced-price meals ”” something that the old school profiles did not do, according to the Department of Education.
The site also provides documentation describing the source of the information as well as terms and definitions.
“School and district leaders, teachers, parents and policymakers rely on data every day to make informed decisions about public education in Connecticut,” said Dianna R. Wentzell, commissioner of the Department of Education. “Through increased transparency and ease of use, this new system will help us understand what we are doing well and where we need to focus efforts to make sure we are delivering on our promise to students.”
Requests to the Department of Education for the cost of developing the new website were not responded to in time for publication.
According to the Department of Education, the recent launch is only the first phase for the new data portal, and in the coming months additional information and reports will be made accessible to the public.
