Indiana’s new school data website uses a conversational style
The Indiana Department of Education has launched a new data portal to make it easier for students and parents to access the performance metrics of Indiana’s schools. Called INview, the portal provides both general information about the state’s approximately 1,900 K-12 schools, along with data visualizations on performance metrics like attendance and academic achievement.
State Superintendent Jennifer McCormick said in a press release the tool was was designed to fulfill transparency requirements set forth by the Every Student Succeeds Act and that the state set out to present the information in a “user-friendly” manner.
“Hoosiers deserve transparency surrounding the academic performance and fiscal solvency of all Indiana schools,” she said. “INview is designed to provide this transparency to the extent identified by statute.”
The portal showcases information in a question and answer format, sharing data on schools’ demographics and performance, such as how much school districts spend per student, numbers on suspension and expulsion and test performance. Demographic data includes numbers of students in foster care, homeless, from military-connected families and or considered “high ability.”
The Indiana Department of Education says the new portal, which replaced Indiana’s previous data portal, called Compass, has succeeded in making school-level data more accessible.
Similar school data websites have been implemented in other states. In 2017, the California Department of Education designed a new website to track student and school performance across the state called the California School Dashboard.
