New database sorts Florida public and charter schools by number of graduates and student absenteeism

A revamped school safety database has made it easier than ever for parents, educators and other stakeholders to understand the characteristics of public schools and public schools that can impact school safety.

A collaboration between the University of Florida and the nonprofit organization Safe schools for Alex – funded with a nearly $2 million grant from the US Department of Justice – recently went live SchoolSafetyDashboard.org. The way it puts vast amounts of data at the fingertips of stakeholders has been called the most comprehensive school safety dashboard in the country.

Allows users to enter the names or school districts of up to three schools at a time and see how they compare to each school’s or district’s student population based on racial and ethnic composition, level of economic disadvantage, and in-school and out-of-school suspension rates . -from school. Eventually, incident data for Florida schools will also be part of the dashboard.

The database contains 4,120 schools and these can be sorted based on graduation rates, student-teacher ratios, absenteeism rates and other indicators. For example, seventy-five schools listed have a 100% graduation rate. The database shows that in five of them, 100% of the students are absent for 10% of the year or more.

“Providing this access to data in a way that a broad spectrum of stakeholders can see will provide opportunities for schools to adapt practices in real time, and for the state to respond to district and school needs as they arise.” occur.” said F Chris Curran. He is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at UF and director of the Education Policy Research Center in the UF College of Education.

Before the database went live in 2020, this information was not publicly available in many states, let alone in an easily accessible form, according to Max Schachter, who founded Safe Schools for Alex. He started the internationally recognized nonprofit after his 14-year-old son was killed along with 16 others in Florida’s worst school shooting in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“Since the tragedy, Safe Schools For Alex has worked to improve school safety by encouraging the accuracy and uniformity of school safety data reporting across the country,” said Schacter. “Parents want and deserve to know what happens after they drop their child off.”

According to a news release, UF will train school staff and leaders on how to use the database.

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