Policy and Research

Federal Revenue Sources

To ensure excellence in education, policy makers need geographic tools and strategies to visualize and analyze critical data about needs, expenditures, performance, and compliance. Data-driven decision making is becoming a standard within the frame of national efforts such as No Child Left Behind.

From the national level to local school districts to individual students, the tools inherent in districtwide GIS systems are helping researchers, policy makers, and statisticians investigate and understand trends and relationships.

GIS provides a geographical way to visualize and analyze educational information across space while integrating a multitude of geographical data.

Educational policy and research areas well suited for GIS include

• Student, school, and district performance
• Teacher/student ratios
• Limited English proficiency
• Per pupil spending
• Free/reduced lunch recipients
• Student and school demographics
• Distribution of Federal funds
• Comparisons between states, districts, schools
• Relationship between educational data and community attributes
• Utilization of GIS for discovery and analysis of best practices because geography is part of the equation

See US District Graduation Rates