Frequently Asked Questions

Each school receives a composite score from 1 to 10 based on four equally weighted components: Academic Achievement (how well students score on state standardized tests), Student Growth (how much students improve year over year), Equity (whether all student groups are performing well, not just the top performers), and School Environment (attendance, chronic absenteeism, and school stability indicators).

All ratings are built from publicly available government data. We use the NCES Common Core of Data for school demographics, enrollment, and operational information. Academic performance data is pulled directly from each state's department of education. Neighborhood data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates.

School data is updated annually as new state and federal datasets are released. The data year displayed on each school profile reflects the most recent available data for that school. Because state testing data is released on different schedules, some schools may show data from different years.

Scores above 7.0 out of 10 are generally considered strong. Scores between 4.0 and 7.0 are average, and scores below 4.0 indicate that a school is underperforming relative to others in the state. Because scores are relative to statewide performance, what counts as "good" depends on the state.

Some schools do not have a composite score yet. This usually means the state has not yet released complete academic performance data for that school, or the school does not administer standardized tests (for example, some alternative programs or schools serving only pre-K students). We still show all available information for unrated schools.

Title I is a federal program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that provides additional funding to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families. Being a Title I school is not a negative designation — it simply means the school receives extra resources to support students who need additional academic help.

Charter schools are publicly funded but independently operated under a "charter" (a contract with a state or local authority). They often have more flexibility in curriculum and staffing. Magnet schools are specialty public schools within a traditional district that focus on a particular theme — such as STEM, arts, or international studies — and typically draw students from across a district via an application or lottery process.

Student-teacher ratio is calculated by dividing total student enrollment by the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers. A lower ratio generally indicates more individual attention is available per student. Note that this ratio counts all teachers at the school, not just classroom instructors, so it may differ from individual class sizes.

The percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is a widely used proxy for the share of economically disadvantaged students at a school. It is based on federal income eligibility thresholds. A higher FRL% indicates a higher concentration of lower-income families. This context is important when interpreting test scores, since research shows a strong correlation between poverty and academic outcomes.

Schools cannot pay for or otherwise influence their ratings. Our scores are calculated algorithmically from government data. If a school believes its underlying data from NCES or a state education agency is incorrect, the appropriate path is to contact those agencies directly to request a correction. Once source data is updated, our ratings will reflect the change at the next annual update.

No. MySchoolScout is an independent project of Layover Supply LLC. We are not affiliated with any school, district, state education agency, or federal government body. We use publicly available data, but operate independently.

You can browse schools in your area by searching from the homepage, or explore by state, city, or district using the Browse navigation. Each school profile links to nearby schools for easy comparison. Dedicated city and district pages show rankings of all schools in that area.

Per-pupil spending is the total amount a school district spends per enrolled student per year, including salaries, facilities, and programs. It is sourced from district-level financial data reported to the NCES. Higher spending does not always correlate with higher performance, but it provides useful context about resource availability.

If you notice a data error on a school profile, please contact us at contact@myschoolscout.com. We will investigate and correct our data or reach out to the relevant data source if needed.