ThinkKits aggregates data from 23+ federal and state sources covering — public schools and — districts. All data is publicly available — we never collect student-level PII. Our knowledge graph cross-references these sources to create unified school profiles with funding, assessment, and board governance context you cannot get from any single dataset.
School & District Demographics
Core school identification, enrollment, demographics, and geographic data.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) nces.ed.gov/ccd |
U.S. Department of Education / NCES | School name, NCES ID, address, phone, grade span, locale type, charter/magnet status, enrollment by grade, race/ethnicity, gender | Annual |
| Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) ocrdata.ed.gov |
U.S. Department of Education / OCR | Discipline data, AP/IB enrollment, gifted programs, teacher experience, school expenditures, chronic absenteeism, restraint/seclusion | Biennial |
| EDFacts ed.gov/edfacts |
U.S. Department of Education | Assessment proficiency, graduation rates, school improvement status, homeless student counts, migrant counts | Annual |
Funding & Finance
Federal allocations, per-pupil expenditure, and poverty-based funding data.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAIPE (Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates) census.gov/saipe |
U.S. Census Bureau | District-level poverty rates, estimated school-age children in poverty — the primary input for Title I allocation formulas | Annual |
| NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey nces.ed.gov/f33 |
NCES / Census Bureau | Total revenue by source (federal, state, local), per-pupil expenditure, instructional spending, capital outlays, and district finance trend baselines | Annual |
| Title I/II-A/III/IV-A Allocations ed.gov/titlei |
U.S. Department of Education | District-level federal program allocations for four major title programs; eligibility thresholds and per-pupil amounts | Annual |
| IDEA Part B Allocations sites.ed.gov/idea |
Dept. of Education / OSEP | Special education funding allocations by state and district; child count data, maintenance of effort requirements | Annual |
| USASpending.gov usaspending.gov |
U.S. Treasury / OMB | Federal awards, contracts, and grants to education entities; recipient details, award amounts, CFDA/program codes, and district-level funding history links | Monthly |
Board Governance & Procurement Signals
District board meeting minutes and agenda systems used to identify curriculum adoptions, contracts, and purchasing intent signals.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| BoardDocs Meeting Portals go.boarddocs.com |
District board platforms (public portals) | Board agendas, meeting minutes, vote items, contract approvals, curriculum adoption records, and procurement-related action logs | Weekly |
| Simbli Board Meeting Portals simbli.eboardsolutions.com |
District board platforms (public portals) | Meeting packets, agenda references, vendor motions, budget approvals, and board decision metadata for district intelligence | Weekly |
E-Rate & Technology
Universal service fund data on school internet access and telecommunications spending.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-Rate (Universal Service) opendata.usac.org |
USAC / FCC | E-Rate applications, commitments, funding requests, vendor SPINs, service types (Category 1 & 2), discount rates, disbursements | Quarterly |
| E-Rate Category 2 Budgets & FRN Status opendata.usac.org |
USAC / FCC | Category 2 budget ceilings, remaining balances, FRN status tracking, and disbursement progression for technology procurement planning | Quarterly |
Grants & Philanthropy
Federal grant opportunities and foundation giving data.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grants.gov grants.gov |
HHS / Multi-agency | 67,000+ federal grant opportunities; education-specific filters, deadlines, eligibility criteria, award ranges | Daily |
| IRS 990 Foundation Data ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer |
IRS / ProPublica | 450,000+ nonprofit profiles; education foundations, grant-making organizations, giving amounts, assets, officers | Quarterly |
Evidence & Research
Research evidence databases that power our ESSA evidence badges on tool and material recommendations.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) ies.ed.gov/wwc |
IES / NCEE | Systematic reviews of education research; ESSA evidence tier ratings (Tier 1-4) for interventions, practice guides, and intervention reports | Quarterly |
| ERIC Database eric.ed.gov |
IES / Dept. of Education | 1.6M+ education research records; journal articles, technical reports, policy papers — supplementary evidence citations for grant writing | Monthly |
| Digital Promise / 1EdTech Registry 1edtech.org |
Digital Promise / 1EdTech | Certified edtech product listings, research-based design certifications, interoperability standards, product evidence pages | Quarterly |
ESSA Evidence Badges: ThinkKits displays color-coded evidence tier badges on tool and material recommendations. Tiers are assigned by the What Works Clearinghouse, not by ThinkKits. Tier 1 (Strong) • Tier 2 (Moderate) • Tier 3 (Promising) • Tier 4 (Demonstrates Rationale). See the badge component reference for full definitions and integration details.
Assessment & Achievement
Student performance data at national and state levels, including statewide assessment pipelines in five priority states.
| Source | Agency | Data Provided | Update |
|---|---|---|---|
| California CAASPP caaspp-elpac.ets.org/caaspp |
California Department of Education | English language arts and math performance levels, participation rates, subgroup results, and district performance trends | Annual |
| Texas STAAR tea.texas.gov/staar |
Texas Education Agency | Reading and math proficiency outcomes, growth indicators, campus accountability context, and district-level achievement profiles | Annual |
| New York State Assessments (NYSED) nysed.gov/state-assessment |
New York State Education Department | ELA and math achievement rates by grade band, subgroup trends, and district-level accountability data points | Annual |
| Florida FAST Assessments fldoe.org/accountability/assessments |
Florida Department of Education | Progress monitoring and end-of-year FAST outcomes, grade-level performance indicators, and district achievement summaries | Annual |
| Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) isbe.net/assessment |
Illinois State Board of Education | ELA and math readiness performance, subgroup outcomes, and district-level achievement trend references | Annual |
| NAEP (Nation's Report Card) nationsreportcard.gov |
NCES | National and state assessment scores in reading and math (grades 4, 8, 12); demographic breakdowns and long-term trend data | Biennial |
How We Process This Data
Raw data from each source goes through a multi-step pipeline before appearing in your dashboard:
- Ingestion: Automated scripts download the latest releases from each source within 48 hours of publication.
- Normalization: School names, IDs, and geographic codes are standardized across all sources using NCES identifiers as the canonical key.
- Cross-referencing: Data from multiple sources is linked in our knowledge graph, connecting demographic data with funding, E-Rate filings, and achievement metrics for each school.
- Validation: Automated checks flag anomalies (e.g., enrollment jumps >50%, missing required fields) for manual review.
- Derived metrics: Composite scores like School Health Score are calculated using documented formulas available in our Methodology documentation.
Data freshness depends on the source. NCES CCD typically reflects the prior school year (e.g., 2024-25 data available in fall 2025). E-Rate and USASpending data is near-real-time.
For coverage rates, accuracy cross-checks, and known limitations by data dimension, see our Data Quality & Validation report.