OnBoard LLC, a national provider of online real estate data and information tools for real estate brokerages, is expanding its school information offering to include school test performance data mandated by federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation, the company announced today.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 seeks to improve education by holding schools accountable for the academic performance of their students. Each state is required to determine how to measure school and school district progress in a variety of academic areas. The goal is that, by 2014, all children should achieve at their state’s proficiency level in reading, language arts, math and science – as demonstrated by yearly test scores. Each state also must publish an annual scorecard on all school districts and schools.
“The school test score data intended to help educators improve academic performance in every school and school district across the nation is the same information that real estate agents and their clients need to help them make smarter real estate decisions,” said Marc Siden, CEO of OnBoard LLC. “Homes in neighborhoods with good schools historically have been linked to higher real estate values. With this new information, consumers will be able to compare school test scores and other information over time and see where a particular school stands against other schools in a particular state.”
The new information will be integrated into OnBoard’s Neighborhood Navigator suite of real estate information tools, which offers real estate brokerages the ability to offer consumers a Web site that provides customized data on schools, communities, neighborhood amenities and recent home sales.
The company currently is piloting the test scores program using data from the state of New York and expects to have data on all 50 states beginning in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Consumers who visit a real estate brokerage Web site powered by OnBoard Neighborhood Navigator will have access to a map of the school’s location and basic information about each school, including principal name, school address and telephone, school year start and end date, per-student spending, number of computers, number of students per grade, student/teacher ratio, annual percentage change in enrollment, and a listing of special programs the school offers – all on a single screen. One click away are school and district profiles, as well as the No Child Left Behind test scores by grade.
In addition to the expanded schools information, the Onboard Neighborhood Navigator suite includes recent home sales, community profiles and neighborhood amenities information.
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