Join the conversation

President Obama has set the goal that the United States will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. To help Americans understand how our country is progressing towards that goal, and to provide an accessible and transparent view of the nation’s education system as a whole, the U.S. Department of Education has launched a new resource: The United States Education Dashboard (http://dashboard.ed.gov).

The Dashboard features 16 key indicators of the state of American education. Taken together, they are intended to provide a complete picture, from cradle (3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool) to career (students completing a bachelor’s degree within 6 years from their initial institution), of education in this country. It includes information on performance, equity, teachers and leaders and more.

The Dashboard also offers a state-level look at education, providing information on these indicators for all 50 states. There is no district-level information available as of now – but the site’s creators are considering including that in a future iteration.

I highly recommend exploring what the site has to offer. If you are an educational blogger interested in either a national or state picture, this really does make information-gathering a whole lot easier. And if you are interested in learning more about education in general, this can be a valuable resource. As the site points out, it can help answer questions ranging from, “Do our young children have access to preschool programs?” to “Are postsecondary students graduating on time?” to “Are education resources distributed equitably, particularly to address the needs of high-poverty schools and districts?”

Of course, the site only works if you accept that the indicators it includes paint a valid picture of the state of education. But if you look at the 16 indicators currently included and have an immediate, visceral reaction to the inclusion and/or omission of a particular indicator (for example, there are no indicators related to special education, and the only subject areas included are math and reading), rest assured that the Dashboard is by no means complete. Department officials have made very clear that this is “version 1.0.” They intend for the site to continuously improve. And they are open to feedback. If you have a suggestion, you can e-mail it to dashboard@ed.gov.

While this is just the beginning, it is an important beginning. It is high time that we had a way for those outside the education community to easily understand the state of American education. The next step? Ensure people use it.