How Schola Grades work
Every Schola Grade is built from public outcome data, compares a school only with schools at the same level in the same state, and is shown in the grading scale families already know — A to F in the United States, out of 20 in France, 1 to 5 in Japan, and 1 to 10 in Argentina.
The short version
- We measure what schools achieve using official data: test results, how low-income students do, attendance, graduation, college-level coursework, and class size.
- We compare within each state, because every state uses a different test, and only with schools at the same level — elementary with elementary, high school with high school. A school's position in that group becomes a percentile from 0 to 100 for each measure.
- We combine the measures with the weights below and rank the result within the same group again — that's the Schola Score.
- We show it in your country's scale. The same score becomes an A–F letter in the U.S., a mark out of 20 in France, a 1–5 grade in Japan, and a 1–10 nota in Argentina.
What goes into a grade
| Measure | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Test scores | 40% | Share of students meeting the state standard in math and reading/language arts. |
| Equity | 15% | Share of low-income students meeting the state standard in math and reading/language arts. Higher scores higher. |
| Attendance | 15% | Share of students chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the year). Lower scores higher. |
| Graduation rate | 15% | Four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (high schools). |
| College readiness | 10% | Share of students taking AP, IB or dual-enrollment courses (high schools). Students can take more than one, so we count the largest of the three — a floor, never an overcount. |
| Class size | 5% | Students per full-time teacher. Fewer scores higher. |
Elementary and middle schools don't have graduation or college-readiness measures, so their grade uses the measures that apply, with weights rescaled to add up to 100%. Every school page shows exactly which measures were used.
From score to letter: the U.S. curve
Within each state and school level, schools are graded on a curve so grades stay meaningful even though proficiency rates differ a lot between states:
| Grade | Schools in the same state and level | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A | Top 20% | Excellent |
| B | Next 25% | Above average |
| C | Middle 30% | Average |
| D | Next 15% | Below average |
| F | Bottom 10% | Far below average |
Grades around the world
Families understand grades best in the scale they grew up with. As we add countries, each one uses its own scale, mapped from the same 0–100 Schola Score:
| Country | Scale | Top-ranked school | Median school |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Letter grade (A–F) | A | C |
| United Kingdom | GCSE-style grade (9–1) | 9 | 5 |
| France | Note (/20) | 19/20 | 10/20 |
| Germany | Note (1–6, 1 = best) | 1.2 | 3.5 |
| Spain | Nota (0–10) | 9.5 | 5.0 |
| Italy | Voto (1–10) | 10 | 6 |
| Netherlands | Cijfer (1–10) | 9.5 | 5.5 |
| Japan | Hyōtei (1–5) | 5 | 3 |
| India | Percentage (0–100%) | 95% | 50% |
| Australia | Letter grade (A–E) | A | C |
| South Africa | Achievement level (1–7) | 7 | 4 |
| Mexico | Calificación (5–10) | 9.8 | 7.5 |
| Brazil | Nota (0–10) | 9.5 | 5.0 |
| Argentina | Nota (1–10) | 10 | 6 |
| Chile | Nota (1,0–7,0) | 6.7 | 4.0 |
| Colombia | Nota (1,0–5,0) | 4.8 | 3.0 |
| Uruguay | Nota (1–12) | 11 | 6 |
England: the 9–1 grade
State-funded schools in England are graded on the same principles, with England's own national data and the GCSE-style 9–1 scale, where 9 is best. England uses the same tests everywhere, so each school is compared with every state-funded school of the same phase across England: 13,602 primary and 3,207 secondary schools.
| Measure | Weight | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Key stage 2 tests (primary) | 57% | Share of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. |
| GCSE results (secondary) | 57% | Attainment 8: a pupil's results across eight GCSE-level subjects, with English and maths counted twice. Divided by 10, it's roughly the average grade. |
| Disadvantaged pupils | 21% | The same measure for pupils from low-income families (eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after by a local authority, or adopted from care). |
| Attendance | 21% | Share of pupils persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions). Lower scores higher. |
All three measures are from the 2024/25 school year (Department for Education). Progress 8, England's value-added measure, isn't published for 2024/25 because those pupils had no key stage 2 tests in 2020, so England's grades reflect attainment rather than progress. Selective grammar schools rank highly for that reason.
Not graded in England: independent schools (many sit IGCSEs, which don't count in the government's tables, and their disadvantaged-pupil results aren't published), special schools, alternative provision, sixth-form-only schools, and schools with fewer than 10 pupils in the tested year. Schools in Wales aren't graded because Wales doesn't publish comparable school-level results.
What we never do
- No grade without data. If a school doesn't report test results — most private schools, very small schools, and new schools — it shows Not enough data to grade. That is not a low grade. Alternative and special-education schools aren't graded at all: they serve students in very different circumstances, and states judge them under separate rules. What each school type means.
- No comparing across states. An A in Texas and an A in Maryland mean "top 20% of that state's schools at the same level", not the same test results.
- No paid placement. Schools can't pay to change their grade or ranking.
- No guessing. We don't estimate missing values. When the government publishes a privacy-protected range (like 40–44%), we use its midpoint, and only for ranges up to 20 points wide; wider ranges count as missing. Where two official files disagree, we leave the number out.
Sources
School data comes from the U.S. Department of Education: the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data and EDGE school locations (2024–25) and Private School Survey (2023–24), the Civil Rights Data Collection (2023–24), and EDFacts (test results 2021–22; graduation and chronic absenteeism 2022–23), plus other public sources.
Data years: test results are from 2021–22, the most recent school-level release available for every state; graduation and chronic absenteeism are 2022–23; coursework is 2023–24.
Grades are recalculated whenever new data is published. Developers can get every grade and its components through the Schola Data API. Spotted a problem? Let us know.