MEDIA: Another Useful Education Site In Danger

Insideschools.org, a nonprofit New York City-based site, is apparently on the verge of going under, according to this post (Insideschools.org) -- which notes that a local newspaper has called the site “the single most valuable independent source of information on New York City public schools.”

What has made the site so valuable -- it reports having had over a milion readers in the past year -- is that it includes individual school profiles written by trained reporters. But that's expensive and sometimes slow work, and over the past seven years successful education sites have gotten faster and more interactive (ie, GothamSchools, whose co-founder Philissa Cramer used to work at InsideSchools).

To be sure, InsideSchools could have done (could still do) some things to make the site more timely and appealing and inexpensive.  But, as in the past, let me note how strange it is that many education funders are unwilling to put money into something that is such an obvious and relatively inexpensive service for parents, teachers, watchdog organizations, and policymakers. 

Comments

[P_doc]

Facilitating the distribution of quality school info to parents is a good area for both public and private funders, particularly as school choice becomes more prevalent. Info can make a substantial difference in parental decision making: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.4.1373

[Claus]

You make a good point. It's disappointing how little interest there seems to be in what actually happens inside schools. There seems to be far more interest in incentive and governance structures.

[Anthony]

Always love a good WarGames pilfered graphic. We've got a couple over at DetentionSlip.org as well. Hope you are well Alexander!