About The School Advocate

The School Advocate is a free tool that ranks and compares public schools using the one thing every parent actually wants to see: how students perform on their state’s standardized tests. We cover every ranked public school in California, Georgia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, with more states added as the data becomes available.

Why we built it

Most school-rating sites bury their scores behind a grade or a star rating built from a formula they won’t show you — mixing in survey opinions, demographics, and metrics that have little to do with learning. Others lock the real numbers behind a paywall. We think parents deserve the underlying data and a method they can check themselves.

So we do the opposite. Every ranking on this site comes from official test results, weighted with a formula we publish in full. There is no black box, no advertiser influence on rankings, and no cost to use it.

What makes us different

• Raw data, not opinions. Rankings are built only from published English, Math, and Science scores — never surveys or subjective grades.
• A method you can audit. Our exact weighting and eligibility rules are on the methodology page.
• Real tools, not just lists. Search by ZIP or city, compare schools side by side, and explore by county and district with multi-year score trends, demographics, graduation rates, AP/IB access, and class-size data.
• Free and independent. We are not affiliated with any school, district, or government agency, and no school can pay to change its ranking.

Where our data comes from

All performance data is sourced directly from each state’s department of education — the same public records districts report each year. We standardize it into percentile scores so schools can be compared fairly within their state and grade level. The full list of sources and the scoring formula are on the methodology page.

How the site is built

The rankings, charts, and comparisons are generated from that government data. The short “School Overview” summary on each profile is written with AI, but it is grounded entirely in that school’s own published numbers — its scores, trends, and how it compares to its district and state. We don’t invent facts or opinions; the goal is to put the data into plain English.

Get in touch

Spot an error, or want your state added? Email hello@theschooladvocate.com or use our contact form. We read every message and correct data issues quickly.