U.S. ED Offers New Open Data Platform

The Open Data Platform (ODP), at https://data.ed.gov/ is the U.S. Department of Education’s comprehensive data inventory, including metadata and other documentation describing the data. The ODP makes it easier for educators, researchers, and the public to access the U.S ED’s data in a single location.

The site’s functionality allows users to search by broad categories, like “graduation rates” or “teachers,” as well as to target searches. ODP uses CKAN, a powerful open source data management system that makes data more accessible. Moreover, the data inventory indexed will continue to grow as the U.S ED publishes new data and further catalogs older data.

ODP is managed by the U.S. ED Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO). The OCDO asks users to review the site and provide feedback at ODP@ed.gov on its features and functionality, suggest additional data sets of interest and use to the research community and the public, and offer other ways to improve the site.