PolicyMap & Niche

Description:

PolicyMap calculated the shortest distance (within 50 miles) from each block group to the nearest public school with a Niche Overall School Rating of A+ or A, within the same state. For block groups with more than 50% water area, block-level center points were used instead. The Distance to Nearest High-Performing Public School for each Census Tract is the average of these minimum distances for the majority-land block groups within the tract. This representation of access to high performing public schools is limited by the fact that Niche does not assign a rating to every public school in the nation. This analysis does not take into account political boundaries or catchment areas within states that may make a public school inaccessible. Areas where all eligible block groups are located more than 50 miles from any A+ or A school are labeled “Insufficient Data.” A tract may show an average distance even if no high-performing schools are within its boundaries, as the metric reflects proximity to nearby schools rather than the presence within the tract.

Niche is a platform that provides rankings for schools based on public data and user reviews. PolicyMap licenses Niche ratings for Pre-K through 12th grade schools. Niche-generated fields reflect the data available at the time of licensing, while the other fields are sourced from recent public-use datasets, such as those from the U.S. Department of Education. The Overall Rating and Academic Rating are based on Niche’s proprietary algorithms and follow a grading scale from A+ to D-. If a school’s coordinates fall outside its listed county or state, PolicyMap will re-geocode the address. Schools are excluded from the map if their address is missing or cannot be geocoded.Niche’s methodology includes a Bayesian adjustment to account for confidence in user-submitted data, standardized z-scores for comparison, and factor weighting based on both statistical analysis and user priorities. Schools missing over 50% of the weighted factors are excluded from rankings or only receive a grade to ensure reliability.

More information about Niche School Ratings can be found here.