What a data tool won't tell you until you make it argue with itself
School ratings help set home prices, but they also track whom a school enrolls. We built a tool with ten years of New Jersey Department of Education data for West Orange’s eleven schools and tested what a single proficiency number can and can’t tell you.
Same Start, Different Outcomes: What the Opportunity Atlas Shows About West Orange
Children from low-income families who grew up in West Orange did better than the state average as adults. Hold parental income fixed and look by race and ethnicity, and a 15-point gap appears, one that opens in their late 20s and splits along marriage and men’s earnings.