The Skillman Foundation

The Skillman Foundation has a long-standing, deep commitment to generating and accessing accurate, reliable data for use by staff, partners and the broader community to improve conditions for Detroit children. That value was reinforced this year when we made a one-year grant to maintain the data and research resources developed by Excellent Schools Detroit as the organization sunsetted.

Recognizing the critical importance of timely education data, former ESD researchers have continued to provide data for nonprofits and civic groups working to improve outcomes for Detroit youth. Most recently they compiled and aggregated the publically-available data on charter and traditional public school performance that’s been in the news. To be clear—they provided accurate data—the analyses, interpretation, and conclusions drawn were done by others. Here’s a link to download those data (please be sure to read the methodological notes to best understand the data limitations).

We are glad to publish these data and will continue to promote data sharing as a core value in driving meaningful community change.