SchoolScope

Find California schools four ways, whichever fits the question: free text over school/city/district names (`query`), inside a zip code (`zip`), within a radius of a place or coordinate (`near`), or the top-ranked schools at one level (`level` alone). Returns band, Scope Score, archetype and profile URL for each match. Private schools are flagged and never ranked — they have no state testing data. Supply exactly one of query, zip or near; or none plus a level for a top list. Set `tk: true` to limit any of these searches to schools with active transitional kindergarten (TK) enrollment — a filter that composes with query, zip, near and level, and every result carries a `hasTk` field. Set `type` to `charter` to list only charter schools (they admit by application and lottery, not by address), `standard` for district-run public schools, or `private`; like `tk`, it composes with every mode.

The full SchoolScope profile for one school by slug: verdict and archetype, Scope Score with band and percentile per level, CAASPP exceeded/met split, cohort growth (school-by-grade aggregates two years apart, in SBAC scale-score points, reported as a 0-100 index centred on the state average), climate (absenteeism, suspension, ELPAC), equity gaps by student group, teacher stability, and — for high schools — graduation, college destinations, UC admissions history, AP courses, and IB programmes. Also answers "is this school improving?" with a year-over-year table of statewide percentile and the underlying rates; the Scope Score is excluded there because it is normalised within each year and is not comparable across them. For public schools it also returns the profile's own `answer` (one sentence about all students, each subject against California's rate for the same grades), up to three selected `takeaways` (each with figures, comparisons, a question where one applies, and a generated receipt naming source, year, grades, population, n and how the comparison was built), and `studentGroups` (every group by income, race or ethnicity, language and disability with 30+ students tested in each subject, against the same group in the same grades in the district and statewide). Current data year 2026.

The K-12 feeder path for a school: which schools students typically arrive from, where they go next, and — for elementary/middle schools — the endpoint high school with its graduation and college-going outcomes. Boundary-based (the district's own published boundaries where we have them, else NCES SABS 2015-16), shown alongside scores, never inside them.

Compare 2-4 public schools side by side: band, Scope Score and percentile, exceeded/met split, cohort growth (aggregate school-by-grade cohorts across the grade span, as a 0-100 index centred on the state average), and CDE's reported chronic absenteeism and suspension rates, each labelled with its year. High schools add graduation, a-g completion, college-going, UC admissions, AP courses and IB programmes. A school with no cohort comparison reports no growth figure rather than a substitute; that is missing evidence, not flat growth. Schools are only comparable within the same level (elementary/middle/high are separate rankings). Private schools cannot be compared — they have no state testing data.

A California district roll-up, level by level: each level's average Scope Score, percentile, exceeded-standard share and CDE chronic absenteeism across its comprehensive schools, and every scored school ranked within its level. Elementary, middle and high are never averaged or ranked together. Continuation and alternative schools are listed apart, unnumbered, because they are ranked only within their own peer class. Match by district name.

Schools serving a similar student population to a given school — same level, same peer class, comparable free/reduced-lunch share and enrollment size — with the subject's standing among them. This is the fair comparison: a raw ranking largely reflects who enrolls, so a school's position against demographic peers says far more about the school itself than its statewide rank does. Public schools only.

The schools the authenticated user has saved on SchoolScope, newest first, each with its band, Scope Score and percentile at its lead level and the nearest upcoming published application date with the page it was read from. Private schools are listed unscored. Requires the `watchlist:read` OAuth scope.

Takes no parameters.

The authenticated user's SchoolScope application tracker for 2027–28, in the order schools were added: each school's door (how it takes applications), status, the nearest upcoming published application date with the page it was read from, the family's own upcoming dates, and their note. Requires the `applications:read` OAuth scope.

Takes no parameters.

Adds a school to the authenticated user's SchoolScope application tracker, or changes the status or note of a school already on it. A new entry takes the school's door and how-to-apply line from SchoolScope's record and starts at "planning" ("Planning to apply") unless a status is given. It changes the user's saved list. Statuses, in order: planning ("Planning to apply"), applied ("Applied"), confirmed ("Confirmation checked"), waiting ("Waiting for the lottery or letter"), offer ("Offered a seat"), waitlisted ("Waitlisted"), accepted ("Accepted"), declined ("Declined"). A list holds at most 30 schools. Requires the `applications:write` OAuth scope.

Which school year a California child is transitional kindergarten (TK) or kindergarten age, from a birth month and year, under California Education Code § 48000 (TK: fourth birthday by September 1; kindergarten: fifth birthday on or before September 1). The birth day matters only in September, where September 1 and September 2–30 fall on different sides of the cutoff; without it, both outcomes are given. With a district, it adds that district's upcoming choice-window dates SchoolScope holds.