Accountability · Change record
Data & editorial changelog
A dated record of material changes to PlainSchools data presentation, methodology, and editorial framing. Entries are verified against git commits and ETL _metadata only; we do not invent backfilled history.
How this record works
We add an entry when a material correction, source-handling change, or methodology revision reaches the public site. We do not backfill an entry without a corroborating commit or metadata stamp. To report a possible error, include the page URL, the figure in question, and an official source via data corrections. Policy detail lives on the corrections alias (corrections process) and methodology pages.
Published changes
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Loaded the 2024-25 school files, teacher pay and the directory count; merged PlainTeacher
School records now use the NCES Common Core of Data 2024-25 directory, enrollment, teacher and meal files, with Title I status from 2021-22 labelled as such. District pages gained teacher salary spending from the F-33 survey (fiscal 2019 to 2023) over the teachers in the 2022-23 district staff file, and PlainTeacher.com now redirects here. National and state school counts give the directory count of operating schools next to the count that reported students. Figures the files contradict are left out: fewer than 50 students per counselor, and salary spending per teacher far from the state median.
Read the methodology -
Added a public /corrections alias
Typed or bookmarked /corrections URLs now 301 to the corrections process on the editorial policy page, so the accountability path resolves instead of 404ing. No data figures changed.
Read the corrections process -
Fixed a load check that missed a missing input file
The load checks had treated a missing input file as present. The state finance inputs from the Urban Institute Education Data Portal (which republishes the NCES files) were restored, the absenteeism load was made repeatable, and a load now stops when a declared input file is missing.
Read the methodology vintage note -
Published the /data open-data catalog hub
A data catalog now lists the downloadable state extracts, each with a citation. A broken first entry in one sitemap was fixed.
Open the data catalog -
Made the figures on each school page agree
Student-teacher ratios were recomputed from the enrollment and teacher counts shown on the same page, so the three figures agree; ratios that could not be recomputed show as not reported. No federal file changed that day.
See the update schedule -
Reloaded the federal files after a fix
The federal files already loaded were read again after a fix. Each page still names the survey year of each figure, not the reload date.
Read how vintages are labeled -
Upgraded district per-pupil expenditure to current F-33
District spending per student now comes from the current F-33 file, the Census Bureau school finance survey.
See F-33 in the source list
What is not a changelog entry
Routine rendering, an agency's ordinary data availability, or an unverified reader report is not treated as a correction. Pages continue to show their own source scope and data window; use those labels with this record when interpreting a number.
Download the compiled NCES state extract: plainschools-state-summary.csv (same extract as /statistics).