Charter school data sources
School records come from the Common Core of Data (CCD), the U.S. Department of Education's annual database of public schools, published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
We use the 2024–25 school directory, accessed September 14, 2026 through the Education Data Portal of the Urban Institute. The dataset includes 8,068 open schools flagged as charter schools across 47 states and territories.
Last data refresh: September 14, 2026. This is the date the current directory data was retrieved and processed; it is not a claim that each school’s live admissions, programs, website, or phone number was independently verified that day.
Missing, suppressed and not-applicable values appear as a dash (—) or “Not reported,” never as zero or “No.” A reported zero is retained. Enrollment totals sum only reported values; medians exclude missing ratios and average the two middle values for even-sized samples. Location pages show reporting coverage.
All active school facts use the 2024–25 directory endpoint, which includes enrollment, teacher FTE and lunch fields. We do not fill missing current-year facts with older figures. The access date is when we retrieved the data, not a claim that current admissions, programs, phone numbers or school operation were independently verified.
We include charter-flagged records with NCES statuses Open, New, Added, Changed agency or Reopened. Closed, Inactive and Future records are not active search results. These are annual reported statuses, not a live school-opening check.
202 previously listed schools now have historical pages, kept at their original URLs but excluded from the sitemap and marked noindex. Their facts retain the original school-year label. Missing IDs were checked against the full directory, including non-charter records; absence alone is not treated as closure.
Official school and admissions links are maintained separately from the annual NCES import. We show them only after checking the link against an official school or operator source, and label them with their verification date. We do not infer a website from a school name.
Editorial and corrections policy
The directory does not accept paid placement or create a proprietary ranking. Guides are reviewed by the Charter Schools Directory editorial team and identify their underlying sources. To report a factual issue, use the correction form or email [email protected]. We review public-source corrections and do not request or accept student records or other sensitive personal information.
What each field means
- Grades
- Lowest and highest grade offered, as reported by the state.
- Students
- Fall membership (enrollment) reported for the school year.
- Students per teacher
- Same-year enrollment divided by full-time-equivalent (FTE) classroom teachers, not average class size. Ratios outside 1–100 or with a missing/zero denominator are withheld for review.
- Free or reduced-price lunch
- Share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
- School lunch program
- Reported National School Lunch Program participation, including CEP and Provisions 1, 2 or 3. A non-CEP code does not mean a school cannot provide free meals. Confirm current meal access with the school.
- Format
- Virtual status: in person, virtual, virtual with in-person options, or supplemental virtual.
- Community
- NCES urban-centric locale (city, suburb, town, or rural, by size or distance).
- District or network
- The local education agency the school reports under. For some schools this is the charter network; for others it is the authorizing district.
Citation and license
Common Core of Data school directory (2024–25), via Education Data Portal, Urban Institute, accessed September 14, 2026, https://educationdata.urban.org/documentation/, made available under the ODC Attribution License.
License: Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) v1.0.