Education Data Requirements | Buxton Knowledge Base

Schools Data Layout

The fields listed below are considered the minimum requirement, unless noted as optional. Additional fields for miscellaneous school characteristics are acceptable and encouraged for the analysis or for display in the platform.

Field Name	Data Type	Required	Impact on Analysis	Notes
EXTRACT_DATE	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Optional		File creation date, unnecessary if the date is in the file name.
SCHOOL_NBR	CHARACTER	Required	Defines unique schools.	Unique school number. Primary Key matches to the enrollment and student files.
SCHOOL_NM	CHARACTER	Required		School name for display in SCOUT.
ADDRESS1	CHARACTER	Required	Used to identify the geographic location to be used in modeling.	Street address only. No mall names, shopping center names, or PO Boxes. Suite/unit numbers are acceptable.
ADDRESS2	CHARACTER	Optional	Used to identify the geographic location to be used in modeling.	Optional if needed. Street address only. No mall names, shopping center names, or PO Boxes.
CITY	CHARACTER	Required
STATE	CHARACTER	Required		Postal abbreviation
ZIPCODE	CHARACTER	Required
LATITUDE	DECIMAL	Optional		Buxton will geocode schools to a Lat/Lon if not provided.
LONGITUDE	DECIMAL	Optional		Buxton will geocode schools to a Lat/Lon if not provided.
SCHOOL_TYPE	CHARACTER	Optional	Used to identify differences in performance based on school type, if applicable.	Please include full descriptions, no abbreviations. Optional unless required for project scope. See your Buxton team for details.
SCHOOL_STATUS	CHARACTER	Required	Used to identify which schools to include in model sample set.	e.g., Open, Closed, Pipeline
OPEN_DT	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Required	Used to measure stabilization or ramp period for new schools as well as impact on existing schools when a new school opens nearby.	The original open date of the schools. No acquisition, remodel, or re-open dates (if available, provide as extra fields).
CLOSE_DT	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Required	Used to measure impact on existing schools when a nearby school closes.
Optional School Characteristics	CHARACTER	Optional	May be tested as variables to explain differences in performance.	Optional, for SCOUT display or additional model testing. One variable per column.

Enrollment Data Layout

The fields listed below are considered the minimum requirement. Additional fields are acceptable if deemed necessary for this analysis or for display in the platform.

This file should be interpreted as monthly enrollment performance by school (and by department, if required).

Example: School 354 had 1,876 students enrolled in January 2023.

Field Name	Data Type	Required	Impact on Analysis	Notes
EXTRACT_DATE	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Optional		File creation date, unnecessary if the date is in the file name.
SCHOOL_NBR	CHARACTER	Required	Used to join to school file. Any SCHOOL_NBRs present in this performance file that are NOT in the schools file will not be loaded to the Buxton database for visualization and will not be used for any analysis.	Foreign key to SCHOOL_NBR on the school file
ENROLLMENT_MONTH	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Required	Historic performance data is used to measure the stabilization or ramp period for new schools as well as measure the impact on existing schools when nearby schools open or close. 1 year of data is the minimum required. 3-5 years of data is preferred, but we can accept and use as much as you have available.	Use first day of month if enrollment is reported by calendar month (e.g., 1/1/2018). If enrollment is reported by fiscal period, use calendar start date of period and provide period calendar. 3-5 years’ worth of data is preferred (if available)
DEPARTMENT	CHARACTER	Optional	Will be used to define school performance by department if necessary for project scope.	Optional unless required for project scope. See your Buxton team for details.
TOTAL_ENROLLMENT	DECIMAL	Required	Performance data provided in this file will be used as the dependent variable in modeling. This will be the metric by which we train the model to predict performance at future schools and identify high vs. low performers.	Number of students enrolled.
TOTAL_SALES	DECIMAL	Optional	Performance data provided in this file will be used as the dependent variable in modeling. This will be the metric by which we train the model to predict performance at future schools and identify high vs. low performers.	Revenue. Optional unless required for project scope. See your Buxton team for details.

Students Data Layout

The fields listed below are considered the minimum requirement. Additional fields for miscellaneous student characteristics are acceptable if deemed necessary for the analysis or for display in the platform.

Field Name	Data Type	Required	Impact on Analysis	Notes
EXTRACT_DATE	DATE: MM/DD/YYYY	Optional		File creation date, unnecessary if the date is in the file name.
STUDENT_ID	CHARACTER	Required
FIRSTNAME	CHARACTER	Optional	Used to match to Buxton's internal household database to ensure higher matching accuracy.	Optional, but does increase matching accuracy.
LASTNAME	CHARACTER	Optional	Used to match to Buxton's internal household database to ensure higher matching accuracy.	Optional, but does increase matching accuracy.
ADDRESS	CHARACTER	Required	Home address of the student informs drive time to a school and behavioral and psychographic traits of the student.
CITY	CHARACTER	Required	Home address of the student informs drive time to a school and behavioral and psychographic traits of the student.
STATE	CHARACTER	Required	Home address of the student informs drive time to a school and behavioral and psychographic traits of the student.	Postal abbreviation
ZIPCODE	CHARACTER	Required	Home address of the student informs drive time to a school and behavioral and psychographic traits of the student.
SCHOOL_NBR	CHARACTER	Required	Used to join to schools file. Only students that join to schools file will be included in the analysis. Any SCHOOL_NBRs present in the students file that are NOT included in the schools file will not be loaded for visualization or included in analysis.	Foreign key to SCHOOL_NBR on the school file.
DEPARTMENT	CHARACTER	Optional		Optional unless required for project scope. See your Buxton team for details.
STUDENT_TYPE	CHARACTER	Optional	These can be used to analyze differences in profiles (demographic and psychographic characteristics) as well as viewed as separate layers in SCOUT.	e.g., Online, on-site, etc. Optional unless required by project scope.

Common Additional Fields

Schools
- Relocation/Acquisition Dates
- School Hours
- Building Characteristics:
  - Number of classrooms
  - Square Footage
  - Visibility
  - Signage
  - Real Estate Type
Students
- On-site vs. virtual
- Active vs. Inactive

Data Audit Compliance Checklist

The following checklist denotes common points of failure for data audits. By confirming that your data complies with each of the items below, you can help ensure that your data is accepted and moves forward in the data transfer process. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of the items below, please contact your Buxton team.

General

File headers are included in all files
Abbreviations include a description, either in the file or in a data dictionary

Schools

Address information is complete and provided for each school
Open date is provided for each school

Enrollment

All open schools are present in the enrollment file
Each school present in the enrollment file is also present in the schools file
At least 3 years of enrollment data is provided
Schools are not missing any monthly enrollment data
Data is not provided for future months
Departmental breakouts, if required, are included

Students

Duplicate student IDs are not present
Address information is complete for at least 90% of records
All school numbers in this file join to the schools file
Schools are not missing one or more days of students
Students occur after school open date