Park City leads the area in adults with bachelor's degrees, and Utah has a higher percentage of English learners than the national average.

These and millions of other state and national education snippets are posted on a new Web site launched today by Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services and several partners in the National Education Data Partnership.

So people can click on http://www.schoolmatters.com and view a range of data about schools and school districts. For instance, policy-makers can see the student-to-teacher ratio in School A. Parents can quickly find out how much money goes toward instruction at School B. And students can see how many English learners attend School C.

The financial and demographic numbers are just the beginning. Eventually, the Web site will include state standardized test scores and, by extension, indexes intended to quantify the student-performance return that schools and districts get for the dollars they spend and the demographics they serve.

"The ratios help connect the different pieces of the puzzle to make the connection between spending and the community and student performance," said Susan Shafer, director of marketing and communications for S&P's School Evaluation Services.

"What are ways that parents, teachers and principals can use this information to move the dialogue forward about education reform in their community?"

Right now, users can see how Utah compares with other states and the nation on several indicators, including national standardized tests, college entrance exams and teacher salaries.

Likewise, the Web site allows district-by-district and school-by-school comparisons on similar factors, as well as finer details such as dollars spent on instruction per student versus school and district administration.

The education establishment doesn't necessarily endorse the site - even though all the data come from public sources: state education departments, the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics.

As is often the case when it comes to school reports, school officials caution against oversimplifying the meanings behind the numbers.

"We have all kinds of heartburn over making comparisons," said Mark Peterson, spokesman for the state Office of Education. "That said, people are going to make comparisons anyway."

Shafer fully expects parents to get on the Web site, go straight to their children's school and compare it to neighboring schools. She shares Peterson's caveat.

"Don't look at the test scores and say, 'Well my school has a 67 percent reading proficiency and Smith Elementary has 78 percent proficiency, therefore they're a better school,' " she said. "You need to look at all this information in thoughtful combination."

Colorado is among the states whose student-performance data are posted and used to make bang-for-your-buck compari- sons.

State school officials checked the Web site for accuracy but won't be using it for school analysis or policy decisions, said Jan Petro, director of data and research at the Colorado Department of Education.

"It's yet another Web site the public can use to make decisions about their schools," she said. "We already have all the data they used. The only thing that's new are these indices."

S&P entered the educational fray in 2001, when it landed contracts to create similar databases in Michigan and Pennsylvania. The idea for a nationwide Web site sprouted from there, and the National Education Data Partnership was born. The other partners are the Council of Chief State School Officers, Achieve Inc. and the CELT Corp.

The database is funded by two-year grants totaling $45 million from The Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"We joined together to fund this revolutionary data tool and provide it to the public free for two years," said Karen Denne, spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation. "We really believe the availability of transparent, robust information will ultimately improve education decision-making across the country."

It's uncertain what will happen when the two years are up and the $45 million runs out.

By that time, Denne said, several other financial sources - including state school systems - may find the database such an "indispensable tool" that they may help fund it.

rlynn@sltrib.com