Terms of Service
What you're agreeing to when you use SchoolScope. Written for humans.
Last updated: March 28, 2026
What SchoolScope is
SchoolScope is a school performance analysis tool. We take publicly available data from the California Department of Education — test scores, absenteeism rates, suspension rates — and compute Scope Scores, rankings, and analysis to help parents understand school performance.
By using SchoolScope (the "Service"), you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, that's fine — the underlying data is public and you can access it directly from the California Department of Education.
About our scores and analysis
This is important, so we're putting it near the top:
A score is a snapshot, not a sentence.
Our Scope Scores are analytical tools. They represent one way of interpreting public data — our way, with our methodology and our judgment about what matters. They are not:
- Official government ratings
- Guarantees of school quality or student outcomes
- Comprehensive assessments of everything a school offers
- Substitutes for visiting a school, talking to teachers, or understanding your child's specific needs
Test scores measure what tests measure. Our methodology page explains exactly how we compute scores, what we include, and — critically — what we can't capture. We publish our limitations because we'd rather give you an honest partial picture than a confident misleading one.
We encourage you to use SchoolScope as one input among many when evaluating schools for your family.
Your account
You can browse SchoolScope without an account. If you create one:
- Age requirement: You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. SchoolScope is designed for parents and guardians, not children.
- Accuracy: Provide accurate information. Your account is personal — don't share credentials.
- Security: You're responsible for activity under your account. If you notice unauthorized access, let us know immediately.
- One human, one account: Don't create multiple accounts. Automated account creation is not permitted.
Acceptable use
Use SchoolScope for what it's built for: researching schools to make informed decisions for your family. Don't:
- Scrape or bulk-download our computed scores and analysis for commercial use. The underlying government data is public — go get it from the source. Our analysis and Scope Scores are our work.
- Misrepresent SchoolScope scores as official government ratings.
- Harass schools, teachers, or other users based on scores or data.
- Use the service to discriminate against communities or neighborhoods. School data reflects systemic factors far beyond any individual school's control.
- Attempt to reverse-engineer, attack, or exploit the service.
- Use automated systems (bots, scrapers) to access the service at volume without permission.
Payments and subscriptions
Basic school data on SchoolScope is free. Premium features require a paid subscription.
- Billing: Payments are processed by Lemon Squeezy, our Merchant of Record. They handle billing, tax, and payment methods. By subscribing, you also agree to Lemon Squeezy's terms of service.
- Refunds: We offer a refund policy as required by Lemon Squeezy's Merchant of Record terms. If you're unhappy with the service, contact us.
- Cancellation: You can cancel your subscription at any time. You'll retain access through the end of your current billing period.
- Price changes: If we change pricing, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice. Existing subscriptions continue at their current price until the next renewal.
Intellectual property
What's ours
The SchoolScope name, logo, design, Scope Score methodology, analysis, and code are our intellectual property. You can't copy, redistribute, or create derivative works from our analysis without permission.
What's public
The underlying school data — test scores, absenteeism rates, suspension rates, school names and locations — is public government data published by the California Department of Education. We don't own it and neither does anyone else. You can access it directly from the CDE.
What's yours
Any content you create on SchoolScope (saved school lists, notes, preferences) belongs to you. We don't claim ownership of your content. You can export or delete it at any time.
Data accuracy
We work hard to keep our data accurate, but we want to be transparent about limitations:
- Source data: We rely on data published by the California Department of Education. If the source data contains errors, our analysis will reflect them.
- Update frequency: School data is updated annually when the CDE publishes new results. Between updates, scores reflect the most recent available data year.
- Computation: Our Scope Scores are computed using the formula described on our methodology page. While we test thoroughly, software can have bugs. If you spot something that looks wrong, please let us know.
- No guarantee: We provide the service "as is." We do not guarantee that scores are error-free, complete, or suitable for any particular decision.
Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
- SchoolScope is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied.
- We are not liable for decisions you make based on our scores or analysis. Choosing a school is a personal decision with many factors — our data is one input, not a recommendation.
- We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service.
- Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim arose, or $100, whichever is greater.
Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations, so they may not fully apply to you.
Termination
By you
You can delete your account at any time from your profile settings or by emailing us. We'll delete your data as described in our privacy policy.
By us
We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms. If we do, we'll tell you why (unless doing so would compromise security or violate law). For minor violations, we'll warn you first and give you a chance to fix it.
Disputes
If we have a disagreement, let's try to work it out directly first. Email hello@schoolscope.co and we'll try to resolve it within 30 days.
If we can't resolve it informally, these terms are governed by the laws of the State of California. Any legal action must be brought in the courts of California.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the service evolves. When we make meaningful changes:
- We'll post the updated terms here with a new "last updated" date
- We'll notify account holders by email at least 30 days before changes take effect
- Continued use after changes take effect means you accept the new terms
We won't make retroactive changes that reduce your rights without your consent.
Contact us
Questions about these terms:
- Contact: Send us a message