In btskinner/rscorecard: A Method to Download Department of Education College Scorecard Data

rscorecard

options(width = 100)

This package is an R wrapper for the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API. It allows users to select and filter Scorecard variables with piped commands a la dplyr.

Installation

Install the latest released version from CRAN with

install.packages("rscorecard")

Install the latest development version from Github with

devtools::install_github("btskinner/rscorecard")

This package relies on the Scorecard data dictionary, so I will attempt to update it in a timely fashion whenever new Scorecard data are released. Because it sometimes takes a few days to get a package on CRAN, you may want to download the developmental version in the days immediately following a data update.

Usage

Set API key

Get your Data.gov API key at https://api.data.gov/signup/. Save your key in your R environment at the start of your R session using sc_key():

## use your real key in place of the Xs
sc_key('xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx')

Request data

library(rscorecard)

df <- sc_init() |> 
    sc_filter(region == 2, ccbasic == c(21,22,23), locale == 41:43) |> 
    sc_select(unitid, instnm, stabbr) |> 
    sc_year("latest") |> 
    sc_get()
df

For more example calls and information about other package commands, see the extended vignette.

Data dictionary

To look up information about data elements, use the sc_dict() function.

sc_dict("control")

Further references

• College Scorecard Website
• Data documentation
• Data dictionary [XLS]
• Reports
  • Policy paper
  • Technical paper

btskinner/rscorecard documentation built on March 27, 2024, 12:31 a.m.