Burbio
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Data analytics, Data aggregation, SaaS |
| Founded 📆 | 2014 |
| Founders 👔 | Julie Roche, Dennis Roche |
Area served 🗺️ | United States |
| Products 📟 | Burbio Intelligence Hub |
| Services | K-12 Education Data, K-12 Funding Data |
| Members | |
Number of employees | |
| 🌐 Website | burbio |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Burbio is a business intelligence service focusing on K-12 school districts that became known during the COVID-19 Pandemic for its measurement of school disruptions and later its tracking of stimulus spending. Burbio played a significant role in tracking and reporting on COVID-related K-12 school closures, becoming a national resource used by media outlets, academic researchers, and government agencies.
How Burbio Measured COVID-Related School Closures
At the onset of the pandemic Burbio was a consumer-facing community events app with a large database of school district information. When COVID-19 shut down community life and schools, Burbio pivoted it's business model and created the Burbio School Opening Tracker in mid-2020. It monitored the operational status of over 1,200 school districts across the U.S. , representing a majority of the student population. The tracker categorized school districts weekly based on instructional mode:
- Traditional in-person
- Hybrid (part in-person, part remote)
- Fully remote
Methodology:
Burbio used a combination of publicly available school district announcements, school calendars, media coverage, and direct monitoring of school district websites and social media.
- Data was updated weekly and incorporated both planned schedules and unexpected closures due to outbreaks or staffing shortages.
- The tracker also later expanded to include mask mandate tracking, quarantine policies, and other mitigation strategies.
The tracker used manual, high-frequency aggregation of real-time data from school district-level sources, something no federal or centralized body was doing comprehensively at the time, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
Citations in the Press
Burbio's school closure data was widely cited by national media throughout the coverage of the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education in the United States.
The Tracker was introduced nationally on CNBC’s Squawk Box in a segment led by reporter Steve Liesman, who was tracking a variety of economic disruptions related to COVID policies.[1]
The New York Times regularly referenced Burbio’s data in its reporting on school reopenings and remote learning trends. [2][3][4][5]P
PBS, ABC, NBC, NPR, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Axios, USA Today, Politico, The 74 Million, Education Week, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, and many others cited Burbio’s figures in articles about regional or national school status shifts from 2020 through 2022.[6] [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
Use in Research and Academia, and Publishing
- Harvard University[20], Johns Hopkins University [21], and Brown University’s Annenberg Institute [22] all incorporated or referenced Burbio data in studies examining learning loss, school policy decisions, and equity issues.
- Peer-reviewed research used Burbio data to correlate school closure trends with infection rates, political leanings, and student outcomes.[23] [24]
- Burbio has been cited in books covering Covid-era school closures such as David Zweig’s “An Abundance of Caution”[25] and Anya Kamenetz’ “The Stolen Year”. [26]
- Burbio’s School Opening Tracker allowed Nature Medicine researchers to precisely classify counties by their school reopening strategies and then assess how those choices influenced community SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates over the 12 weeks following school openings. By grounding the study in verifiable, time-sensitive schooling mode data, Burbio’s tracker enabled researchers to identify that, in most U.S. regions, opening schools did not significantly affect community COVID-19 spread but importantly, they found a region-specific rise in transmission in the South tied to in-person or hybrid learning settings.[27]
- Stephanie Aaronson and Francisca Alba relied on Burbio’s K–12 School Opening Tracker to provide detailed, weekly, district-level data on instructional modalities, distinguishing between traditional (in-person), hybrid, and fully virtual learning, spanning from September 2020 through June 2021. This data was aggregated to state-level figures, weighted by enrollment, and aligned with the CPS (Current Population Survey) reference weeks, allowing the researchers to examine the statistical relationship between changes in schooling modes and mothers’ labor force participation. While their analysis found that higher shares of students in virtual or hybrid learning correlated with modest declines in participation among women with young children, the precise and granular data from Burbio was critical for isolating the effect of schooling modality from broader economic and pandemic-driven factors.[28]
- McKinsey’s December 14, 2021 report leveraged Burbio’s K–12 district-level data to reveal a shift in instructional modality: by that fall, 100% of public-school students were in districts offering full-time in-person learning, compared to only 73% the prior spring. This precise, up-to-date tracking allowed researchers to more confidently analyze learning trajectories using interim assessments administered in school. 91% took these in person (up from 64% the spring and just 34% the previous fall). Armed with this reliable data, McKinsey was able to document how recovery from pandemic-related learning losses was uneven: students in majority-Black schools remained five months behind in both math and reading, while those in majority-White schools were only two months behind, clarifying a growing K-shaped divergence.[29]
Government and Policy Use
- The U.S. Department of Education cited Burbio in reports and public briefings, especially in 2021, when describing trends in school operations.[30] [31]
- In the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (July 2, 2021), Burbio’s School Opening Tracker provided the foundational data on weekly learning-mode access (full-time in-person, hybrid, and virtual-only) for approximately 1,200 U.S. school districts, covering 46% of K–12 enrollment and 90% of students in the 232 most populous counties. This enabled the CDC to assess disparities by race/ethnicity, geography, and grade level. Burbio’s data allowed the CDC to quantify how access to full-time in-person learning increased across different racial/ethnic groups between September 2020 and April 2021. This timely, granular data anchored the report’s core finding, including uneven returns to in-person learning among students of color across regions and levels, providing essential insights for public health recommendations to address inequities.[32]
- Burbio was cited by the U.S. Senate in testimony and reports related to education funding and reopening plans.[33]
Post‑pandemic Activities
After the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic, Burbio shifted from tracking school reopening modalities to building a PreK‑12 intelligence platform, focusing on education funding, district operations, and public policy trends.
Expanded Data Services
- The company expanded its datasets, including school board meeting minutes and strategic plans, state and federal grant programs, superintendent turnover, school bonds, district financial records, and state policies. These datasets feed a centralized PreK-12 Intelligence Hub that supports customized dashboards, alerts, and keyword search capabilities across districts and states. Burbio uses Artificial Intelligence to deliver additional insights about K-12 policies.
Ongoing Tracking and Reporting
- Although mask mandates and school closures have largely ended, Burbio continues to monitor district-level planning around local spending and policies through its PreK-12 Intelligence Hub.
- Its weekly “School Tracker” newsletters highlight emerging trends in the K-12 Sector.[34]
Legacy of Pandemic Tracking
While its School Opening Tracker and Mask Policy Tracker were central during 2020‑22, Burbio now treats them as archived tools, having expanded their tracking to over 5,000 districts representing more than 70% of K‑12 students as Covid-era disruptions continued. Burbio ceased routine monitoring of Covid disruptions as cases declined below minimal levels.
References
- ↑ "New data shows more than half of US students will be learning virtually this fall". CNBC. 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Will Any More Schools Reopen in 2020? (Published 2020)". 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "A majority of school districts are now open. But not everyone wants to return. (Published 2021)". 2021-03-29. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "What the Data Says About Pandemic School Closures, Four Years Later (Published 2024)". 2024-03-18. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Opinion | Make Schools More Human (Published 2020)". 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ NewsHour, -Stella McGrew Stella McGrew Stella McGrewis an associate producer at the PBS (2021-06-15). "5 charts that show where we are in the pandemic". PBS News. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ Kamenetz, Anya (2020-10-22). "A Rising Number Of U.S. Children Have The Option Of In-Person School". NPR. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Many schools have reopened without White House guidance, but can be hard to track how they're teaching - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ Hawkins, Lee; Barrett, Joe (2020-08-05). "Chicago Schools Reopening Online Only as Coronavirus Cases Rise". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ Green, Justin (2020-09-08). "America's great virtual-learning experiment faces glitches nationwide". Axios. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ Aspegren, Erin Richards and Elinor. "Summer parties, teacher shortages push suburban schools to scrap COVID-19 reopening plans". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Falling Covid-19 cases create opportunity and peril for Trump". POLITICO. 2020-08-30. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ Lehrer-Small, Asher (2021-05-03). "Reopening Roadblocks & 7 Other Key Updates". Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ Gewertz, Catherine (2021-01-14). "Districts Retreat to Remote Learning Even as Biden Calls for Reopening Schools". Education Week. ISSN 0277-4232. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Is it safe to open schools? Yes, but ..." The Washington Post. 2021-02-18. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
- ↑ "Parents struggle as omicron disrupts back-to-school plans". NBC News. 2022-01-06. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ News, A. B. C. "Parents in 'limbo' as schools close, return to virtual learning amid COVID-19 surge". ABC News. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ "Biden's Goal to Open Most Schools in 100 Days is Not a Long Shot". Bloomberg.
- ↑ X; X; Email (2022-01-14). "Anxious. Helpless. Upset. Omicron surge leaves U.S. parents, teachers and students on edge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ "Who Closed the Schools? - Working Paper - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ Panaggio, Mark J.; Fang, Mike; Bang, Hyunseung; Armstrong, Paige A.; Binder, Alison M.; Grass, Julian E.; Magid, Jake; Papazian, Marc; Shapiro-Mendoza, Carrie K.; Parks, Sharyn E. (2023-10-04). Roy, Satyaki, ed. "Inferring school district learning modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic with a hidden Markov model". PLOS ONE. 18 (10): e0292354. arXiv:2211.00708. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1892354P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0292354. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 10550109 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 37792907 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ Bacher-Hicks, Andrew, Joshua Goodman, Jennifer Greif Green, and Melissa K. Holt. (2021). The COVID-19 Pandemic Disrupted Both School Bullying and Cyberbullying. (EdWorkingPaper: 21-436). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://edworkingpapers.com/ai21-436
- ↑ Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Krueger, Dirk; Kurmann, André; Lalé, Etienne; Ludwig, Alexander; Popova, Irina (October 2021). The Fiscal and Welfare Effects of Policy Responses to the Covid-19 School Closures (PDF) (Report). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w29398.
- ↑ Lewis, Kristen. A Decade Undone: 2021 Update. New York: Measure of America, Social Science Research Council, 2021. https://ssrc-static.s3.amazonaws.com/moa/ADecadeUndone2021Update.pdf
- ↑ Zweig, David (2025-04-22). An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-54915-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Kamenetz, Anya (2022-08-23). The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-5417-0101-4. Search this book on
- ↑ Ertem, Zeynep; Schechter-Perkins, Elissa M.; Oster, Emily; van den Berg, Polly; Epshtein, Isabella; Chaiyakunapruk, Nathorn; Wilson, Fernando A.; Perencevich, Eli; Pettey, Warren B. P.; Branch-Elliman, Westyn; Nelson, Richard E. (December 2021). "The impact of school opening model on SARS-CoV-2 community incidence and mortality". Nature Medicine. 27 (12): 2120–2126. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01563-8. ISSN 1546-170X. PMID 34707317 Check
|pmid=value (help). - ↑ "The relationship between school closures and female labor force participation during the pandemic". Brookings. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
- ↑ "COVID-19 and the widening learning gap | McKinsey". www.mckinsey.com. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
- ↑ "COVID Data | U.S. Department of Education". www.ed.gov. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
- ↑ School Learning Modalities, 2021-2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024-06-28, retrieved 2025-08-04
- ↑ Oster, Emily (2021). "Disparities in Learning Mode Access Among K–12 Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic, by Race/Ethnicity, Geography, and Grade Level — United States, September 2020–April 2021". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 70 (26): 953–958. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7026e2. ISSN 0149-2195. PMID 34197363 Check
|pmid=value (help). - ↑ U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Full Committee Hearing: Supporting Students and Schools: Promising Practices to Get Back on Track: https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Goldhaber2.pdf
- ↑ "Weekly Updates". about.burbio.com. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
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