Education Data MCP Server

This repository contains an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides access to the Urban Institute's Education Data API. The server is designed to be used with Claude to enable easy access to education data.

Repository Structure

education-data-package-r/: The original R package for accessing the Education Data API (for reference)
src/: The MCP server source code
build/: The compiled MCP server

About the Education Data API

The Urban Institute's Education Data API provides access to a wide range of education data, including:

School and district enrollment data
College and university data
Assessment data
Financial data
And much more

The API is organized by levels (schools, school-districts, college-university), sources (ccd, ipeds, crdc, etc.), and topics (enrollment, directory, finance, etc.).

Features

Retrieve detailed education data via the get_education_data tool
Retrieve aggregated education data via the get_education_data_summary tool
Browse available endpoints via resources

Installation

Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/edu-data-mcp-server.git cd edu-data-mcp-server
Install dependencies:
npm install
Build the server:
npm run build
Make the server available for npx:
npm link

Configuring the MCP Server

To use this MCP server with Claude, you need to add it to your MCP settings configuration file.

For Claude Desktop App (macOS)

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edu-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["edu-data-mcp-server"],
      "disabled": false,
      "alwaysAllow": []
    }
  }
}

For Claude in VSCode

Edit /home/codespace/.vscode-remote/data/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edu-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["edu-data-mcp-server"],
      "disabled": false,
      "alwaysAllow": []
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

get_education_data

Retrieves detailed education data from the API.

Parameters:

level (required): API data level to query (e.g., 'schools', 'school-districts', 'college-university')
source (required): API data source to query (e.g., 'ccd', 'ipeds', 'crdc')
topic (required): API data topic to query (e.g., 'enrollment', 'directory')
subtopic (optional): List of grouping parameters (e.g., ['race', 'sex'])
filters (optional): Query filters (e.g., {year: 2008, grade: [9,10,11,12]})
add_labels (optional): Add variable labels when applicable (default: false)
limit (optional): Limit the number of results (default: 100)

Example:

{
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "subtopic": ["race", "sex"],
  "filters": {
    "year": 2008,
    "grade": [9, 10, 11, 12]
  },
  "add_labels": true,
  "limit": 50
}

get_education_data_summary

Retrieves aggregated education data from the API.

Parameters:

level (required): API data level to query
source (required): API data source to query
topic (required): API data topic to query
subtopic (optional): Additional parameters (only applicable to certain endpoints)
stat (required): Summary statistic to calculate (e.g., 'sum', 'avg', 'count', 'median')
var (required): Variable to be summarized
by (required): Variables to group results by
filters (optional): Query filters

Example:

{
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "stat": "sum",
  "var": "enrollment",
  "by": ["fips"],
  "filters": {
    "fips": [6, 7, 8],
    "year": [2004, 2005]
  }
}

Available Resources

The server provides resources for browsing available endpoints:

edu-data://endpoints/{level}/{source}/{topic}: Information about a specific education data endpoint

Example Usage with Claude

Once the MCP server is configured, you can use it with Claude to access education data:

Can you show me the enrollment data for high schools in California for 2020?

Claude can then use the MCP server to retrieve and analyze the data:

use_mcp_tool
server_name: edu-data
tool_name: get_education_data
arguments: {
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "filters": {
    "year": 2020,
    "fips": 6,
    "grade": [9, 10, 11, 12]
  },
  "limit": 10
}

Development

To run the server directly:

npm start

To run the server in watch mode during development:

npm run watch

To inspect the server's capabilities:

npm run inspector

To run the server using npx:

npx edu-data-mcp-server

License

MIT

This server cannot be installed

security - not tested

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

remote-capable server

The server can be hosted and run remotely because it primarily relies on remote services or has no dependency on the local environment.

Provides access to Urban Institute's Education Data API through Claude, enabling users to query and analyze detailed educational data from schools, districts, and universities.

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