Massachusetts Education Overview
This project analyzes educational issues for the Governor or Massachusetts to help improve learning for students across the state.
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IMassachusetts Gets a Report
Card for the Governor
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As a child, I grew up hearing the story of my uncle being put in the corner to make potholders on a little children's loom each day during first grade instead of being taught to read with his peers. My maternal grandparents had moved from central to northern Illinois that winter. And my uncle's first-grade teacher felt that he was too far behind to bother teaching him to read. Isn't that wild to think of now? Luckily, my grandmother was educated as a teacher herself, so she just taught him at home & enjoyed the plethora of potholders to boot.
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Sadly, not all children are as lucky as he was to have that kind of safety net in place. And that's why transparency in education is so critical.
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With the help of a dataset I found online, I was able to learn some key facts about the performance of schools in Massachusetts.
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The ten lowest graduation rate high schools begin with Springfield Public Day High School, who has 8.7% of students graduating
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Surprisingly, lower class size does not correlate to higher college attendance
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Only four schools in the state exceed the 50% threshold for performance in fourth grade math
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Mapping the state by zip code based on the average progress of high need students reveals the need for more support for these learners
Let's Begin With the Data
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Here is a link to the 1861 row data set, which was uploaded from Excel to Tableau: MA Schools.
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Out of 130 columns, some important columns include: school name, school type (public or charter), address, town, zip code, longitude, latitude, grade level(s), district name, enrollment data, demographics regarding student backgrounds (including but not limited to ELL, students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged, racial, gender, etc.), staff salaries, average in-district expenditures per pupil, graduation rate and many other metrics for student success based on varying criteria.
The Analysis
Initially, the governor wanted to identify the worst ten high schools by graduation rate. The lowest of the ten was Springfield Public Day High School from which only 8.7% of students are currently graduating.
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To continue, the governor wanted to explore whether or not to build more schools, with the idea that smaller class size was correlated with a higher percentage of students attending college. Based on the results of the scatter plot, the recommendation to build more schools could not be made at this time, because it does not demonstrate a strong correlation between small class size and percentage of students attending college.
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Next, the governor wanted to focus on finding successful fourth grade math classrooms who met or exceeded the 50% threshold or more. The governor's idea was to have these teachers go and train other colleagues. Unfortunately, only four classrooms in the whole state met this criteria.
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Finally, the governor requested a map of the state by zip code to show the average progress of high-need students. This way, the governor can visualize at a glance how much progress high-need learners are making across Massachusetts.
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Time to Recap
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As it turns out, my uncle learned to read so well that he became an attorney and has helped many people over the course of his successful career in law.
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Sadly, not all student stories end on such a high note. This is why it is so crucial for leaders to have access to data which can help them analyze how to improve the educational system in their area.
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This analysis helped the governor of Massachusetts:
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Identify the ten worst performing high schools by graduation rate
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Decide not to build more schools based on smaller class size not correlating to a higher college attendance rate
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Determine that only four classrooms teaching fourth grade math in the whole state are achieving at or above a 50% threshold
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Visualize the average performance of high-need learners across the state by zip code
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Here's the link to the explore the full project in Tableau.
Action!
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I thank you for reading and welcome your feedback! Please consider following me or connecting on LinkedIn at Carly Jocson. And please keep me in mind for any remote positions as a data analyst!