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Massachusetts Education Project

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

• Tableau

Introduction

An American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement, Malcom X, said something interesting about education, which is one of my favorite quotes. He said:


“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”


That is completely correct. I came from a little village in Ondo State, Nigeria, and I would not be where I am today if it hadn't been for education. My parents recognize the importance of education and have spent every last penny on their children's education.


And that made me really interested in looking at this high school education project in the state of Massachusetts.



cleaned dataset in Excel
Photo by Ivan Aleksic

Getting Started

For this project, I'm going to pretend that the State of Massachusetts just hired me to analyze their educational data. The school superintendent is looking for the following:


  • A report to show the school board the state of the school system

  • How does class size affect college admission?

  • What are the top math schools in the state?

  • What schools are struggling the most?

Data

This is real data taken from the Massachusetts Department of Education website. This dataset included 1,800 unique schools and over 1 million pupils

The metrics used in analyzing this project include:


  • Average Class Size

  • Percentage Attending College

  • Percentage Graduated

  • Percentage Economically Disadvantaged

  • Percentage MCAS 4th Grade P+A

Analysis and Visualization

Low Grad Percentage

Upon analyzing the lowest graduation rates in Massachusetts, I identified the schools that were facing the most significant challenges. Among the bottom 10 schools, the graduation rates varied from 0% to 18.2% and the top 10 schools has graduation rates of 100% each.



low grad
Low Grad Percentage


Percentage College vs College Size

Next, to evaluate the impact of class size on college attendance, a scatter plot was generated, showcasing the correlation between the two variables. The analysis revealed that the highest concentration of students attending college was observed in class sizes ranging from 12 to 20 students. Notably, there was a lack of substantial attendance when class sizes fell outside this particular range.



Percentage College vs College Size
Percentage College vs College Size


4th Grade Math

With a focus on enhancing the MCAS 4th Grade Math Passing rate in the state, the Secretary of Education acknowledges the pivotal role of 4th-grade math skills in shaping a student's future.

To identify potential districts for improvement initiatives, an analysis was conducted, filtering out schools lacking 4th-graders or 4th-grade MCAS scores. The remaining schools were then sorted based on their math MCAS pass percentages.

The Secretary aims to pinpoint districts that have surpassed the desired threshold of 50% passing and intends to compile a list of these districts. The next step involves inviting selected teachers from these districts to train educators across the state, sharing effective strategies for enhancing math scores.



4th Grade Math
4th Grade Math

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