Updated options and resources: Goal: Work solo or with one other student to update the analysis in Cotto and Feder’s Choice Watch report by addressing any of the topics below using 2013-14 school-level that we obtained from public sources in Exercise C. Rather than attempting to cover all of the topics, go into greater depth on one or more and offer meaningful insights on what has risen, fallen, or remained constant since their initial report (which relies on 2011-12 data). Write no more than 500 words and include at least one data visualization to illustrate a point. Share on a Google Doc with jackdrty@gmail, OR post on this WordPress site, before Spring Break begins on Friday March 6th.
Use the 2011-12 and 2013-14 tabs near the front of our Google Spreadsheet, and note any definitions or caveats in the source tab
- How have student demographics such as race/ethnicity, poverty (using Free and Reduced Price Meal eligibility), English language learners, and special education status) changed or remained the same over time?
- Have student demographics changed or remained continuous in different types of public choice schools (charters, vo-tech, magnets both inside/outside of the RSCO transportation area)?
- Within each demographic group or school type, are there interesting outliers that have sharply risen or fallen? Are there “success stories” or the opposite?
- Are there meaningful changes if you update the report using different definitions of race and ethnicity, such as “minority” (all non-Whites) versus Black and Hispanic only (similar to the newer Sheff remedy)?
- What happens if you compare schools by their racial and their socioeconomic demographics?
- What happens if you compare selected choice schools to the traditional district schools in which they are located? (See additional tab of all schools, then filter to focus on only non-choice schools.)
- In addition to at least one item above, your essay may point out what we still don’t know (and the information required, such as classroom-level data), or policy recommendations in the initial report and/or policy briefs in our syllabus.
After you have worked on the core of this assignment (your data analysis and essay), choose one of these techniques to add a simple data visualization to illustrate one of your key points. If you create a static chart, copy and paste into your GDoc. If you create an interactive chart or map, either insert the link into your GDoc, OR write a post on this WordPress site and embed the visualization as an iframe (see instructor for help).
I will help students try out these data visualization resources during the latter half of our March 4th seminar:
How to create a simple static or interactive chart in Google Sheets
1) Begin with our Google Spreadsheet and use the updated 2011-12 and 2013-14 data sheets near the front. Feel free to make your own copy (File > Make Copy, or File > Download as. . ., and re-upload)
2) In Google Spreadsheet, copy a portion of data to a new sheet, select it, and Insert > Chart. Choose the most appropriate chart type that matches your data. If you choose a static chart, you can copy and paste into your Google Doc. If you choose an interactive Google chart, “publish” it to the web and paste its link in your Google Doc (or see me about embedding a live chart in a WordPress blog post).
Or use any other tool (such as Microsoft Excel, etc.) to create a static chart.
How to create an interactive scatter chart (and tooltips) with Google Sheets
See instructions at https://github.com/JackDougherty/gviz-scatter-series
How to create a simple interactive map (and more charts) in Google Fusion Tables
IMPORTANT: *You must use a REGULAR Google username account (not a Wesleyan Google Ed account) to use Google Fusion Tables.*
1) Go to Google Drive http://drive.google.com and log in using your REGULAR account
2) Create (red rectangle) > Connect more apps > search “Google Fusion Tables” > add this free app
3) Go to our seminar’s Google Fusion Table of the 2013-14 data
https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=14B4i4cLiIgB7T_sJcICRrYI4VeIkNVNvhwFfh0Om
4) File > Make a copy (and feel free to rename it)
5) To create an interactive map, click “Map of School” tab (and it will automatically geocode points)
Click “Change feature styles” > Points > Marker Icon > Buckets to show data
Click “Change info window” to modify data shown in pop-up window
Click “Filter” (blue rectangle) to show only certain rows (e.g. TypeNum 1 = magnets, 2 = charters, 3 = Votech)
6) To make your interactive map public and include a link in your essay:
Change Sharing settings to “Anyone with the link can View”
Copy and paste the link into your Google Document
Or see my more advanced instructions to insert a map into a WordPress blog post at http://epress.trincoll.edu/dataviz/chapter/create-point-map-gft/
To make an interactive chart in Google Fusion Tables, follow steps 1-4 above, then add a new tab (click the red + symbol next to the map tab) to create a chart. Choose an appropriate chart style to match your data. Change sharing settings to make it public, and insert the link in your Google Doc.
How to embed your data visualization as an iframe in a WordPress post
See instructor about how to create a post on this WordPress site, which uses the iframe plugin. See instructions about how to embed your visualization as an iframe at http://epress.trincoll.edu/dataviz/chapter/embed-iframe/
See additional resources in Data Visualization for All book-in-progress at http://epress.trincoll.edu/dataviz.