The first map below shows the four school zones of the Hartford school district, which are shaded based on the average percentage of CMT proficiency of the schools in the that zone in 2013. The averages range from 50.4 to 74.09, so in the first map the red shaded areas are 50.4-62.23 and the green shaded areas are 62.24-74.09. This splits the zones into either good or bad, which is obvious in the map. Additionally, the use of red also further highlights the negative performance of the school zones. In shading an entire school zone in red, such as Zone 2 (top right), viewers might react negatively towards all the schools in that zone, even though one point (Capital Prep) is green, meaning the percentage at proficient is 70% and above.
The second map shows the exact same data, but rather than dividing school zones into good versus bad, zones are shaded as a gradient, so identifying the worse performing school zones does not quite jump out at the viewer as much as the last map. Again, the range for the gradient is 50.4-74.09, and as the shading gets darker the percentage at proficient increases. In this map, the viewer can determine that Zone 1 (top left) seems to be the darkest shaded, and this is confirmed by the yellow and green points, which are schools with percentage at proficient of 51% and above. In terms of the other zones, it is not quite clear which are better performing. For example, it does not seem that Zone 2 (top right) and Zone 3 (bottom left) are any worse than Zone 4 (bottom right), whereas in the first map, Zone 2 and 3 were shaded red, while Zone 4 was green.
Excellent contrast that demonstrates your understanding of the concept (except for red-green color blind viewers).