This might not seem exciting, but this might be a basis for a different type of mapping for me. It is in Amcharts. I’m going to sit it here just to test it. I hope to build on it.
Category: Data
I do not really know how to code. I am primarily a policy analyst who just loves data. I have been having trouble getting the demo version of a Divergent Stacked Bar Chart to render using the Amcharts plugin. My googling led me to this simple answer on StackOverflow regarding D3. I tried it with a D3 demo. It worked! First, try. I tried it with Amcharts. Once I got the file saved properly (I am missing something when combining all the pieces that I still have not yet figured out), it worked! So even if I do not know what is wrong with the Amcharts plugin for some of these types of charts, I can make it work. It takes longer and it is harder to debug, but if I want to do it I can.
Here is the code I used. Just change the URL to the URL of the code that you uploaded to your media section of the WordPress site.
`<iframe
style="border: 0px;"
src="www.yourwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/d3page.html"
scrolling="no"
width="100%"
height="500px">
</iframe>`Here is the graph. I used the 2019 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) data from 2019.
As I was working on trying to figure out how to make this graph render I read that is controversial and is not considered a good way to visualize data. But by that point, I was too far in. I wanted to see how it looked and judge for myself. I have not made any conclusions about the data or the visualization yet. I am just happy I figured out how to make the code work. This experience also means I will be able to try out D3 visualizations, which is a whole other rabbit hole. Enough explanation. I am going to test this webpage and take it live. The analysis is for another day.
Sources: Maryland State Department of Education, MCAP ELA and Math Performance Data.
In line with my interest in masking policies in public schools, I decided to map outbreak-associated cases in schools as reported by the Maryland Department of Health to check out the geolocation mapping feature of Datawrapper. As far as using the geolocation, it was super easy. I googled the address and pasted it into the correct box. I assume that the locations are generally accurate. It seems less precise than ArcView, but it seems to work well for when you are just trying to get a sense of the data. It did not that too long to enter the data for this number of locations. It would take a while if there were more locations. It would be much quicker if I had a spreadsheet with all the addresses of schools in the State pre-made and ready to go. I believe that there might be an official list of the public schools available. If I were to do this in the future I would explore using that existing spreadsheet.
I wish that I could add a choropleth map behind the location map to add another level of data details. I know it can be done with Arcview. But what you gain in usability you lose in features.
If you are wondering like I was about the outbreak at Quince Orchard when the school is not even open yet. The answer was found in this news article. Apparently, there was an outbreak in the football team which I assume has started practicing for the fall season.
Notes About the Data
These notes are copied from the Maryland Department of Health website.
Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education. Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
Classroom/cohort outbreak definition: 1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or
School-wide outbreak definition:
2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or
3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).
Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue. These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.
I pulled data at noon on August 25, 2021, to make the above map. As I discuss locations are approximate. I provided the information on whether a school is public or private. All errors are my own. This map is not official, it is primarily for the purpose of me exploring the visualization features and keeping track of what I learned.
The Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) are the assessments that are used to meet federal Early Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) assessment requirements. MCAP has five score levels, a student who scores at level 4 or 5 is considered proficient on the material. Because of the pandemic, the MCAP was last administered in 2019.
I used data from the Maryland Report Card website to look at the percentage of students who are certified eligible for free and reduced-price meals compared to all students who took the assessment. I choose Math 5 because I wanted a group of students that had been in the school system for some time and to only capture first-time test takers. Also generally in middle school, a subsection of students start taking the Algebra I assessment (because they take Algebra) and thus are not included in the grade-level assessment. The data reports percentages of students, not the number of students. Thus, I can not easily calculate the non-FARMS subgroup, which might be a better comparison group since FARMS students are included in the all students category.
To bring some type of order to the data I reverse sorted it by all students. From a data visualization point of view I think this is an effective way of looking at the data. There is a lot of data, but it is easy to read and all of the counties are on the same chart. I wish I could better highlight the State average data with vertical lines or bolded dots, but I do not think that is an option in this software.
As the masking requirements for public schools changed so does my map. This time I figured out how to link sources in the tooltips. Tooltips are apparently what you call the hover-over information. I like having clear sources for my visualizations it is important that I can retrace my steps and I would like others to be able to retrace my steps. This is especially important because I work with so many sources of data and my products often have a quick turnaround time.
Sometimes I get to use my new skills to build something that is actually useful for real people. I made this map for the Maryland General Assembly to help keep track of the State’s public schools masking requirements. As a nonpartisan analyst my job is to provide clear nonpartisan information. I love how easy this map was to make on the technical side. I also like that I could add tooltips easily.
Update: Here is proof that someone important found the map useful.
Today I am taking a look at the dual enrollment data published by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) Center.
According to the data, 85% of 12 graders in the 2018-2019 student year who earned dual enrollment credits between 9th and 12th grades (academic years 2015-2016 to 2018-2019) enrolled in college in fall 2019. Of those who enrolled in college: 36% enrolled in an in-State community college; 35% enrolled in an in-State (public or private) four-year college; and 28% enrolled in an out-of-state college. This is showed in the Sankey diagram below.
I wish I could match up the dual enrollment students with the general student population. It would be nice to see if the behavior of students that dually enrolled differs from the general student population. I will take a deeper look at the data in the future to see if I can use math to make any conclusions.
As of yet MLDS Center has not yet published the general college enrollment data for the 2018-2019 cohort year. However, typically, 50% or less of high school graduates immediately enroll in college. Thus, students that participate in dual enrollment programs (unsurprisingly) seem to enroll in college at a higher rate than students generally.
Source: Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, dual enrollment courses and credits: 2018-2019
According to the data set, of the 6,237 students that enrolled in-State following participation in a dual enrollment program, 3,012 in-state students, or 48%, enrolled at the college of dual enrollment. A further 2,936 in-state students, 47%, participated in a dual enrollment program at a community college and enrolled at an in-state four-year institution.
notes about the Data
- The data shows data on the college enrollment patterns for 2018-2019 12th grade high school students with dual enrllment activity at any point between 9th and 12th grade. The initial population was selected by identifying studetns who had noth a high school enrollment and a college enrollment recored in the 2018-2019 academic year (fall to spring). Summer enrollment information was excluded from this analysis.
- This diagram is the result of me exploring the limits of the data and the graphing software. The numbers and math have not been checked.
Short answer. Yes, free-and-reduced price status likely impacts college segment of initial enrollment. See the pretty Sankey diagram below that shows the college segment of initial enrollment for high school graduates by free- and reduced-priced meal (FARMS) eligibility status. However, read my data notes below before making any conclusions.
Most notably 47% FARMS eligible high school graduates failed to enroll in any college segment compared to 24% of non-FARMS eligible high school graduates. Also, 10% of FARMS eligible high school graduates initially enrolled in an out-of-state college compared to 24% of non-FARMS eligible high school graduates.
Click here if you can not see the diagram.
Long answer. As an analyst, I can think of a long list of reasons why this data does not answer this question. The first being is that the data source does not list actual numbers, just percentages. So I had to back into the numbers I used in the diagram. However, due to rounding, the numbers do not add up to the proper totals. If this was for real analysis I would try to get the actual numbers. I need to use numbers, even if they are not quite correct to get the diagram to render properly.
But for this project, I am just attempting to see if I can code this type of diagram and getting a general sense of what the diagram would show. On that end, it is a success. I can do the coding, I am sincerely hoping that you can see the diagram above right now. I also think I really like the visual effect. I think it works well when you have a few categories for each node.
Notes about the Data
- The number of students are estimates from the percentages published by the Maryland Longitdinal Data System Center. I have not fully checked my calculations, this is primarily for me to learn how to create the diagrams using the software. I am also attempting to learn which types of data visulizations I find useful and worth pursuing. I also am trying to better understand the data.
- Due to rounding in the data source the numbers do not add up to the correct totals. This is just for a general idea of the data, not for specifics.
- Some notes adapted from those provided by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, all errors are my own.
- The number number of years following high school graduation impacts the initial postsecondary enrollment numbers. Graduates who enrolled in Private Career Schools or Continuing Education and Training Certificate sequences are not included.
- This dashboard uses “initial enrollment,” which counts only the first enrollment of a student after graduation. For example, a student graduates high school, enrolls in a summer community college course, and then enrolls in an out-of-state college in the fall. The initial enrollment count for that student is one in-state enrollment. Other methods of counting enrollment may count that student as one in-state and one out-of-state enrollment. Accordingly, when reviewing, and especially when comparing post-secondary enrollment reports, it is important to understand how the enrollments are being counted.
- The number of high school graduates reported on this dashboard includes: (a) only the counts of 12th grade graduates; and (b) eliminates any duplicate graduation recordsSome numbers are rounded or estimated due to data suppresssion. For general illistrative purposes only.
College of Initial Enrollment
During the 2013-2014 academic year approximately 58,300 students graduated from a Maryland public high school. Of those graduates, approximately 39,900 students had enrolled in college by the following year. The data set captures the higher education segment (community college, public four-year, State-aid independent institution, or out-of-state institution) that a graduate initially enrolls.
As shown in the Sankey diagram, high school graduates enrolled initially as follows: 30% at community college; 17% at a public four-year institution; 3% at a State-aided independent institution; and 19% at an out-of-state institution. An additional 32% of high school graduates did not (yet) enroll in a postsecondary education captured in this dataset.
This data set only captures the college of initial enrollment. For example, if a student enrolls in a community college for a summer class and then enrolls in a public four-year institution in the fall, the student will be recorded as enrolling in community college.
I wonder how the college of initial enrollment for public high school graduates compares to the total enrollment of the various sectors.
Click here if you can not see the diagram.
Source: Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, Maryland Public High School Graduates with Initial Postsecondary Enrollments, 2013-2014 data
Notes about the Data
- Some notes adapted from those provided by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center, all errors are my own.
- Due to rounding the numbers do not add up correctly, so this is just for proof of concept if I had the actual numbers.
- The number number of years following high school graduation impacts the initial postsecondary enrollment numbers.
- Graduates who enrolled in Private Career Schools or Continuing Education and Training Certificate sequences are not included.
- This dashboard uses “initial enrollment,” which counts only the first enrollment of a student after graduation. For example, a student graduates high school, enrolls in a summer community college course, and then enrolls in an out-of-state college in the fall. The initial enrollment count for that student is one in-state enrollment. Other methods of counting enrollment may count that student as one in-state and one out-of-state enrollment. Accordingly, when reviewing, and especially when comparing post-secondary enrollment reports, it is important to understand how the enrollments are being counted.
- The number of high school graduates reported on this dashboard includes: (a) only the counts of 12th grade graduates; and (b) eliminates any duplicate graduation records
- Some numbers are rounded or estimated due to data suppresssion. For general illistrative purposes only.
AMCHARTS Venn Diagrams
Earlier I wrote about trying to make a Venn diagram to show that high school graduates that meet University System of Maryland (USM) requirements and Career Technology Education (CTE) requirements were a subset of all high school graduates. I could not get the Venn diagram to render correctly. Today I figured out the correct syntax. I had to define areas in the Venn diagram that I did not actually want to show. That is, I had to define “USM HS Grads” and “CTE HS Grads” and “Both Requirements Grads” even though I do not want them to render separately in the chart. I know that is not the best explanation, but I want to just quickly make this diagram live to see if how it works on a live webpage. I will revisit this Venn diagram again soon with further refinements.
Click here if you can not see the diagram.
Source: Maryland Department of Education, High School Completion Data, 2019
