This project is a term project done for the Information Landscapes (J676) class at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, taught by Molly Wright Steenson.

The project's purpose is to put data of our schools in context, both in spatial context of where we live and how they compare to one another. How are our schools responsive to the needs to the children of our community? Is it equitable? Could we be doing more to help our kids with the resources we have? How can a visualization make data more accessible and start a discussion with our policy leaders?

 

Some terms (glossary)

4K?

This school offers 4-K (four-year-old kindergarten), typically on a lottery basis.

SAGE?

This school qualifies and is partially funded by a SAGE grant, which limits class sizes to 16 students for K-3 classrooms, which fosters more individualized and targeted instruction.

DLI?

These schools offer Dual-Language Immersion programs, with lessons presented in two languages.

DBE?

These schools offer Developmental Bilingual Education in their native language along with connections to English 'buddy' classrooms. Some more details on this distinction between DLI and DBE is available here.

% ELL

Students classified as English-Language Learners (previously known as ESL, but more generalized).

% SES

Students requiring Special Education Services.

Specials Teachers

Specials Teachers are those teachers in elementary schools that are full teachers, but specialize in a subject area, such as physical education, music, or art.

Paired Schools

Some schools in MMSD are paired (e.g. one teaches K-2, the other 3-5). The schools thereby share attendance areas. The paired schools in MMSD are Lapham and Marquette, Midvale and Lincoln, and Franklin and Randall.

 

Technologies

D3.js

D3 is a toolset for creating visualizations and manipulating the DOM (the organization of the webpage in response to data and user-input) and a large portion of the visualization depends on it. Much of the functionality is in data.js, if you'd like to take a look. D3 powers the bar graph, as well as populating the data table and mouse interaction.

Mapbox GL JS

A mapping system using WebGL to display data from vector tiles (generatd by Mapbox Studio), instead of raster tiles more commonly used. The main advantage is a easily restyled interface, which is used by the visualization to re-color elementary attendance boundaries to the data. This technology is very new, so it took a little bit to get it working. Very ugly code is in map.js.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a UI system developed by Twitter to help make developing websites easier. Bootstrap powers the table tabs, navbar, and this modal dialog.

Trip.js

Trip.js powers the self-guided tour when clicking on 'How to Use' in the navbar.

 

Data Sources

GeoData@Wisconsin

The GeoData website contains property information for all counties in Wisconsin; a true wealth of mapping information.

MMSD website

The Madison Metropolitan School District website makes data easy to acquire with their school data snapshot and directories. Data staff at the district also provided shapefiles for school attendance boundaries.

 

Acknowledgments and Contact

Thanks to the Madison Metropolitian School District for their quick turnaround on their attendance area shapefiles. Many thanks to Jaime Stoltenberg at the Robinson Map Library for getting my data wrangling of Madison geographical data started. Also thanks to both Molly and my wife for valuable feedback on this project!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this visualization! Please don't hesitate to contact me via my twitter: @yelperalp.