FlowingData Forums » Topic: Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores

FlowingData Forums » Topic: Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Strength in Numbers en Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:24:44 +0000 Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124/page/2#post-1343 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:21:03 +0000 nathany 1343@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ congrats to everheardofaspacebar and think1123 - each winners of a copy of "The Visual Miscellaneum" Thanks again everyone for your entries. It was a tough pick. I hope you all learned something new :) Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1340 Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:55:13 +0000 nathany 1340@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ :) Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1329 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:43:27 +0000 DK 1329@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ This is tangential to the competition, but I purchased your FlowingPrints education series for a charter school I visited in NY. Wrote the visit up at <a href="http://notestoself.posterous.com/kipp-to-infinity-and-beyond" rel="nofollow">http://notestoself.posterous.com/kipp-to-infinity-and-beyond</a>. Who knows? Maybe some kids will be inspired by the infographics! Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1325 Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:54:13 +0000 nathany 1325@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ thanks all for your entries. i'll be announcing the winners soon. Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1317 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:05:23 +0000 think1123 1317@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I love the site, but I haven't been inspired to post until now, since I actually know a thing or two about education policy research in the US. I'm obviously a bit behind the curve in terms of creating elegant visualizations (hopefully someday!), and I've stuck to a series of scatterplots from stata via inkscape. I also wanted to highlight the <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/" rel="nofollow">NAEP</a> data as a resource for making legitimate achievement comparisons across time and space (within the US). Of course a more direct answer to the question "do we need more teachers?" is provided by actual experiences with reducing class sizes. The Tennessee STAR project, for instance, was a randomized class size reduction study that found positive effects on student performance in the early grades. However, the state-wide class size reduction initiative in California in the 1990s led to little improvement, largely because there weren't enough facilities and qualified teachers to support the policy. So the effect of class sizes is complicated, and even though there's strong causal evidence that smaller classes are better, there might be better ways to spend money in schools (hiring more teachers is very costly). Anyhow, my entry sticks to state-level associations, and is [hopefully] linked below. The text will probably only be legible in the full-sized version. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmagnus/4133255006/" title="Class Size and Math Scores by State by think1123, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/4133255006_4efacb0ab0.jpg" width="500" height="468" alt="Class Size and Math Scores by State" /></a> (and since it seems that this post may be a couple of hours past the deadline, I suppose I'm hoping for leniency on that front-- it's still the 24th in Hawaii?...) Cheers, paul Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1310 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:39:17 +0000 Grafikgert 1310@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi - Fun concept with a 'visualize This'-competition. I made a visualization of the data too. I think the very strong and obvious connection between level of participation and scores can't be overlooked, and so I have used this as my base - leaving the possible connection between size of classes and SAT-score more open to interpretation. I have only used data for 2006/2007, where we have the pupil/teacher ratio data available. <a href="http://visualjournalism.com/wp-content/upload/satscore.png" rel="nofollow"> <img src="http://visualjournalism.com/wp-content/upload/satscore.png" /></a> Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1309 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:10:49 +0000 everheardofaspacebar 1309@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi, here's my submission (best viewed at original size): <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/everheardofaspacebar/4128392043/" title="Class Sizes and SAT Outcomes by everheardofaspacebar, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2696/4128392043_fa12a051f3.jpg" width="292" height="500" alt="Class Sizes and SAT Outcomes" /></a> and here's a bigger version of one of the charts: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/everheardofaspacebar/4128278125/" title="Trends in SAT scores and Pupil to Teacher Ratio 2002-2006 by everheardofaspacebar, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/4128278125_833f28e4ec.jpg" width="500" height="389" alt="Trends in SAT scores and Pupil to Teacher Ratio 2002-2006" /></a> I've added on a few years of earlier data to see what happens within each state. Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1308 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:24:09 +0000 PR 1308@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Thanks for putting all this together! I was intrigued by the original graphic - in particular I was surprised there wasn't a stronger relationship between student/teacher ratios and SAT scores. So I decided to do a little digging (thanks for the interesting insight!) After seeing how big the difference in SAT participation rates were from state to state, I settled instead on graduation rate as my measure of "success". Since the lack of correlation in the original example was what surprised me, I thought I'd look at a few other items - focussing on the strength of correlation as the pertinent measure. I put together a quick (interactive) graphic <a href="http://www.yawniton.com/content/projects/Entries/2009/11/23_Correlation_To_Graduation_Rates.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>: <a href="http://www.yawniton.com/content/projects/Entries/2009/11/23_Correlation_To_Graduation_Rates.html" rel="nofollow"> <img src="http://web.mac.com/pajryan/yawnitonAssets/EducationAssets/postPicture.png" /> </a> I was interested in how things held up over time as well, so I also focussed on that aspect. To be really useful, it would be interesting to add more metrics (race, gender?) as well as add a longer history, but this abbreviated version made for an interesting exercise. Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1306 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:18:36 +0000 rachel 1306@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Here is our submit: <a href="https://monentreprise5.bimeapp.com/players/dashboard/E02DC7212573C55BB6CD05C0A48E03E31" rel="nofollow">https://monentreprise5.bimeapp.com/players/dashboard/E02DC7212573C55BB6CD05C0A48E03E31</a> Nice job from other participants! We tried our new scatterplot/bubble graph with your dataset. More colors are coming soon :) Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1305 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:52:51 +0000 pompadour_of_data_viz 1305@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Lotze, nice tool; flot looks versatile. What technologies are other folks using to create their graphs? Nathan, your use of line graphs is useful when demonstrating change in rank over time, but I don't see the value in using this over a scatterplot if the intent is to demonstrate correlation. I have limited myself to the original SAT information to save time looking for the perfect data set. My report addresses the same issue Lotze identifies (i.e. participation rates must be accounted for before comparing SAT scores) by attempting to find subgroups where participation rates are no longer a factor and then ranking within those groups. The effect of class size is a hot topic; I am not sure if there is a proven link to student performance. Exploring this relationship at the level of the state is likely to result in misleading findings at best. Consider the schools in hypothetical state A (student-to-teacher ratio, mean SAT scores) {(50:1, 500) (40:1, 400) (30:1, 300)} versus those in state B {(30:1, 550), (25:1, 500), (20:1, 450)}. At the level of the state we find A having a mean student-to-teacher ratio of 40:1 and mean SAT score of 400, and for state B, 25:1 and 500. Based the state level we would assume that decreasing the student-to-teacher ratio improves SAT results, but within each of the states the exact opposite trend is evident. The following is my submission. I attempted to achieve a very content-driven and high data-density visualization that allows for sound, albeit limited comparisons and conclusions to be reached. The details on how the report was produced is available at <a href="http://pushindatalikeweight.com/" rel="nofollow">http://pushindatalikeweight.com/</a> . <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44920637@N02/4127447180/" title="Ranking of states according to SAT scores, 2007-08 by pompadourofdataviz, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/4127447180_708049aaba.jpg" width="500" height="386" alt="Ranking of states according to SAT scores, 2007-08" /></a> Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1292 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:48:12 +0000 lotze 1292@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I just posted about the visualizations on the <a href="http://blog.grockit.com" rel="nofollow">Grockit blog</a>, which covers how we're looking at various education issues, particularly the use of technology to improve education. I've also updated <a href="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/" rel="nofollow">my visualization</a> to include ACT data and longitude/latitude, which means that you can create (among other things) a map showing which states tend to use SAT versus ACT. <a href="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/country.jpg" /></a> Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1291 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:40:04 +0000 dajbelshaw 1291@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I'm new to this infographics stuff, so be kind! <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbelshaw/4112590947/" title="Flowing Data competition - US class sizes vs. SAT (v2) by dougbelshaw, on Flickr" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4112590947_3a07d8968b.jpg" width="500" height="201" alt="Flowing Data competition - US class sizes vs. SAT (v2)" /></a> Given that the most sensible thing seems to be plotting teacher/student ratio (decreasing) against average SAT score by State (increasing) I thought a bar chart pointing downwards with a line graph superimposed might do the business. I still may have a tinker with it - I presume I can change the image up until the deadline? :-) Doug Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1290 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:15:31 +0000 nathany 1290@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ yes, you may. Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1289 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:02:36 +0000 pompadour_of_data_viz 1289@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Nice. Can we use any NCES data in conjunction with tabn144? Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1287 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:13:58 +0000 nathany 1287@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Nice work, lotze. You get a gold star for being first. Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1286 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:36:49 +0000 lotze 1286@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ After reading a number of the comments on the previous post asking for a scatterplot and talking about the effect from the percent of students taking the test, I decided to make a scatterplot that showed that effect: <a href="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/index.php" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/main_axes.png" /></a> From this, you can see that the percent of students taking the test does have a significant impact: when only a few students take the test, there tends to be a selection effect: the students who take the test tend to be students who do well on the test. But that if you look at the two groups individually (those with a high percentage taking the test, in yellow and those with a low percentage taking the test, in blue), you can see a relationship due to class size as well. The screen shot doesn't really give the full sense, though. You can get to the interactive version <a href="http://thomaslotze.com/projects/class_sizes/index.php" rel="nofollow">here</a> (you can also find the data in .csv format there). In that version, you can change the x axis, y axis, and color scale to any of the variables of interest. In addition to the average SAT scores, class size, and percent of students taking the test, the average state expenditure per student is also included as a possibility. You can also turn on the display of lines for the national averages, turn on a color scale, or click on individual points to get full details for that state. All of this was written in javascript, using <a href="http://code.google.com/p/flot/" rel="nofollow">Flot</a>. Also, let me say thanks to Nathan for the interesting original post and this followup! Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1285 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:17:55 +0000 nathany 1285@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Ah I forgot about that. You can find pupil/teacher ratio by state here: <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_066.asp" rel="nofollow">http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_066.asp</a> Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1284 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:07:06 +0000 krees 1284@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Okay great. Which table did you use for class size? Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1281 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:29:38 +0000 nathany 1281@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ You can bring in any data that you like as long as you focus on this segment's secret ingredient i.e. class size and quality of education :) Visualize This: Class Size and SAT Scores - Deadline 11/24 http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualize-this-class-size-and-sat-scores-deadline-1124#post-1280 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:43:42 +0000 krees 1280@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi Nathan, Do you want us to use only SAT scores and teacher/student ratios? Or can we use other data on that site?