Headcount

This version of the project parses through, stores, and analyzes select data from 11 public CSV files containing information on enrollment, standardized test performance, and economic data of public school students for districts in Colorado.

Via the creation of four separate repositories--District, Enrollment, StatewideTest, and EconomicProfile--district data is stored in its appropriate category and accessed for analysis via the District Repository. Each repository is comprised of its respective objects and can be loaded into and accessed independently.

Usage

Loading Data

Interaction is intended via pry or irb (or any similar tool). To load and store all data into the appropriate repositories, first load ./lib/district_repository.rb and create a new instance of DistrictRepository:

load './lib/district_repository.rb'
dr = DistrictRepository.new

Immediately following this command, you can load all of the data from the CSV files:

dr.load_data({
  :enrollment => {
    :kindergarten => "./data/Kindergartners in full-day program.csv",
    :high_school_graduation => "./data/High school graduation rates.csv",
  },
  :statewide_testing => {
    :third_grade => "./data/3rd grade students scoring proficient or above on the CSAP_TCAP.csv",
    :eighth_grade => "./data/8th grade students scoring proficient or above on the CSAP_TCAP.csv",
    :math => "./data/Average proficiency on the CSAP_TCAP by race_ethnicity_ Math.csv",
    :reading => "./data/Average proficiency on the CSAP_TCAP by race_ethnicity_ Reading.csv",
    :writing => "./data/Average proficiency on the CSAP_TCAP by race_ethnicity_ Writing.csv"
  },
  :economic_profile => {
    :median_household_income => "./data/Median household income.csv",
    :children_in_poverty => "./data/School-aged children in poverty.csv",
    :free_or_reduced_price_lunch => "./data/Students qualifying for free or reduced price lunch.csv",
    :title_i => "./data/Title I students.csv"
  }
})

Accessing Data

To view all data from any one district, call find_by_district. This method takes a string argument and searches through all districts case-insensitively.

dr.find_by_name("Academy 20")

More reasonable amounts of data can be found by tapping into each respective repository and its methods.

Please note that all methods below must be chained on to dr.find_by_name.

Enrollment Data

All enrollment data is accessed by first appending .enrollment to dr.find_by_name.

• kindergarten_participation returns raw data for each year available regarding the percentage of students enrolled in kindergarten.
• kindergarten_participation_by_year returns truncated percentages that are sorted by year.
• kindergarten_participation_in_year(year) takes an integer as an argument for the requested year and returns a truncated float of percentage from that year.
• high_school_graduation returns raw data for each year available regarding the percentage of students that graduate from high school.
• graduation_rate_by_year returns truncated percentages that are sorted by year.
• graduation_rate_in_year(year) takes an integer as an argument for the requested year and returns a truncated float of percentage from that year.

Statewide Testing Data

All statewide testing data is accessed by first appending .statewide_test to dr.find_by_name.

• proficient_by_grade(grade) takes an integer as an argument for the requested grade level (note: 3 and 8 are the only valid options) and returns truncated float percentages for math, reading, and writing sorted by year.
• proficient_for_subject_by_grade_in_year(subject, grade, year) takes three arguments: subject as a symbol (:math, :reading, or :writing), grade as an integer (3 or 8), and year as an integer (e.g., 2007). Returns the percentage as a truncated float.
• proficient_by_race_or_ethnicity(race_or_ethnicity) takes a symbol as an argument for the requested race or ethnicity (note: :all_students, :asian, :black, :pacific_islander, :hispanic, :native_american, :two_or_more, and :white are the only valid options) and returns truncated float percentages for math, reading, and writing sorted by year.
• proficient_for_subject_by_race_in_year(subject, race, year) takes three arguments: subject as a symbol (:math, :reading, or :writing), race as a symbol (:all_students, :asian, :black, :pacific_islander, :hispanic, :native_american, :two_or_more, or :white), and year as an integer (e.g., 2007). Returns the percentage as a truncated float.

Economic Profile Data

All economic profile data is accessed by first appending .economic_profile to dr.find_by_name.

• median_household_income_in_year(year) takes an integer as the argument for the requested year and returns an integer for the dollar amount.
• median_household_income_average returns an integer for the dollar amount average across all available years.
• children_in_poverty_in_year(year) takes an integer as the argument for the requested year and returns the percentage as a truncated float.
• free_or_reduced_price_lunch_percentage_in_year(year) takes an integer as the argument for the requested year and returns the percentage of students eligible as a truncated float.
• free_or_reduced_price_lunch_number_in_year(year) takes an integer as the argument for the requested year and returns the number of students eligible as an integer.
• title_i_in_year(year) takes an integer as the argument for the requested year and returns the percentage of Title I students as a truncated float.

Performing Analysis

Analysis requires the creation of an instance of Headcount Analyst, which we'll pass our District Repository (dr) into. All methods below will be called on this instance of Headcount Analyst.

ha = HeadcountAnalyst.new(dr)

• kindergarten_participation_rate_variation(district, :against => other_district) takes strings as the arguments for district and other_district and returns a truncated float that represents district's average participation rate across all years divided by other_district's average participation rate across all years. A value lower than 1 indicates that district has higher kindergarten participation than other_district, while a number higher than 1 indicates the reverse. A comparison can also be made against statewide data by assigning other_district to "Colorado".
• kindergarten_participation_rate_variation_trend(district, :against => other_district) operates similarly to the above method but is intended to only have other_district assigned to "Colorado" for a statewide comparison. Returns data sorted by year.
• kindergarten_participation_against_high_school_graduation(district) takes a string argument for the chosen district and divides the variation of kindergarten participation by the variation of high school graduation, returning a float. The closer to 1 the returned value the higher the assumed correlation.
• kindergarten_participation_correlates_with_high_school_graduation({:for => district}) where district is a string of the chosen district. Returns a boolean of true if the result is between 0.6 and 1.5, false otherwise.
  • A variation of this method exists for comparing across all state data. To execute this, simply use STATEWIDE for your district. If more than 70% of districts return true for the above method, true is returned. Otherwise, false is returned.
  • Another variation of this method exists that allows you to compare across multiple districts. To execute, replace :for with :across and insert your chosen districts in an array: ({:across => [district_1, district_2, district_3]})
• top_statewide_test_year_over_year_growth({:grade => grade, }) where grade is an integer of a valid grade year (3 or 8). Compares year-over-year growth across all subjects and returns the name of the district and a truncated float representing the percentage of growth from the first available year of data to the last available year of data.
  • Return n results by adding the key :top to the hash argument with an integer value: ({:grade => 3, :top => 3})
  • Limit results to a specific subject by adding the key :subject to the hash argument with a symbol value for :math, :reading, or :writing: ({:grade => 3, :subject => :math}). :top can also be combined with this iteration.
  • Emphasize specific subjects by adding weighting to certain subjects. Execute by adding the key :weighting to the hash argument, pointing to a hash as its value that contains each subject as a key and its weighted value as the value. Please note that the weights must add up to 1. ({:grade => 8, :weighting => {:math => 0.5, :reading => 0.5, :writing => 0.0}})