Analysis of High School Graduation Rates

This project focuses on how different socioeconomic factors influence high school graduation rates. I specifically looked at the percent of people holding a bachelor’s degree, household income, unemployment, and families with children in poverty. Montgomery County Public School System was the study area.

Percent with a Bachelor’s Degree vs. Graduation Rate 2018

The data was obtained from the Maryland American Community Survey. To get the average of all census blocks for each school zone, I had to use the intersect tool then dissolve by school zone. Graduated points were used to symbolize graduation rate. I used viridis and equal interval to symbolize pct with a bachelor degree.

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Median Household Income vs. Graduation Rate 2018

The data was obtained from the Maryland American Community Survey. I followed the same process as above to get census data for each school zone. Graduated points(white-red) were used to symbolize graduation rate. I used viridis and equal interval to symbolize household income. A label buffer was used on both maps to make the names and numbers more visible.

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Mapping in Rstudio

The second half of the project was done in Rstudio. Tmap was the main package used for visulization. Tm_shape was used to display unemployment and poverty. Tm_bubble was used for graduated symbols. Rstudio has limitations to stylizing maps, so exporting the map to pdf and editing it in Adobe Illustrator would clean up the visuals.