TLDR: How your kids spend their summers can impact the rest of their lives.
Intro
Chapter 9 of a book called Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) presents an interesting problem, it seemed that kids from upper class neighborhoods were increasingly getting higher scores on reading comprehension tests than those from lower class neighborhoods.
This article retells how the root cause of this problem was identified, and I use it as a case study for the importance of Data Visualization in information consumption and decision making.
We’ll journey through 3 datasets to find out the root cause of this problem.
Dataset 1
The question asked in the title of this article is highlighted in the table below.
This table shows the average math and reading test scores (on the California Achievement Test) of kids from the first grade to fifth grade broken down by socio-economic class.
Here is the information contained in this table:
- From first grade there is a discrepancy in the scores between the kids from upper class backgrounds and those from more humble backgrounds.
This difference continues to widen, 31 points in first grade to 73 points by 5th grade.
Why is this? Was this because this kids from upper class neighborhoods were inherently smarter? Or was it because the school system was failing the poorer kids?
This table shows the difference in test scores from the start of the school year to the end of the school year.
Here is the information contained in this table:
- There is not much difference in the scores across socioeconomic class. In actuality, when you look at the total of the increase in tests scores from the start of the school year to the end of the school year, the kids from the poorer backgrounds seem to improve better during the school year (189) than the kids from the upper class backgrounds(184). If that is the case, why does the gap in the test scores keep widening from 1st grade to 5th grade?
The answer lies in DataSet 3
DataSet 3
This table shows what happens during the summer holidays.
Here is the information contained here:
- Over the summer, between the end of the previous school year and the start of the next school year, the upper class kids have substantial increases in test scores over the other kids.
This can be attributed to summer classes, extracurricular activities undertaken during the summer etc. Activities kids from poorer neighborhoods typically can’t afford or are not encouraged to participate in.
Let’s Visualize those Tables
Now let’s looks at these 3 data sets in a different way. Same information contained within, different way of consuming the information.
DataSet 1
Information Contained in Dataset:
- From first grade there is a discrepancy in the scores between the kids from upper class backgrounds and those from more humble backgrounds.
This difference continues to widen, 31 points in first grade to 73 points by 5th grade.
How much easier is it to see the widening difference between the average scores of the upper class kids vs the lower class kids from grade to grade?
DataSet 2
Information Contained in Dataset:
This dataset shows the difference in test scores from the start of the school year to the end of the school year.
Here is the information contained in this dataset:
- There is not much difference in the scores across socioeconomic class. In actuality, when you look at the total of the increase in tests scores from the start of the school year to the end of the school year, the kids from the poorer backgrounds seem to improve better during the school year (189) than the kids from the upper class backgrounds(184). If that is the case, why does the gap in the test scores keep widening from 1st grade to 5th grade?
How much easier is it to how closely the scores are from the start to the end of the school year?
Dataset 3
Here is the information contained here:
- Over the summer, between the end of the previous school year and the start of the next school year, the upper class kids have substantial increases in test scores over the other kids.
How much more easier is it to see the gap in improvement between the upper class kids and other kids over the summer?
Takeaways
- How kids spend their summer and free time can greatly impact the rest of their lives, their ability to compete with their peers in tests which determine the quality of schools they go to etc. In scenarios where money is an issue, organizations like Black Boys Code, Black Girls Code, Canada Learning Code, Local Libraries etc. Provide free and low cost learning. All that is needed is the time and attention.
- It is easier to tell a stories with data visualizations as aids. Humans process pictures much easier than text and tabular data. A combination of the two is usually more compelling. Consider this at your next board meeting or work presentation.
References
- Outliers Malcom Gladwell – Chapter 9 (Marita’s Bargain)
- Karl L. Alexander et al. “Schools, Achievement, and Inequality: A Seasonal Perspective,” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 23, no 2 (Summer 2001): 171-191