Seeing Patterns in Data

Part of Isiah’s project I was most looking forward to was examining the results from his survey of his peers. Last week, he worked on developing the survey and he was able to get ten forms back, which is a perfectly fine sample to inform the next stage of the project. The idea is to use the data from the surveys to determine what young people would like to know about Spark so we could design a page of Spark’s website geared toward students.

I was trained in analytics early in my career while working for the federal government in Washington. I worked in national security at the time. When I made the jump to education, I worked for a man who was also a transplant from that world. He had been basically a nuclear war games strategist, during the Cold War when such experts were needed and gainfully employed. When the Cold War ended, of course, so did his professional purpose. He often referred to himself as a “peace dividend,” which was a common refrain at the time as the defense and national security industry was being downsized after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Over time, my boss became my mentor, which he remains today, some 16 years later. One of the things I remember him telling me was the idea of applying skills developed in one industry to another. In both of our cases, it was using the rigorous analytics of the field in which he and I started in and applying it to education. It’s something I’ve done throughout my career.

I told Isiah that analysis is basically looking for patterns in data, figuring out what they mean and, perhaps most importantly, what to do about them. We spent a bit of time entering the data into a spreadsheet and then started looking. Interestingly, five of the surveys were completed by students who are in Spark and five were filled out by non-participants, which is a good (albeit unintentional) sample!

We fixated a bit on one question that had students identify what fields they’d be interested in exploring. I asked Isiah to look at which fields seemed like the most popular. Turns out computers, the medical profession, and science registered the most. We talked about what was common among these fields, and Isiah was familiar with the term STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. I mentioned that more than a third of Spark apprenticeships take place in STEM-related companies. So we agreed that since these opportunities were of such great interest we ought to have a special section of the web page on STEM.

We went through each of the survey questions and put a list together of our “findings.” We then grouped them together – I’m kind of good at “bucketizing” and have always wanted to pass that skill along – and then created the sections of our web page based on that: “What can students explore?” “What can students create?” Isiah was insistent on adding a “Sign up today!” button, which I thought showed good marketing sense.

As we finished up for the session, I felt really good that we did this part of the project. Using analytics to inform practice is a big part of what we do at Spark, and a big part of effective education. So, giving Isiah a flavor for that process offers insight into my work, which is one of the key features of the apprenticeship experience.  It’s also something I just really enjoy doing, and like any mentor, its fun to teach a young person something you just really enjoy doing.

Ironically, perhaps the most analysis I’ve been immersed in recently is about young people just like Isiah. Specifically, I’ve been looking at data from school districts in which Spark operates, where upwards of 40 percent of students do not complete high school on time. That number is sobering in and of itself. What’s more, if you examine the students who do not make it through high school, two-thirds of them either drop out in ninth grade or they are made to repeat ninth grade and eventually drop out. The ninth grade is the great choke point on the path to graduation.

This is the problem Spark is trying to solve. We’re partnering with schools to identify young people in seventh and eighth grade who are showing early warning signs that may lead to eventual drop out. We enroll them in Spark and make sure they are engaged, on-track and ready for success in high school and beyond.

The fact is students of all backgrounds tend to slide in the middle grades. Developmentally, young people start to disengage in school at this age. Gallup conducts a poll of more than 500,000 students each year to measure their level of hope, wellbeing and engagement. While hope and wellbeing remain pretty constant from fifth grade to twelfth grade, engagement drops markedly. Two-thirds of that drop occurs in the middle grades.

This happens to all young people, from every background, in every community. Students in more advantaged communities have traditionally had access to resources and opportunities that help them overcome this commonplace disengagement from school. Other students have less opportunity. Spark is trying to change that equation.

I have a tough time believing that Isiah fits the profile of a disconnected youth. There is no one I have met who seems more connected, more engaged. But, I also know that he’s at an inflection point in his life. He’s at an age where he is beginning to think about his future in more specific ways. Visualizing what he could be, and having people around him – family, peers, teachers, mentors – to encourage and guide, are big parts of the “spark” that he and all kids need to be engaged, on-track and ready.