COUNTY PROFILE ASSIGNMENT : SCHOOLS

For this assignment you are going to compare two high schools. One school needs to be in your county. The other school can be in your county or in a different countywithin your same state (so that you can compare data easily).The schools must have CONTRASTING school student bodies in terms of socio-economic status (SES).

You have the option of partnering with someone in the class. You need to partner with someone who has a school in his/her county that contrasts with a school in your county and whose county is in the same state. If you partner with someone, you will have less work to do (because your partner will be finding half of the data).

However, you will be relying on your partner to complete the work according to a timeline on which you agree. I suggest you need all data collected and in the tables by April 2nd. You will write the discussion section separately and each submit your own assignment for grading.If you work with a partner, please indicate the name of the person in the introduction to your CPA.

SES is often measured by the % of free and reduced school meals provided. You might try to find a school with a higher than average % of free and reduced school meals and one with a lower than average rate(WI average is 19%, MN is 21%, IL is 22%.) In WI, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) site indicates "% economically disadvantaged" in each school, so you can use this data to determine SES. You need to have a ‘significant' difference between the 2 schools - try for at least 20% difference.

IF you have 2 different counties you need to include Table A:compareyourtwocounties- "Individualsbelowpovertylevel" and"MedianIncome". UseCommunityFacts

NEXT, create 5tables for your 2 schools using the most recent data available:

Table 1: graduation rates [e.g. High School Completion Rates 4-year]

Table 2:poverty rate of student body in the school, district OR county [Percent of Students Who Are Economically Disadvantaged, % Free or reduced School Meals, or other similar measure]

Tables 3 and 4:state test scores in at leastTWOsubject areas (indicate which grade levels were included; explain what the test scores refer to and include different levels- e.g. Required reading skills: ‘Does Not Meet, Partially Meets, Meets, Exceeds'). WI state test scores refer to ALL students grades 9-12.

Table 5:Advanced Placementor International Baccalaureate courses the schools offer (MN and IL schools have this information on the ‘Report Card' sites listed below; WI schools - you'll need to search, possibly on the high school websites).

Discussion (300 - 400 words)

Provide a description and interpretation of the data shown on your tables. How do the schools (or years) compare?

Are there any notable differences between the schools? What might explain those differences?

What do these differences indicate in terms of the experiences of the students? Remember to make connections with the course readings and concepts.