Kindergarten Lottery data mining (2009)

I submitted a couple FOIA requests to Unit 4 asking about Kindergarten lottery information, as I was very curious what information is collected and how it is used in the context of “Controlled Choice”. As always, the more I got involved, the more questions I had. *grin* Thankfully, Ms. Sandra Duckworth of the Family Information Center has been very helpful, and continues to aid me in my quest of understanding. She has initiated a conversation with Dr. Michael Alves, and it is my hope that, working together, we are able to provide helpful, factual information to the public without having to file an FOIA.

I would love to post some sample html files I created for a proof-of-concept, but I am not sure how to post them properly via wordpress. So, instead, I will post the output tables and charts.

Warning: these are data charts, and only represent a small view of the entire data set. Be careful about drawing conclusions concerning the data below; more often than not, there are a few undisclosed factors involved.

Which schools are overchosen?

School Assignment	# of times chosen	Total Seats	Wait List	% of Total seats
Barkstall	142	70	72	103
Bottenfield	99	69	30	43
Westview	70	54	16	30
Washington	37	23	14	61
Stratton	73	61	12	20
South Side	56	46	10	22
Kenwood	66	69	-3	-4
Robeson	81	92	-11	-12
Carrie Busey	36	69	-33	-48
Garden Hills	47	82	-35	-43
Dr. Howard	33	69	-36	-52

This chart shows how many parents chose each school, and to a degree, how successful they were. Note that with Unit 4′s Controlled Choice program, you get three choices, the first having the highest priority. I’ll get to that in a second. The chart is sorted in order of the “Wait List”. I calculated “Wait List” to be the number of times that school was chosen (as a first choice only) minus the total number of seats available. Some “Wait List” numbers are negative because those schools had available seats left at the time the numbers were collected. I do not know what that date was.

How many households received their first choice?

School Assignment	Total 1st Choices	Fulfilled 1st Choices	% of 1st Choices Fulfilled
Barkstall	142	68	47.9
Bottenfield	99	62	62.6
Carrie Busey	36	36	100
Dr. Howard	33	31	93.9
Garden Hills	47	45	95.7
Kenwood	66	59	89.4
Robeson	81	77	95.1
South Side	56	46	82.1
Stratton	73	57	78.1
Washington	37	33	89.2
Westview	70	63	90
Total	740	577	78

This chart focuses on the first choice that parents indicated during the School Registration process. It shows how many parents actually received their first choice school. Some things that are working behind the scenes in this particular result set:

• Students in special programs like ESL are excluded from this list, as the data I have does not make it easy to determine how parents chose those programs as a “first choice”
• There are households that did not include any choice in their application. They are not represented above.

How many households did not receive any of their choices?

Final School Placement	Total Students Placed	# of students not here by choice	% of Choices Unfulfilled
Carrie Busey	69	6	8.7
Dr. Howard	64	13	20.3
Kenwood	68	1	1.5
Robeson	92	1	1.1
WITHDRAWN	49	49	100
Total	754	86	11.4

I realize this is a more negative way of looking at the objective picture. It is not my intent to cast a shadow on this aspect of the lottery, but I was trying to think of questions that parents might ask. It is inevitable that there will always be parents that wish their child to go to particular schools and may just not make it;  schools have a limited number of seats. However, what this chart does show (in a neutral sort of way) is which schools served as “overflow” destinations, those that had seats available and yet did not meet the top three choices of the applicant.

Please understand I am in no way trying to say that one school is better than another based on these facts. In fact, I would be utterly mortified to learn that someone had used this data to cast a subjective judgement upon any given school. The usefulness of this data, in my opinion, is to be aware of which school you are likely to get into. I have heard stories that parents were berated for choosing “overchosen” schools during their application. I see this information as a tool to help figure that out. Keep in mind that there are lots of factors, most importantly “socio-economic status” which are not even included in these charts. These data points serve as a very generic, big-picture place to start. There is a ton of data available. Personally, I find this type of exercise quite interesting, and has helped me to see “how things work” with Unit 4.

Again, I am merely a citizen. I hold no authority whatsoever. For all you know, I fabricated all this data in a dream last night. I invite you to discover the facts for yourself.