Visualizing What Matters in Education:
A Tableau Case Study

With nearly a million students across the state, education leaders in Massachusetts face a complex challenge in ensuring equitable support for every student.When the Superintendent of the Department of Education tasked me with identifying the schools most in need of intervention, I created a Tableau dashboard to really dive into the data and help uncover patterns in student success. Using a publicly available dataset from the Massachusetts Department of Education (found here), I focused on three key areas:◾Graduation rates
◾College attendance
◾4th-grade math proficiencyWhen taken together, these metrics reveal actionable insights that can help direct funding and improve education policies.Feel free to explore the dashboard yourself here. It’s fully interactive and available to dive into.If you'd like to hear more context behind the data, I also recorded a walkthrough for the Board which you can watch here.

Questions I Explored

1. Graduation Rates: Where Can Early Interventions Have the Biggest Impact?One of the Superintendent’s primary concerns was identifying which high schools have the lowest graduation rates. I started by building a bar chart that highlights the 10 schools with the lowest rates across the state.To make the findings clearer:◾Null values were filtered out to ensure accurate representation.
◾Color coding was used to visually emphasize schools in most need of support.
◾Labels were added to each bar to help highlight the specific graduation rates.Key Insight: Graduation rates are an early warning sign. By investing in struggling schools, through academic support, staff training, or funding programs, leaders can help more students stay on track.

2. College Attendance and Class Size: What’s Really Driving Outcomes?Next, I explored whether smaller class sizes lead to better college attendance rates. Using a scatter plot, I compared average class size to the percentage of students attending college post-graduation.The initial results were surprising. There was no clear linear pattern in the scatter plot. The points formed more of a square shape, suggesting little correlation between class size and college attendance. A closer look at the R² value confirmed this: class size accounted for only 19% of the variation in college attendance rates.To dig even deeper, I color-coded each point by the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and that’s where the story changed.Key Insight: Schools with lower college attendance often serve higher numbers of economically disadvantaged students. Financial and social support may be the key to post-secondary success. Efforts to create mentorship programs, college counseling, and scholarship opportunities would likely be much more impactful than reducing classroom sizes.

3. 4th Grade Math Proficiency: Can Early Skills Predict Long-Term Success?Finally, the Superintendent believes that strong math skills at an early age set students up for long-term success. To highlight early academic performance, I focused on 4th-grade math proficiency scores on the MCAS exam. I visualized district performance using an area chart, adding a 50% reference line to separate higher and lower-performing schools.To help decision-makers quickly grasp the results, districts were color-coded as “Passing” or “Needs Work.” This layout clearly shows which areas may benefit from targeted curriculum changes or resource investment.Key Insight: Foundational math skills set students up for future academic achievement. Strengthening support in elementary schools that are underperforming in this area may have long-lasting impacts on students later on.

From Data to Action

This project highlights how accessible, well-structured data can uncover areas where school systems need the most support:◾Graduation rates help identify high schools that need targeted intervention.
◾College attendance is shaped more by economic status than by class size.
◾Math proficiency in early grades predicts long-term outcomes and can help us target schools where early interventions will have the biggest impact.As a data analyst, I’m passionate about transforming raw information into tools that drive real-world decisions. Whether working on public sector challenges or business intelligence, I love helping teams unlock the story behind the numbers.If you're interested in learning more about this dashboard or collaborating on a project, I would love to connect on LinkedIn.This project was completed as part of the Data Analytics Accelerator Bootcamp for educational purposes only.