A Case Study: Using Geographic Information Systems for Education Policy Analysis

Effective exploration of spatially referenced educational achievement data can help educational researchers and policy analysts accelerate interpretation of datasets to gain valuable insights. This paper illustrates the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze educational achievement gaps in Arkansas. The Geographic Academic Policy Series (GAPS), developed in the National Office for Research on Measurement and Evaluation Systems, provides a visual "snapshot " of achievement relative to important policy issues. The GAPS series displays maps in conjunction with state-wide summaries of educational statistics, but does not require complicated understanding of statistics or methodology by the user. Currently, the GAPS series examines the relationships between school district academic performance and other district level variables including percent of students participating in Free and Reduced Lunch Programs (a proxy measure for poverty), school district size, and per pupil spending. In addition, district performance on the ACT exam, which is completed by students intending to attend college, is presented and examined in relation to district size. The GAPS series also includes state maps identifying the academic performance status of all districts and schools in Arkansas relative to NCLB. Policy makers have been particularly interested in the GAPS series, noting that it provides them with an effective method for examining academic achievement statewide