Monday, November 17, 2008

University Libraries’ GIS Specialist Creates Research Maps of Indiana Education


Research in the GRMC: Mapping Test Scores for the Indiana Education Project
By Angela S. Gibson

Angela Gibson, GIS Specialist in the University Libraries Geospatial Resources & Map Collection (GRMC), recently collaborated with Ginny Burney, a consultant of High Ability Education with the Indiana Education Project in the Teachers College, to create GIS data and maps.

Tabular data collected by Dr. Burney from the Indiana Department of Education Web site was linked to existing GIS shapefiles of Indiana school district boundaries that were downloaded from the IndianaMap Web site, http://www.indianamap.org/. The combination of this data was used to create new GIS layers that were entered into a digital map showing Advanced Placement test performances according to school corporation boundaries in the state using the ESRI ArcGIS 9.3 software. Two additional maps were also created showing the school district demographic types and the number of graduates for the school corporations.

The data shown on the maps will be used by Dr. Burney to demonstrate findings in research that reveal few small and/or rural schools are preparing many, if any, of their students at the level that is predictive of college graduation, according to the Advanced Placement measure. These GIS-generated maps will be shared at presentations around the state, in Dr. Burney’s graduate classes for Indiana teachers, and with key legislators in an effort to investigate solutions for this problem.

For more information, please contact Angela Gibson in the GRMC at 765/285-1097.

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