Student Dispersion Tool

Just as longer commutes can have detrimental effects on adults, it reasonably follows that longer school commutes may have such effects as an increase in stress, tardiness and obesity rates on our youth. Conversely, in areas where housing patterns concentrate poverty and race in a neighborhood, longer commutes outside those neighborhoods might improve student outcomes. Though it is not yet clear just how school commute distance effects student performance, what is clear is that Detroit students and families are exercising their choice. Given the potential problems and benefits, where do these patterns exist and how might schools and families adapt?

For the first time, in partnership with The Skillman Foundation, Excellent Schools Detroit and Great Gains, Data Driven Detroit was able to perform our student dispersion analysis with data covering all publicly funded schools in Detroit*. The Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI), working with the Michigan Center for Shared Solutions (CSS) provided Data Driven Detroit unidentifiable enrollment data and census block codes approximating student residence location from the fall of 2013. CEPI also provided information for students attending schools in the Cities of Warren, River Rouge, Southfield, Hamtramck and Highland Park. This summary analysis is the most comprehensive student dispersion analysis D3 has done to this point in terms of breadth of schools, and includes data from more than 141,000 students and 300 schools!