Graduation Progress Calculator

Problem:

High school graduation requirements are complex: there are multiple degree options in the state of New York, each with their own course credit and exam requirements. Reviewing graduation progress manually through methods like individual transcript review is time intensive, and leaves room for human error when the stakes are high.

Solution:

In response to this challenge, I built a Graduation Progress Tracker solution using Tableau and SQL that gives school users instant access to live information about students’ progress toward meeting graduation requirements. Access to this information ensures that students enroll in the correct courses and helps to provide the support they need to graduate.

This interactive tool is represented in screenshots for confidentiality.

Click to enlarge

Methods

The Graduation Progress Tracker includes three distinct views, allowing users to select the appropriate credit calculation method based on their needs. Users can select from the following methods to determine whether or not students are on track to graduate, and what degree type they qualify for.

The tracker automatically refreshes overnight, ensuring all information is up-to-date.

View Options:

  1. Current enrollments:
    Assumes students pass all courses in which they are currently enrolled

  2. Live current grades from teachers’ gradebooks:
    Used to monitor live progress throughout the year and determine where students need support

  3. Stored grades from final grading periods:
    Used to give accurate estimates at the end of each grading period, and determine final graduation status and diploma type at the end of the school year

Users select the tab for their desired view

Functionality

The tracker’s main view features a student table aggregating credits within each requirement and providing graduation status summaries.

  • The view can be filtered by credit and exam status, or searched by student name. The student count updates as filters are applied, providing users with a summary for any combination of criteria.

  • For further student information, clicking on any student’s name will generate that student’s detailed credit and exam score history. This enables users to focus in on exams that have not yet been passed and course history within any credit type.

Filtering for all students who are off track for credits, but completed required exams

Clicking a student’s name in the table view generates their detailed credit and exam history

Use Cases

Since its implementation, the tool has been used regularly throughout the year by school leaders, counselors, and teachers.

  • At the beginning of the school year, this tool was used to identify any students who were not enrolled in courses needed for graduation, ensuring students were able to start the year with the right schedule.

  • Throughout the school year, counselors and academic teams used this tool to monitor students’ progress toward graduation. On any given day, they could identify students who were failing a class required for graduation. Academic teams used the tracker to instantly generate a list of students who were at risk for graduation and assign academic supports accordingly.

  • Rather than having to audit transcripts manually during the tight turnaround between state exams and graduation, this tool made this information available as soon as grades were finalized. This removed the potential for human error and saved school counselors many hours of work.