My Quest for Truth

It all started with a simple question: How many high schools are there in Boston?

High-schools.com lists “all public and private high schools located in Boston” and says there are 17. Greatschools.org lists 32 public and private high schools. US News says there are 32 schools just within the Boston Public School District. Wikipedia says 33. The Massachusetts Department of Education lists 42 public and private.

I compiled a list of 56.

Why the discrepancy over a seemingly basic question? Is it because

• We can’t agree on what “high school” means?
• We can’t agree on what “in Boston” means?

Charter schools, special education, adult education, vocational training, private schools, religious schools- there are many ways to designate what is and is not a “high school” that could explain the differences cheap air jordan.
Boston public schools, Boston city limits, Greater Boston- the discrepancy may also be caused by varying definitions of what it means for a high school to be “in Boston.”

I aim to create an authoritative central portal that lists all high schools in Boston. I will continue exploring this in future assignments (talk to me if you want to collaborate!).

Cold Calling For Data

To preempt a similar situation arising when trying to figure out how many high school students are there in Boston, this time I chose a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach. I picked up the phone and began cold calling every high school on my list. I asked every school receptionist two questions:

• How many students go to your school?
• What makes your school special?

I chose these two questions because I thought they would be a good foundation to explore both quantitative and qualitative data, and the answers could give me potential follow-on questions if I continue focusing on Boston high schools.

Another Course to College- their Annual Report states 220 students; their receptionist told me 224.

Boston Adult Technical Academy- their Annual Report states 257 students; their receptionist told me 300.

Boston Arts Academy- their Annual Report states 420 students; their receptionist told me 400.

Boston International High School- their Annual Report states 359 students; their receptionist told me 500.

… and the list goes on. I could present more data but I’m not sure what story I want it to tell yet. Yes, I could add up all the numbers and create “the authoritative Julia guide to how many high school students there are in Boston.” Yes, I could put together another “a-ha” moment showing the discrepancies in calculating this number across organizations and websites. But I don’t want to present a repeat of other dry, going nowhere data pieces.

Telling a Story

I recently read the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die which nailed home for me the importance of telling a compelling story. With the school mapping project I am working on, I have been more focused on organizing and presenting the information and hoping others will find stories to tell, rather than having to tell the story myself. My model has been Wikipedia, which presents information in a way that is useful to the reader. Would you say that Wikipedia tells a story?

My aim has been to build a school mapping platform using data and communication tools that are informative and useful. I thought that would be enough. What I’m struggling with now is how to build a platform that tells a story, and what story do I want it to tell original new balance.

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