About

These stacked bar charts display the percentage of districts in each category of instruction. Additionally, categories of instruction are displayed for categories such as poverty, in which high-poverty districts are above the national district average for the measure of poverty and low-poverty districts are above the average.

Bar graph variable definitions

Achievement
Achievement indicates districts’ academic achievement, drawn from multiple prior years of student test scores. High achievement refers to districts with student test scores above the national average. Low achievement refers to districts with student test scores below the national average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, 2021, https://edopportunity.org/

Adult Baccalaureate
Adult baccalaureate rates refer to the proportion of adults with bachelor’s degrees or higher in the county. High adult baccalaureate refers to districts in counties whose population averages adult baccalaureate rate was above the national average. Low adult baccalaureate refers to districts in counties with baccalaureate rates below the national average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, 2021, https://edopportunity.org/

Broadband
Note: Broadband indicates household access to broadband at the district level. High broadband refers to districts with broadband access above the national average. Low broadband refers to districts with broadband access below the national average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2015–18

Covid Rate
Covid rate indicates whether a district was in the top, middle, or bottom tertile in terms of county Covid cases per 100,000 for a given week.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and USA Facts Covid Data, 2021, https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/

District Size
District size indicates the number of schools in a district. We defined small districts as those with three to five operational schools. Medium districts have between six and 11 operational schools. Lastly, large districts are defined as having 12 or more operational schools.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Common Core of Data, 2019, National Center for Education Statistics.

Mask Usage
Mask usage indicates the estimated percentage of people within a county who would say “always” in response to the question “How often do you wear a mask in public when you expect to be within six feet of another person?” These data come from a large number of interviews conducted online by the global data and survey firm Dynata at the request of The New York Times. The firm asked a question about mask use to obtain survey responses between July 2 and July 14, 2020.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Mask Wearing Survey Data at the New York Times, 2020, https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data/tree/master/mask-use

Minority Students
High minority districts are those that have more than the national district average of non-white students.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Common Core of Data, 2019, Nation Center for Education Statistics.

Poverty
Poverty indicates levels of household poverty in a district. High-poverty districts are above the national district average for the measure of poverty and low-poverty districts are below the national district average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, 2021, https://edopportunity.org/

Presidential Vote
Presidential vote indicates counties’ voting histories in the 2020 election. “Majority Trump Votes” refers to a district that resides in a county the majority of the population voted for Donald Trump. “Majority Biden Votes” refers to a district that resides in a county where the majority of the population voted for Joe Biden.

Single Mothers
Single mothers indicates the proportion of families with a single mother in a county. High single mothers refers to districts in counties with single mother rates above the national average. Low single mothers refers to districts in counties with single mother rates below the national average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University, 2021, https://edopportunity.org/

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)
Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates from the US Census Bureau report the percentage of children aged 5-17 in poverty at the school district level. High SAIPE refers to districts above the national district average for this measure, and low SAIPE districts are those below the average.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and US Census Bureau Data, 2020, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/saipe.html

Urbanicity
Urbanicity refers to whether the district is primarily located in urban, suburban or rural locales.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Common Core of Data, 2019, Nation Center for Education Statistics.

Vaccine Hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy indicates the estimated percentage of people within a county who indicate that they would “probably not” or “definitely not” receive a COVID-19 vaccine when available. Estimates are based on responses to a question (“Once a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 is available to you, would you get a vaccine?”) from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) on March 3, 2021 – March 15, 2021.
Source: Author’s calculations using R2L data and Vaccine Hesitancy for COVID-19: State, County, and Local Estimates, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2021, https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/vaccine-hesitancy