Data Stories Behind Philippine Schools: Cohort 7 Fellows' Data Sprint Output

In a span of 2 weeks, our Cohort 7 Data Science Fellows came up with different data stories using data from the Department of Education to have a better grasp of the state of schools here in the Philippines. Please note that the data used for these projects is from 2015.

Our 24 Fellows worked in teams; there were 5 groups in total. Now, what we’re trying to do in this blog post is to expand the ways in which we celebrate the growth of our Fellows. 

We already cheer them on while they are on their learning journey in the program, but we also want to share their successes with members of the Eskwelabs community, too! The 12-week (now 15-week) Data Science Fellowship is an intensive program, one that our Fellows attend daily each evening via live online sessions. We want to celebrate and honor not just what they accomplished in the data sprint, but also their grit as they work towards becoming data scientists.

DATA SPRINT REPORT SUMMARY

Data Science Fellowship Cohort 7
Data sprint 1: Data Stories behind Philippine Schools
Data sprint 1 Instructor: Julia Las, Data Science Fellowship Program Lead
Data sprint 1 Objective: Learn how to obtain insights and create data stories using data from the Department of Education.

This data sprint's goal is to teach the Fellows a foundational—yet often overlooked—skill in data science: data communication. Through this data sprint, the Fellows learned how to obtain insights through data exploration and machine learning to create data stories. They were able to translate these into an app that can be shared to the public. The goal for making this app shareable to the public is to initiate conversations regarding the state of public schools in the Philippines.

DATA SPRINT REPORT DETAILS

GROUP 1: Resource Allocation of SPED Schools in the Philippines

For our first group of Fellows, we have Jon Francisco, Joshua Bernardino, Matthew Chan, Robby Jean Pombo, and Rowen Iral. They tackled the subject of Resource Allocation of SPED Schools in the Philippines. ‍

Education is one of the most important human rights. It serves as a capital investment and equalizer for everyone. The right to education is practiced starting from the formative years of children all throughout their life. However, not all children will have the chance to exercise this right. This opportunity to avail education should not be tied or hindered by their present mental or physical status in life. 

Their mentor, Patrick Kyle Juan, guided them throughout exploring this topic. Check out their whole project here:

GROUP 2: Exploratory Data Analysis of the Nature and Effect of MOOE in Philippine Public Schools

Mentor Alyssa Ty provided guidance for our second group of Fellows. Group 2 consisted of Eunice Grullo, Renzo Rodelas, Reiniel Pablo, Beverly Lumbera, and Shawn Ong. They took on the challenge of doing an Exploratory Data Analysis of the Nature and Effect of MOOE in Philippine Public Schools.

The Department of Education allocates the annual budget for public schools based on their MOOE. The basis of the calculation of the MOOE is the Boncodin formula. 

Some questions you may ask: What is MOOE? What is the Boncodin formula? And what does this all mean for public schools in the Philippines? Discover the answers when you check out their whole project here:

GROUP 3: Are the boys alright? Reports consistently show that Filipino boys are dropping out of school

Specifically, are the boys who are dropping out of school alright? Our Fellows from Group 3 contributed to the study and exploration of the reports that consistently showed that Filipino boys are dropping out of school. ‍

Rhey Ann Magcalas mentored Group 3 Fellows Charity Benignos, Christopher Gemida, Fidel Racines, Jay Anthony Silverio, and Matthew Tomas for this project. 

Find out why the “boys are not alright” when you check their whole project here:

GROUP 4: Better Schools for All

Fellows from Group 4 worked on a project, titled “Better Schools for All,” that aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all—inspired by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. 

Justine Paul Padayao mentored Fellows Andrew Oconer, Bianca Bencio, Bym Buhain, Heide Balcera, and Mark Mendoza.

Their main question: How is the Philippines doing in moving towards SDG4 goals? More specifically, where should we be building additional schools to provide learning opportunities for more Filipinos? Look through their whole project here:

GROUP 5: Exploratory Data Analysis of analyzing gaps in the Philippine Education System

Lastly, Group 5 consisted of Fellows Adam Zhou, Adrian Janairo, Romeo Manangu, and Nilleth Pontino. 

Aaron Sta. Clara mentored this group as they did an exploratory data analysis of analyzing gaps in the Philippine Education System. The group was determined to uncover the distribution of public education resources across the Philippines and identify critical deficiencies through an assessment of MOOE allocation in the different regions.

View their whole project here:

Awesome job to our Fellows! You bring us so much joy with each milestone you reach in the program. Keep it up—we’re with you as you power through for the remaining data sprints!

Want to grow and learn with a data-driven community? Sign up and enroll in the Data Science Fellowship today.