An article posted by The Guardian on December 11, 2013 explains a criticism given by Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw: depending on the area where
you live (England is being used in this story) heavily dictates the standard of
education you will receive.
The story provided much data that was mostly made
up of percentages. The story did a good job of explaining the data. It provided
percentages of students who attended good or outstanding schools and also
compared them to other areas.
It started to become unclear when multiple
percentages and numbers were included in the same paragraph. When a lot of
numbers are presented in such a close range of time, the numbers begin to sound
unclear and may start to confuse the reader.
To provide the story with more clarity, data percentages could be better
spaced out throughout the story and broken
up in different paragraphs, allowing the mind to have a breather after
absorbing the group of numbers just presented to them.
Another thing that could
have been done to make the story a bit clearer is giving a little more
background to the cities and regions that were described as having or not
having outstanding schools in their area.
It's understood that this story is in
a European newspaper, but it shouldn't be under the impression that only
Europeans would be reading or be interested in these stories. Providing a bit
more background (such as the level of wealth or poverty) with the cities and
regions that were mentioned would make the story more clear to those who are
not familiar with England.
The interactive graphic that was included was simple
to use and was probably the most simple as it could be. There is a drop-down
menu bar that allows the reader to select the type of school (nursery, primary,
secondary, etc.) and once one is
selected, then the bar graph underneath will alter depending on the related
data.
If a story
like this were to be conducted in B.C., the agency that would have similar data
would be the B.C. Ministry of Education. Some of the data they collect include provincial exam marks, average mark
in grade 10, 11, and 12 courses, and graduation rates. Government agencies
allow the public to view raw data based on a variety of subjects for free. With
that said, a journalist in B.C. should have no issues accessing this data.
