I have received three calls this week from planners who all tell me a similar story. I've been hearing the same story for five years from across North America. They are having an issue while performing various geoprocessing tasks where ArcMap says it is working but nothing ever happens. They are never getting that coveted green check mark telling them that their process is complete. The task never completes and they never get their [...]
This post from my LinkedIn was inspired by a conversation that I was having with two school planners yesterday. They were asking "how do we plan when our base year is the problem? There are so many kids missing that I don't know how to account for that." We talked through how she would deal with this but the answer I have for her may not be the same for you. The impact of [...]
Are you experiencing growth in your area? The article linked below paints an interesting picture of how families are moving during COVID. Davis Demographics represents K-12 districts in some of these areas. Clients in the Idaho and South Carolina have been seeing growth as people move in from other parts of the country. Nine states had a net positive in terms of people moving in. Idaho had almost three times as many people move [...]
Arthur C. Clarke said “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” A superintendent once exclaimed “this report is like magic!” when seeing his school district’s attendance matrix for the first time. I told him “No, sir. That’s geography married to enrollment.” Click here to see the this attendance matrix. At Davis Demographics, we believe that geography is essential to planning. This means that our forecasts are based on where a student [...]
ArcGIS Pro is quickly becoming the gold standard in desktop GIS software and SchoolSite Pro will the go-to extension of K-12 school districts looking for boundary planning and enrollment forecasting tools. The efforts to migrate SchoolSite from ArcGIS Desktop to ArcGIS Pro are moving along quite fast. We have a solid beta version of SchoolSite Pro available for testing. If you are a current SchoolSite user and are interested in getting your hands on [...]
School Districts typically face many challenges when starting a new school year. In 2020, they face an additional one, corona virus and the uncertainty this brings to everyone, from the student body, to the parents, as well as instructors. School Districts across the US and the world are now debating whether or not they will be able to adequately plan and adjust to a hybrid model, online only or fully re-open. In a study [...]
How is your school district re-opening for this school year? Davis Demographics has created a three question survey using Esri ArcGIS Online Survey123 to help provide an open source dashboard. No personal information will be asked. The dashboard will be shared later this week. With clients across North America, we are privileged to be a part of the planning that is taking part to bring students safely back to school and care for them virtually in the [...]
“We don’t have hard numbers yet but so far it looks like 25% to 35% variance on student enrollment.” This shocking statement was made by a school planner in Texas yesterday. I’ve heard 3 other planners in three separate states make a shockingly similar claim this morning. If this is happening in districts across the country, public schools are missing millions of students this fall. Where did they go? The answer seems to be [...]
The Importance of Resident Based Research Especially This Fall Our firm is preparing for a new year of student forecasting, development research, rezoning and GIS support as client districts are preparing for opening during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic is on everyone’s mind with questions of how they are going to help get the kids up and running for the new school year. During recent conversations, clients have mentioned the disappearance of students this spring and in [...]
