EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance.

DATA VISUALIZATION

NHL Stanley Cup Champions. A data-driven history of (almost) two decades of hockey that shows the fundamental shifts in the game, the teams that have languished and

DATA ANALYTICS

Performance Measurement. Measuring the performance of public sector organizations and determining key drivers of performance are challenging tasks. We provide public sector managers a principled approach to both of theses challenges. Eight Leaves provides the tools and thinking to help public sector managers deal with scale,

complexity, and

NHL STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS In Buffalo, Dominik Hasek was elevated to the starting job, transformed his game and (along with Patrick Roy, who had won the Cup the year before with the Canadiens) transformed the way goal was played. And, in 1993-94, total scoring took a big step down; within 2 years, total goals per game had dropped from above 7 to below 6. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS The first principal component (the x-axis) measures academic performance. Good indicators of academic achievement (average exam mark, diploma completion rate, and courses taken per student) have a positive projection onto the first component while bad indicators (delayed advancement rate, percentage of exams failed, and school vs. exam mark) have a negative projection. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. FIRST THINGS FIRST; SECOND THINGS NEVER The appeal of “first things first” — its terse and brutal clarity and uncompromising emphasis on process, process — is immediate for management types. It’s about efficiency, conserving and focusing powers — what Peter Drucker referred to as the essence of management : doing things right. The idea can as easily be about

determining

POSITIONING AND THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM DIFFERENTIATION A small business has two locations: its address and its positioning. An address tells customers where to find a business in the real world. Positioning, meanwhile, is a marketing concept: it’s (roughly) the location of a business in a customer’s mind relative to its

competitors.

MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN THE NHL For the seasons we analyzed, the tying goal was worth 0.51 points to the home team and 0.44 points to the away team, while the go-ahead goal was worth 0.37 points to the home team and 0.46 points to the away team. (This means a home team has more to lose by falling behind a goal than it has to gain by going ahead a goal.) A MARKETER’S GUIDE TO THE EDMONTON CENSUS A Marketer’s Guide to the Edmonton Census. The City of Edmonton recently released the 2009 Edmonton municipal census data as part of the Open Data initiative . The current catalogue doesn’t include results at the neighbourhood level (except in PDF). Edmonton blogger Mack Male recently shared a neighbourhood census file.

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT We develop custom cloud-based systems for startups and small to medium-sized companies. From customer relationship management to e-Commerce to business process management, we design software that’s clean, reliable, fast, and easy to use.

DATA ANALYTICS

Performance Measurement. Measuring the performance of public sector organizations and determining key drivers of performance are challenging tasks. We provide public sector managers a principled approach to both of theses challenges. Eight Leaves provides the tools and thinking to help public sector managers deal with scale,

complexity, and

PERFORMING ARTS

In 2008, Oliver Wyman worked with nine prominent U.S. orchestras to study the experience and behavior of first-time concert goers. The results were published in June of that year in “Turning First-Timers Into Life-Timers“. That report sparked a lot of conversation in the orchestra world and influenced the thinking of its marketing leaders (see the Jan-Feb 2009 Symphony article “Into Thin THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS The first principal component (the x-axis) measures academic performance. Good indicators of academic achievement (average exam mark, diploma completion rate, and courses taken per student) have a positive projection onto the first component while bad indicators (delayed advancement rate, percentage of exams failed, and school vs. exam mark) have a negative projection. THE LOYALTY LADDER: A SIDEWAYS LOOK The Loyalty Ladder: A Sideways Look. The loyalty ladder is a relationship marketing concept that sees customers gradually moving up through relationship levels, starting at the bottom as prospects (those who have the intent to purchase but have not yet done so) and ending up at the top as advocates (intensely loyal brand champions). SIMPLE ARITHMETIC IN ALBERTA CLASSROOMS Simple Arithmetic in Alberta Classrooms. Number sense is an important outcome of the Alberta math curriculum. Yet many of our students find arithmetic so vexing and unnatural that they need calculators to perform even the simplest operations. This lack of arithmetic fluency puts students at a big disadvantage when they move on to tackle

algebra

MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN THE NHL For the seasons we analyzed, the tying goal was worth 0.51 points to the home team and 0.44 points to the away team, while the go-ahead goal was worth 0.37 points to the home team and 0.46 points to the away team. (This means a home team has more to lose by falling behind a goal than it has to gain by going ahead a goal.) WHY DO CALGARY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS ACHIEVE BETTER ACADEMIC Old Scona is, as always, at the top of the list. Each year, hundreds of students compete for the roughly 120 grade 10 spots available at the academically focused Edmonton high school.

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

NHL STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS In Buffalo, Dominik Hasek was elevated to the starting job, transformed his game and (along with Patrick Roy, who had won the Cup the year before with the Canadiens) transformed the way goal was played. And, in 1993-94, total scoring took a big step down; within 2 years, total goals per game had dropped from above 7 to below 6. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks POSITIONING AND THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM DIFFERENTIATIONSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

NHL STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS In Buffalo, Dominik Hasek was elevated to the starting job, transformed his game and (along with Patrick Roy, who had won the Cup the year before with the Canadiens) transformed the way goal was played. And, in 1993-94, total scoring took a big step down; within 2 years, total goals per game had dropped from above 7 to below 6. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks POSITIONING AND THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM DIFFERENTIATIONSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. CONTACT | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Eight Leaves. 200 10225 100 Ave NW Edmonton AB T5J 0A1 T: 780.756.1181 E: info@eightleaves.com

DATA VISUALIZATION

NHL Stanley Cup Champions. A data-driven history of (almost) two decades of hockey that shows the fundamental shifts in the game, the teams that have languished and

DATA ANALYTICS

Performance Measurement. Measuring the performance of public sector organizations and determining key drivers of performance are challenging tasks. We provide public sector managers a principled approach to both of theses challenges. Eight Leaves provides the tools and thinking to help public sector managers deal with scale,

complexity, and

ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS The first principal component (the x-axis) measures academic performance. Good indicators of academic achievement (average exam mark, diploma completion rate, and courses taken per student) have a positive projection onto the first component while bad indicators (delayed advancement rate, percentage of exams failed, and school vs. exam mark) have a negative projection. MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN THE NHL For the seasons we analyzed, the tying goal was worth 0.51 points to the home team and 0.44 points to the away team, while the go-ahead goal was worth 0.37 points to the home team and 0.46 points to the away team. (This means a home team has more to lose by falling behind a goal than it has to gain by going ahead a goal.) WHY DO CALGARY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS ACHIEVE BETTER ACADEMIC Old Scona is, as always, at the top of the list. Each year, hundreds of students compete for the roughly 120 grade 10 spots available at the academically focused Edmonton high school.

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

EIGHT LEAVES

Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools by their overall average on the core academic (English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, Chemistry 30, Biology 30, Physics 30)

diploma

WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL DASHBOARD Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and created the following visualization to help students, parents, and educators (1) evaluate the academic performance of their high school in comparison to the average performance of all high schools in the province; (2) compare the average school awarded COMPARING ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOLS USING RFM TO IDENTIFY YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS RFM uses sales data to segment a pool of customers based on their purchasing behavior. The resulting customer segments are neatly ordered from most valuable to least valuable. This makes it straightforward to identify best customers. The idea behind RFM is quite simple: 1) Customers who have purchased from you recently are

more likely to buy

DIPLOMA EXAM MARKS VS. SCHOOL MARKS Alberta Education recently announced that, as of September 1, 2015, school marks will count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks will count for 30 per cent of a student’s final mark in Alberta diploma courses. This is a change from the 50/50 weighting that has been used since the diploma exams were introduced in the 1980’s. The immediate impact of this change will be that final marks THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGSSEE MORE ON

EIGHTLEAVES.COM

HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION Voting groups in 2015: The first group of voters preferred the Widrose party. Their probability of choosing the Wildrose was 43%, the PC party 14%, and the NDP 9%. They were 33% likely to not vote, and they made up 30% of the voting population. The NDP group wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most likely to vote and the least likely to

seek

WHAT WE DO | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE What We Do. We’re a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. BLOG | EIGHT LEAVES | DATA ANALYTICS & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT In Part 1 of this post, I looked at a few criticisms of the methodology used in the Fraser Institute’s high school rankings.Here, I’m going to explain what I think is the real problem with the rankings: they’re not necessary. The Fraser rankings, released annually and regularly reported by the media, have largely shaped public perception of school performance.

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Performance Measurement. Measuring the performance of public sector organizations and determining key drivers of performance are challenging tasks. We provide public sector managers a principled approach to both of theses challenges. Eight Leaves provides the tools and thinking to help public sector managers deal with scale,

complexity, and

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT We develop custom cloud-based systems for startups and small to medium-sized companies. From customer relationship management to e-Commerce to business process management, we design software that’s clean, reliable, fast, and easy to use.

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In 2008, Oliver Wyman worked with nine prominent U.S. orchestras to study the experience and behavior of first-time concert goers. The results were published in June of that year in “Turning First-Timers Into Life-Timers“. That report sparked a lot of conversation in the orchestra world and influenced the thinking of its marketing leaders (see the Jan-Feb 2009 Symphony article “Into Thin ALBERTA HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS Alberta High School Rankings – Part 2 (2017) Each year, Alberta Education publishes diploma examination results for schools and school authorities. We’ve taken the 2016-2017 data and ranked Alberta highs schools in each diploma course by the percentage of their 3rd year students achieving the standard of excellence on the diploma exams.

The

ALBERTA BABY NAMES

What are the little rectangles? The rectangles represent the relative popularity of a name in a given year. The rectangle’s colour represents the name’s gender and its size reflects the expected frequency of the name in a population of 100,000 babies. THE REAL PROBLEM WITH THE FRASER HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS The first principal component (the x-axis) measures academic performance. Good indicators of academic achievement (average exam mark, diploma completion rate, and courses taken per student) have a positive projection onto the first component while bad indicators (delayed advancement rate, percentage of exams failed, and school vs. exam mark) have a negative projection. MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN THE NHL For the seasons we analyzed, the tying goal was worth 0.51 points to the home team and 0.44 points to the away team, while the go-ahead goal was worth 0.37 points to the home team and 0.46 points to the away team. (This means a home team has more to lose by falling behind a goal than it has to gain by going ahead a goal.) WHY DO CALGARY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS ACHIEVE BETTER ACADEMIC Old Scona is, as always, at the top of the list. Each year, hundreds of students compete for the roughly 120 grade 10 spots available at the academically focused Edmonton high school.

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Eight Leaves is a growing team of software developers and data scientists. We build custom web software for startups and small to medium-sized businesses. We build reporting and analysis systems for big businesses and the public sector. Interested in our work? Start with what we do . Want to know more about our approach? Visit our blog or check out our

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HOW THE NDP WON THE 2015 ALBERTA ELECTION After 44 years of PC rule, Albertans voted in a majority NDP government in Tuesday’s election. The result surprised many even though polls were predicting an NDP landslide. Wherever you... * 11/18/14 Measuring Performance in the NHL * 11/11/14 Why Do Calgary Public High Schools Achieve Better Academic Results Than Edmonton Public High Schools? * 12/04/13 Simple Arithmetic in Alberta Classrooms * 05/20/13 The Real Problem With The Fraser Institute High School

Rankings – Part 2

* 04/02/13 The Real Problem With The Fraser High School Rankings –

Part 1

* 03/10/13 When To Ask Single Ticket Buyers To Become Subscribers

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