Online Tool: Educational Attainment by State, Gender, and Age Group, 2006 – 2013
Increasing the educational attainment of U.S. residents has become a primary goal of state and national higher education, but with relatively less attention paid to gender attainment gap. This tool reveals that that the attainment gap between the gender has been gradually growing in many states, especially among young adults.
This online tool uses Tableau public software to illustrate the trends in attainment rate by gender and age group, along with margin of error (at a 90% confidence level) from 2006-2013.
The U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year Sample, Public Use Microdata Sample, 2006 – 2013.
Methodology:To estimate a margin of error for an attainment rate, standard errors were first calculated for both degree holders (numerator) and population (denominator) by race/ethnicity, age group, degree level, and state using the 80 replicated weights provided in PUMS files. Then each standard error was multiplied by 1.645 to derive the margin of error for both the numerator and the denominator of the attainment rate. Finally, the margin of error for the attainment rate was estimated based on these two margins of error, using the formula provided by the U.S. Census Bureau (“A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data”, page A-14 to A-15, “Calculating MOEs for Derived Proportions”).
The U.S. Census Bureau has warned researchers that an estimate drawn from PUMS files is slightly different from the same estimate published in American FactFinder, which tabulates data from the original ACS dataset. This is because PUMS files includes only 2/3 of the original dataset in order to protect the privacy of survey respondents. More detailed information about a discrepancy between PUMS and ACS estimates can be found here.
Definition:
Educational Attainment
“Some College” – residents whose SCHL code is “10” (Some College, but less than 1 year) or “11” (One or More Years of College, No Degree) in PUMS 2006 and 2007, or “18” (Some college, but less than 1 year) or “19” (1 or more years of college credit, no degree) in PUMS 2008 and after. “Graduate or Professional Degree” – residents whose SCHL code is “14” (Master’s degree), “15” (Professional school degree), or “16” (Doctorate degree) in PUMS 2006 and 2007, or “22” (Master’s degree), “23” (Professional degree beyond a bachelor’s degree), or “24” (Doctorate degree) in PUMS 2008 and after.