Optimization Within Chronic Absenteeism in The Detroit Public Schools Community District

Abstract

In this project, I explored some of the leading causes of chronic abstenteeism in the Detroit Public School District. I determined that a big factor was transportation due to a magntitude of reasons - some persisiting while others more recent. With a new concept called pilot cars being deployed in the dsitrict, I determined that utilzing a traveing salesperson algorithm could benefit in optimizing the number of students that could get to school. Furthermore, a user interface of interaction between the parents in the district where the parents got a daily notiication of whether or not their child need a ride to school the next day would be useful. I created a prototype of how this may look and work.