Projects

Zoo School Visits Analysis

Sponsor - Los Angeles Zoo

University: Claremont Graduate University

Status: Completed 

Educational visits are an important community resource offered by the Zoo. From 2015/16 - 2017/18 approximately 139,000 students and chaperones visited each year from local schools, head starts, and LA Recreation and Parks centers. In 2018/19 this number dropped to approximately 129,000. This goal of the project was to use a decade of school reservation data to analyze which schools regularly come to the Zoo, from where, and details regarding a schools characteristics; e.g. identify gaps in underserved areas, communities, or school types; and identify any trends or changes from historic data.

Outcome:

As a result of this project, the Los Angeles Zoo was able to compile a list of LAUSD schools that have not visited the Zoo in the past 20 10 years or that had stopped visiting in the past 3 years. As well, they have found two areas within LAUSD that frequents LA Zoo: Los Angeles neighborhood and San Fernando Valley. They have also found one area outside of LAUSD that frequents the LA Zoo: Pasadena, as well as areas that visit but have since stopped. According to their model of predicting schools’ tendency to visit, schools within School Board District number 3 and 6 are more likely to visit. Schools within 17 miles of the Zoo are more likely to visit. Elementary schools are more likely to visit. The Zoo is using the model, matched with County data on park need, to prioritize outreach and mobile Zoo efforts.