Analyzing K-12 Education as a Complex System

Schools and school districts are complex, dynamic systems affected by numerous factors, from individuals’ attributes to federal policies. In this paper, a modeling framework is presented for modeling a school as a complex system. An agent-based modeling strategy is developed such that users may better understand the attributes and relationships that may cause an intervention to succeed or fail. The system state change, including agents’ attributes and their relationships, is modeled as a Discrete Time Markov Chain (DTMC). The modeling framework is demonstrated through a case study of a high school where an ‘Engineers Without Borders’ chapter is founded.