SDP Announces Selection of 20 New Partners for Fellowship Program

May 6, 2013

State Education Agencies, School Districts, and Nonprofits Will Join Effort to Transform Their Use of Data in Education

Cambridge, MA. (May 6, 2013) – Today, the Strategic Data Project (SDP), based at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, announced the selection of twenty new partners who will host the fifth cohort of the SDP Fellowship. SDP Fellows will be employees of the agency who support efforts to build capacity for rigorous analytics and research methods to inform management and policy decisions.


The SDP Fellowship is a two-year program that develops and supports talented data strategists inside education organizations. Data strategists are education professionals revolutionizing how data are collected, analyzed, and shared to improve outcomes for students.


“Being selected to participate in a national network of education leaders as a Strategic Data Project partner allows our district to learn from and work with some of the most skilled analysts in the field,” said Sharon L. Contreras, Superintendent of the Syracuse City School District. “I’m confident that partnering with SDP will increase our capacity to use the right data and analyses and make better decisions that will eventually result dramatic student achievement gains.”

The new SDP partners were chosen after participating in a rigorous application process that included completing an in-depth application and detailing their goals for the SDP Fellowship during a phone interview with SDP. Selected partners have all demonstrated a strong commitment to the SDP mission of transforming the use of data in education to improve student achievement.

“Student achievement data are underutilized in every school district and state agency in America,” said Tom Kane, faculty director of the Center for Education Policy Research and professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “With this program, we’re providing system leaders with the analytic talent they need to use their own data to learn what’s working and what’s not.”

To date, SDP has engaged four cohorts of partner agencies and fellows (in addition to a pilot cohort launched in 2008), and has over 100 SDP Fellows and Fellow Alumni in the field. Recent partners have found the increased analytic capacity in their organization a critical element to their strategy, as it has led to valuable new insights and strengthened policies. For example, Fulton County Schools’ work with SDP fueled the establishment of Summer PACE, a summer counseling intervention program that generated an eight percentage point increase in college matriculation rates for low-income students who accessed the counseling.

“The SDP Fellows have added a significant analytic capacity to our school system,” said Renee Foose, superintendent of the Howard County Public School System, a current SDP partner. “Working with SDP has been instrumental in deepening our understanding of strengths and challenges. The information gleaned through this collaboration is informing our efforts to ensure that all of our students experience academic success."

The new SDP Fellowship partners include: Atlanta Public Schools (GA), Duval County Public Schools (FL), Education Northwest, Fayette County Public Schools (KY), Fort Wayne Community Schools (IN), Jacksonville Public Education Fund (FL), Jefferson Parish Public Schools (LA), Knox County Schools (TN), Lemann Foundation–Brazil, Michigan Department of Education, Minneapolis Public Schools (MN), Mississippi State Department of Education, Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services (NY), Oklahoma State Department of Education, Orange County Public Schools (FL), Rochester City School District (NY), Syracuse City School District (NY), St. Bernard Parish Public Schools (LA), Tulsa Public Schools (OK), and Urban Teacher Center.

Education agencies can partner with SDP to host SDP Fellows or conduct research projects on system performance performed by SDP researchers. Please direct any questions to Nneka Ibekwe, fellowship admissions and recruitment manager: nneka_ibekwe@gse.harvard.edu.

The Strategic Data Project partners with school districts, charter school networks, and state education agencies to bring high quality research methods and data analysis to bear on strategic management and policy decisions. The project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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The Strategic Data Project’s mission is to transform the use of data in education to improve student achievement. Better access to appropriately analyzed data will allow system leaders to better diagnose issues, develop solutions, and monitor the results of implementing these solutions. Our theory of action is that if we bring together the right people, assemble the right data, and perform the right analysis, we can improve the decisions that leaders make such that student achievement improves significantly.

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University

The rapid accumulation of student achievement data represents an untapped national resource, one that holds the promise of breaking longstanding stalemates in the education policy debate. The Center for Education Policy Research works with university-based researchers and policymakers to bring these new data to bear in evaluating policies and drawing implications for reform.

Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
50 Church St, 4th Floor Cambridge, MA
For more information, visit: "WWW.GSE.HARVARD.EDU/SDP"

For Immediate Release Contact: Ashley Dixon
Tel: (617) 496-9457
Email: ashley_dixon@gse.harvard.edu