Strategic Data Impact Award
Strong data work is critical to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement—yet because so many of our data successes are behind the scenes, this work is easy to take for granted and can be difficult to share and celebrate.
We want to change that.
Honoring Excellence
The SDP Award for Strategic Data Impact spotlights current and former SDP Fellows who are using proof to guide decisions for positive impact.
Award Overview
Strong data work is critical to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement—yet because so many of our successes are behind the scenes, data work is easy to take for granted and can be difficult to share and celebrate. We want to change that.
Education is awash in calls to innovate, adopt new technologies, modernize data systems, redesign teaching and learning practices, and prepare students for a rapidly changing world. These shifts hold real promise. But amid the urgency to build what comes next, we rarely pause to ask more fundamental questions: Who is at the center? What do students need most? What remains irreplaceably human and where can technology help us do better?
SDP Convening 2027: Back to Basics is an invitation to return to those questions, not to retreat from innovation, but to ground it in purpose. For this year’s SDP Award, we’re looking for stories of impact from current and former SDP Fellows who are grounding the data in purpose.
Submissions will be accepted from December 7, 2026, through January 29, 2027. A link to the submission form will be provided when submissions are open. The form will include requests for basic information, an overview of the project and impact, a written statement of support from a senior leader at the organization, and a brief video responding to key questions.
- Project lead is a current or former fellow (nominated or placed, data or agency fellow), sharing an inspirational story of emerging or clear impact in 2026. (Project does not need to have been completed at an organization affiliated with SDP.)
- Proposal leads must include the fellow/alum and a current leader from the current/former partner organization
- The project demonstrates the use of high-quality data to resolve or make progress toward addressing a pressing, widespread need in education (across or within the K12 and/or postsecondary fields).
- There is a clear challenge and/or analytic question that the agency was addressing.
- There is early or clear measurable, quality evidence of success and impact on an audience, such as students or teachers.
- The use of data is an inspirational model for others, and might use innovative models, make data more transparent and/or accessible to nontechnical audiences, or meet another need.
- The project concluded within the last year or is in progress with measurable impact.
- In line with our 2027 convening theme, Back to Basics, the project does not retreat from innovation but grounds data in purpose. The project should use evidence to drive action, while illuminating students’ experiences and needs without reducing them to data points.
The finalist(s) will participate in an award presentation at SDP Convening 2027 and will receive a spotlight on our website.
If you know of a current or former fellow who has done impactful work, please encourage them to apply for the award!
Questions? Email alison_segal@gse.harvard.edu.
2026 Strategic Data Impact Award Winner
In 2026, we honored Shannon Coulter, SDP Cohort 11, with the SDP Award for Strategic Data Impact, based on his work in the San Diego County Office of Education to bring humility and humanity to reducing chronic absenteeism.
SDP Network Impact
Individuals and organizations in the SDP Network are innovating in ways that span the sector, and excellence may appear in different ways. Whether it’s developing an innovative data tool, making a difficult decision in an evidence-based fashion, improving data privacy and governance, or generating high-impact insights that are changing the field, we are deeply proud of the work they do.
Learn more about impact across our network.