# Implementing an ROI Mindset in Educational Decision Making February 04, 2025 - [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog) *This Q&A is part of an SDP Blog series profiling members of the SDP Fellowship Cohort 15. All posts from this series may be found* [*here*](https://prod-sdp.drupalsites.harvard.edu/tags/cohort-15-spotlight)*.* ![John Ezaki](/sites/g/files/omnuum4446/files/2025-02/je_tulsa.png) **Q&A with John Ezaki & Sean Berkstresser at Tulsa Public Schools, a Cohort 15 SDP Fellowship Partner Agency** John Ezaki is a Cohort 15 (2023-2025) SDP Fellow and the Manager of Strategic Investment Analysis at Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma, a public school district serving nearly 34,000 students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. We recently caught up with John and his supervisor Sean Berkstresser, a Cohort 7 SDP Fellow alumnus and the Tulsa Public Schools Chief Strategy Officer, to learn more about their exciting and impactful work. **John, can you tell us about your role at Tulsa Public Schools?** John: I work on the data team with an emphasis on program evaluation and ROI. The best thing about my role is that I get to work across the organization! I develop and conduct many different types of analyses across departments, which entails meeting with varied stakeholders to understand their initiative and co-create an evaluation plan. I get to learn about many of the major initiatives within the district and support stakeholders in creating metrics to track and research questions to answer. **Tell us more about your capstone project.** John: My capstone has evolved over the course of the fellowship and encompasses the process of establishing a consistent evaluation plan and structure within the organization to understand impact and provide evidence for decision-making. I am also focusing on developing illustrative examples of the mixed methods analyses we have been able to conduct and the lessons learned. **What impact do you hope to see as a result of the capstone project when it is completed?** John: The overall goal of my capstone project is ensuring that Tulsa Public Schools has a consistent way to understand the impact of its major investments and initiatives to inform future decisions. I hope that my project allows decision-makers to have the data they need to make the best decisions for the district and the students we serve. A subgoal is building the team's capacity using mixed methods to improve our data storytelling, thereby increasing the general trust and respect for analysis within the district. Sean: John’s capstone project will help in both the short and long term. Short term, he is coordinating several program evaluation projects to help our district better understand the return-on-investment of major initiatives. This information has already helped shape the way we are investing in summer experiences for students, and it will also inform the way we invest in many other academic and strategic initiatives. Examples on our list right now include evaluating the impact of student-serving partner organizations on student outcomes, measuring the implementation and impact of digital academic interventions on student growth, and helping us better understand key drivers to influence teacher retention. Long term, he is bringing this type of return-on-investment mindset to the forefront and working with our finance and strategy teams to embed ROI thinking into our decision-making processes. **What has been the most meaningful experience from your participation in the SDP Fellowship so far?** John: The most meaningful thing about the SDP Fellowship has been the friendships and connections I have made within the cohort. We are scattered across the country, working in different types of organizations and at different levels, so to have the opportunity to come together on a regular basis to connect, share ideas, get feedback, and learn has been incredible. **How has the SDP Fellowship strengthened the analytic capacity of your agency?** Sean: Tulsa Public Schools has been fortunate to have several SDP fellows over the years, and this has been a catalyst for our data strategy and analytics team’s growth and development. John’s background in education both as a practitioner (he began his education career as a classroom teacher!) and as a researcher (he completed his PhD from USC’s Rossier School of Education) has been tremendously valuable in helping shape the direction of our work. He brings necessary expertise in quantitative methods, and he has also pushed our team to collect qualitative feedback and engage directly with those we serve in order to better gain a full picture of the programs and investments we are evaluating. He’s a constant champion of serving our teachers and community, and he’s brought a high degree of analytic rigor to our team’s analyses. This means that we are benefiting not just from John’s individual contributions, but also his collaboration and skill development with other members of our team. See also:- [ Cohort 15 Spotlight ](/tags/cohort-15-spotlight) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)