Blog

USC’s David Quinn explores how rubrics could help mitigate racial bias in teachers’ evaluations of student performance with the SDP network. Conversations about racial bias in policing have also ignited conversations about racial bias in teaching. What is...

In 2011, SDP Fellows Richard Bowman and Sade Bonilla set out to prove that greater data use was possible in New Mexico. “The path from data generation to use… is not simple, automatic, or quick. The seemingly straightforward story of information supply...

USC’s David Quinn finds experimental evidence that news stories about the “achievement gap” contribute to stereotypes regarding academics and race. “Achievement gap discourse (AGD)” has driven conversations about race in education for the past several...

After a lawmaker impasse on wide-reaching education legislation in West Virginia, SDP Fellow Oliver Ho and the West Virginia Department of Education used data to help drive the conversation forward. In 2018 and 2019, two successive teacher strikes in West...

Alabama’s State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey says there's a rare issue drawing approval from Moms for Liberty, tiger moms, and soccer moms alike. The unlikely point of agreement? Keeping cell phones out of schools, a hot topic explored by the...

We’re not trying to improve K–12 metrics for the sake of those metrics—we’re trying to improve them to help students get to the next step. -Joseph Leakakos and Kathryn Zenoni How many New Mexico children start kindergarten ready to learn? How many...

“Building a data tool is a non-linear process. There are unexpected twists and turns and you can’t compartmentalize tasks in a sequential manner. Sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward.” - Sabir Nazarov The diversity gap in the teacher...

“A lot of times we work in silos as researchers: you are either in the policy world or working at an institution. I’ve done both—and I’m all for bridging those worlds. It’s critical that SDP Fellows are aware of the policy conversations that are happening...

If we offer college for free, students will go—but will they stay and complete their degrees?  That’s the question Hope Chicago, a scholarship-focused nonprofit, hoped to answer with its innovative, data-driven approach to improving student outcomes. The...

“ There was no system in place for employer needs and wants to shape which learning outcomes should be in our courses and programs. We need a way to link those and to give students good feedback on where their competencies are.” –Dr. Wyl McCully “We want...