SDP Convening 2026 | Strategic Data Project

The Strategic Data Project (SDP) 2026 Annual Convening drew together over 300 representatives from SDP’s network of fellows, alumni, partner organizations, and special guests around the forward-looking theme "Proof Positive." Across two mainstage panels, one keynote, one EdTalk, and 30 breakout sessions, panelists, researchers, and graduating fellows shared evidence and ideas driving the education field forward.

300+

Attendees

sessions

60+

Capstone Presentations

Key Themes

The 2026 theme was "Proof Positive"—highlighting SDP's twin commitments to proof that guides decisions and positivity that sustains progress. With skepticism in science rising and research priorities shifting, the burden of proof is on us to demonstrate where our students stand and what works in education. But proof isn’t the whole story. In a time when facts seem hard to discern from fiction, we can light the path, build trustworthy data systems, strengthen relationships with the decision-makers who use them, and share data-informed wins openly and often.

The convening provided space to dive into numerous pressing issues and opportunities in the education space, from managing cell phone use in classrooms to leading with courage in polarized times.

Here are some key themes that emerged:

Keeping Hope at the Center

SDP Senior Director Miriam Greenberg opened the convening with a reminder that, even in difficult times, hope must be at the forefront of our work. Hope, in contrast to optimism, means not just believing things will be better, but believing we can make them better.

Sessions on building trustworthy data systems, creating a shared organizational culture of evidence and inquiry, and "meeting the moment" through research that responds to urgent needs in the education space exemplify this commitment.

Finding Truth in the Noise Through Evidence-Based Leadership

As May's Education Scorecard revealed, the nation is in a learning recession. Education stories over the past few years have highlighted a series of crises and controversies. CEPR Executive Director and former D.C. State Superintendent of Education Christina Grant's fireside chat with Penny Lee Schwinn, former Education Commissioner of Tennessee, focused on a key theme: The children cannot wait. Courageous, principled leaders must cut through the noise—politics, cultural differences, the latest education trends—to build systems that use evidence to guide decisions and empower families and communities with accurate information.

Asking the Right Questions

Helping educators ask the right questions can drive progress forward. Keynote speaker Matt Kraft, Professor of Education and Economics at Brown University, reminded attendees that engaging in the research process with partners is an act of change-making. It helps inform how people think, and is fundamental to shaping decisions. Helping leaders ask the important questions—including, "What is the counterfactual to the policy I'm considering? What is the status quo, or the default? What are the opportunity costs—other ways I could spend the time or money?"—helps identify unintended consequences and pitfalls so that schools can become places where students are set up for success.

The SDP Award for Strategic Data Impact

Congratulations to Shannon Coulter (Cohort 11 alumnus), the winner of the 2026 SDP Award for Strategic Data Impact!

For the first time, this Award shines a light on the impact of current and former SDP Fellows using high-quality data to tackle a clear, urgent challenge with evidence of impact and embodying a “proof positive” mindset—rigorous about evidence, and deeply hopeful about what’s possible for students.

Learn more about their work on chronic absenteeism

If you stopped anyone on the street and asked them about education right now, you would get a lot of handwringing: about AI, the deskilling of the future workforce, the decline of the ROI for college education...but what I love so very much about this community is that we are great at producing diagnostics—telling the story of the problem—but we are not satisfied with that. This is a room full of changemakers. Hence the theme proof positive: we want to stay in the space where progress is possible.

Miriam Greenberg

SDP Senior Director

Data Tips from the SDP Network

Creating Data Warehouses that Work for the Customer

Data only matters when people use it. SDP Fellow JT Stark, SDP Supervisor Laura Davidson, and Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University highlighted how Washoe County Schools built a data warehouse that motivates educators to act. Their key moves:

Design with users. Involve educators in system design, gather feedback from “super users,” proactively support schools that aren’t logging in by offering training, and track usage to see which tools (like absenteeism trackers and student-level monitors) and times (such as the weeks before conferences) matter most.
Create shared data routines. Washoe County built a systemwide “data scope and sequence” — a monthly analysis activity aligned to the most important decisions that month. For example, because catching chronically absent students early is critical, August focuses on reviewing prior-year attendance to target supports before school starts.

Translating Education Data for the People Who Need it Most

Research can be hard for practitioners to make actionable, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Carrie Conaway of Harvard University and Christina Claiborne of Brown’s Annenberg Institute shared six principles to boost research use by decision makers. Highlights include:

Lead with what matters: Start with the most striking information, not methods. Make numbers clear and memorable, and spell out the practical implications for educators.
Balance rigor and clarity: Aim for statements that are only as strong as the evidence allows. Even when findings are mixed, surface the key patterns instead of treating inconsistency as the end of the sentence.

Community, Communication, and Bridge-Building

SDP MSI Fellows and Cohort 16 Fellows shared their capstone posters at Convening, providing a chance to reflect on impact, overcoming obstacles, and sharing what's next. In their reflections about their time in the cohort, three graduating fellows shared more about their experiences and one thing all fellows have in common: expertise at building bridges.

Over the course of their journeys, each of these graduating fellows took it upon themselves to be a bridge, meeting educators, families, legislators, policymakers, and leaders where they are to help them make evidence-informed decisions.

Read their reflections and consider what sets apart a data analyst from a data leader.