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Strategic Data Excellence: Elk Grove Unified’s Innovative Approach to Assess Program Implementation

How can a school district know what helps students succeed? Most often, leaders and analysts look at data like test scores, on-time graduation, and attendance rates. While these measures provide important insights about what a district is achieving, they don’t explain why it is achieving at that level. In the absence of knowing the why, districts may be left with educated guessing as the primary means of improvement planning.   

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A New Way to Answer Questions about CTE Student Pathways: Now in R  

In 2020, after more than a decade of focusing on resources for the K12 field, SDP expanded to encompass data use in higher education, with a special emphasis on postsecondary Career and Technical Education, or CTE. While much of the attention in higher education is focused on improving bachelor's degree attainment, SDP saw that a growing proportion of college students are seeking short term certificates and credentials and that these CTE students are more likely to be first-generation college students, students with children, and students who are also holding down jobs while studying....

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Behind the Numbers: Data Analysis for Action, with an Equity Lens

Photo of Monique Ositelu

“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, so they can understand how they and their work can engage with those conversations.” – Dr. Monique O. Ositelu

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Mapping for Equity: An Imaginative Analysis to Boost Student Connectivity in California

Headshot photo of Nedim Yel

“It was really thinking outside the box, not giving up, and testing alternative solutions that made the difference. And for that, you need time. If you are tasked with 100 things, you will not be able to think beyond them. That is one of the advantages of being an SDP Fellow. I had that freedom.” – Dr. Nedim Yel 

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A Community-Based Approach Takes on Truancy in Norfolk

Headshot of Felicia Ford

“Schools and districts need to know that they are not in this alone. There are nonprofit agencies that can help. If students need mental health, tutoring, or social and emotional support services, there are agencies ready to come in. It really boils down to having conversations and building trust. Operating in silos doesn’t work.”  – Felicia Ford

 

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