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Who We Are

The Strategic Data Project is a diverse, passionate community of education leaders, data strategists, and faculty committed to using data to help all students succeed. Together, we are driving data-informed change in over 250 education systems and organizations.

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PEOPLE & PARTNERS

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Student-Driven People

Meet our staff, fellows, and faculty

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Data-Driven Agencies

Learn about our partners

Our Story

Since 2008, SDP has partnered with school districts, charter networks, state agencies, and nonprofit organizations across the country and around the world to bring high-quality research methods and data analysis to bear on education management and policy decisions.

An initiative of the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University, SDP was formed on three fundamental premises: 

1) Policy and management decisions can directly influence schools' and teachers' ability to improve student achievement.

2) Valid and reliable data analysis significantly improves the quality of decision making.

3) Building an agency's internal capacity to conduct rigorous data analysis is critical to producing and sustaining evidence-driven decisions.

SDP believes that if we are able to bring together the right people, share the right analytic tools, and deliver the right training, we can help leaders make better decisions—significantly improving student achievement.

  • "SDP brings together a truly amazing group of passionate, brilliant, and hard working individuals, all working toward a common goal of improving our educational systems and student outcomes through accurate, reliable, and thoughtful use of data. The connections made through the program are invaluable. It was an honor to participate."

    Kathryn Johnson, Mississippi Department of Education (SDP Fellow, 2015 - 2017)

  • "I've found ways to make the use of date a regular part of our analysis and decision-making. I've seen and adapted examples of ways to effectively display and look at data. Our district has found assessment and data literacy to be of more importance."

    Barb Soisson, West Lynn School District (SDP Agency Fellow, 2014 - 2016)

  • "We now bring some very powerful truths... based in data that we always had but were never able to liberate for the purposes of decision making."

    Amy McIntosh, New York State Education Department (SDP Partner, 2012 - 2014)

  • "It was a program that really catered to what I was looking for and needed in order to be effective at my district - a cohort of like-minded individuals to collaborate with, exposure to education research methods, chances to interact with Superintendents who have done the work, capacity building sessions, and the opportunity to do a complete project with a great group of individuals from other districts."

    Tom Hay, Uplift Education (SDP Agency Fellow, 2014- 2016)