The Strategic Data Project: Improving Strategic and Management Decisions in Educational Agencies through the Effective Use of Data

Launched in 2008, the Strategic Data Project, housed at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, seeks to bridge the divide between educational research and practice in order to transform the use of data in education to improve student achievement. Through the project, the authors build robust research partnerships with educational agencies--currently including 32 school districts, state education agencies, charter management and other non-profit organizations--in order to grow the analytic capacity of the agencies while also fostering more strategic and informed use of data for informing policy and practice. The proposed panel on the Strategic Data Project will have two primary aims. First, the authors will share background on the genesis of the Strategic Data Project, provide an overview of its key components and highlight how these components contribute to the effectiveness of each partnership overall. After providing a broad overview of the Strategic Data Project, including a summary of selected diagnostic analyses across several partner agencies, the authors will turn to the second aim of the proposed panel: to highlight the work of data fellows placed within two of their partner agencies.