Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers programs supporting data capacity in education agencies¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 3 studies (2 qualitative, 1 design), q1–q2 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The Strategic Data Project (SDP) and Education Pioneers (EP) programs are initiatives studied in this implementation study. The article states they "aim to enhance the capacity of school districts and other education agencies to collect, manage, analyze, and use data through the support, training, and placement of additional staff." The study was contracted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and covers a 2011-2015 time frame.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Agencies receive support, training, and placement of additional staff to build data capacity

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• school district and education agency staff

Target Learning Goals¶

• collecting, managing, analyzing, and using data for decision making

Claims¶

• SDP and EP programs aim to enhance education agencies' data capacity through support, training, and staff placement [+W]
• SDP and EP partner agencies began working with the programs during the study's first year (2012–2013) [+W]
• SDP and EP partnerships enabled education agencies to develop new data-use practices that agencies continue to refine [+W]
• Capacity for data use was similar among SDP- and EP-partnered agencies although the two programs' approaches differ [+W]
• Data-use capacity and activity differed between agencies with longer SDP or EP partnerships and agencies new to their partnerships [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Three-brief In Focus series on effective data use in education
• Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers fellowship programs placing data-skilled fellows in education agencies
• Mathematica implementation study of Strategic Data Use in Education (2011–2015), prepared for the Gates Foundation
• SDP/EP agency profiles documenting data use in twelve education agencies
• SDP and EP fellowship programs as the intervention context for agency data-use change

Examples¶

• Build agency data capacity by supporting, training, and placing additional data staff

Key Sources¶

• Kristin Hallgren, Cassie Pickens Jewell, Celina Kamler, Jacob Hartog, Andrew Gothro. (2013). Companion Document for the Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers Year 1 Report: Laying the Groundwork for Data-Driven Decision Making. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/companion-document-for-the-strategic-data-project-and-education-pioneers-year-1-report-laying-the-groundwork-for-datadriven-decision-making