Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers fellowship programs placing data-skilled fellows in education agencies¶

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

Description¶

The Gates Foundation invested in two programs, the Strategic Data Project (SDP) and Education Pioneers (EP), that "seek to provide, train, and support staff (known as fellows) who can enhance the capacity of school districts and other education agencies to collect, manage, analyze, and use data." The two programs differ in their approaches to affecting data-driven decision making, though the study found similar capacity for data use among their partner agencies.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Fellowship programs must supply, train, and support fellows placed within education agencies to build data capacity.

Constraints¶

• The report describes Year 2 of the programs within the 2011-2015 time frame and a descriptive (not causal) implementation study.

Target Learners¶

• Education agency staff
• School district analysts and leaders

Target Learning Goals¶

• Capacity to collect, manage, analyze, and use data for decision making

Claims¶

• SDP and EP programs aim to enhance education agencies' data capacity through support, training, and staff placement [+W]
• Data-use capacity and activity differed between agencies with longer SDP or EP partnerships and agencies new to their partnerships [+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]

Related Elements¶

• Three-brief In Focus series on effective data use in education
• Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers programs supporting data capacity 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¶

• Cassie Pickens Jewell, Libby Makowsky, Kristin Hallgren, Jacob Hartog. (2014). Changing Education Agencies from the Inside Out: Year 2 Report on the Strategic Data Project and Education Pioneers. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/changing-education-agencies-from-the-inside-out-year-2-report-on-the-strategic-data-project