About this project
The Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) aims to harness data to improve educational opportunity.
Background
The Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) is an initiative aimed at harnessing data to help scholars, policymakers, educators, and parents learn how to improve educational opportunity for all children.
Racial, socioeconomic, and gender disparities in academic performance and educational attainment are stubborn features of the U.S. educational system.These disparities are neither inevitable nor immutable, however. They have been produced by—and so may also be reduced by—a welter of social and economic policies, social norms and patterns of interaction, and the organization of American schooling.
SEDA includes a range of detailed data on educational conditions, contexts, and outcomes in school districts and counties across the United States. It includes measures of academic achievement and achievement gaps for school districts and counties, as well as district-level measures of racial and socioeconomic composition, racial and socioeconomic segregation patterns, and other features of the schooling system. The data are publicly available here, so that anyone can obtain detailed information about American schools, communities, and student success.
We hope that researchers will use the data to generate evidence about what policies and contexts are most effective at increasing educational opportunity, and that such evidence will inform educational policy and practices.
Mission
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Who We Are
SEDA Development Team
Sean Reardon
Project Director & Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education, Stanford University
Sean Reardon is the endowed Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education and is Professor (by courtesy) of Sociology at Stanford University. His research focuses on the causes, patterns, trends, and consequences of social and educational inequality, the effects of educational policy on educational and social inequality, and in applied statistical methods for educational research. Reardon is the developer of the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA). Professor Reardon received his doctorate in education in 1997 from Harvard University. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Erin M. Fahle
Project Co-Director & Assistant Professor, St. John’s University School of Education
Erin Fahle is an Assistant Professor of Administrative and Instructional Leadership at the St. John’s University School of Education. In her work, she develops and applies complex statistical methods to study the variation in students’ educational experiences across the U.S., with a focus on understanding the mechanisms that reproduce educational inequalities. Erin is particularly interested in how gender limits children's educational opportunities within their homes, schools, and neighborhoods. Her research on gender inequality has been published in Educational Researcher and featured in the New York Times and the Atlantic. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from Stanford University, as well as a B.S. in Mathematics (2008) and a M.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (2009) from Georgetown University.
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Andrew Ho
Professor of Education, Harvard University
Andrew Ho is the Charles William Eliot Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a psychometrician whose research aims to improve the design, use, and interpretation of test scores in educational policy and practice. Ho is known for his research documenting the misuse of proficiency-based statistics in state and federal policy analysis. He has also clarified properties of student growth models for both technical and general audiences. His scholarship advocates for designing evaluative metrics to achieve multiple criteria: metrics must be accurate, but also transparent to target audiences and resistant to inflation under perverse incentives. Ho is a member of the National Assessment Governing Board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress. He holds his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and his M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University. Before graduate school, he taught middle school creative writing in his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, and high school physics and AP physics in Ojai, California.
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Benjamin R. Shear
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
Benjamin Shear is an assistant professor in the Research and Evaluation Methodology program at the University of Colorado Boulder, College of Education. His primary research interests address topics in psychometrics and applied statistics, including validity theory, differential item functioning, and the application of diagnostic classification models. His work aims to inform our perspectives about test score meaning and use for research and accountability purposes, and to help answer questions such as, “what do test scores measure, and how do we know?” As a former high school mathematics teacher, his work often focuses on applications in mathematics education. His research in applied statistics seeks to improve the use of quantitative methods by education researchers measuring student learning, evaluating education policies, or studying inequality. This work is often carried out collaboratively with researchers working in other areas and through his teaching.
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Research Collaborators
Rebecca Hinze-Pifer
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Rebecca Heinz-Pifer is an Assistant Professor at the Illinois College of Education. Dr Hinze-Pifer's research focuses on school-based approaches to reducing social inequality, with particular focus on programs and practices influencing adolescent socioemotional development. Her work includes a mixture of randomized field experiments of school-based programs and quasi-experimental studies of using school administrative data to understand the impacts of school policies. Dr. Hinze-Pifer has published and presented on a range of related topics, including school discipline, teacher classroom management practices, and student responses to community violence.
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Demetra Kalogrides
PhD, Research Associate
Demetra Kalogrides is a research associate at the Center for Education Policy Analysis where she collaborates on research with professor Sean Reardon. Currently, she works on the creation and analysis of the data in the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA - seda.stanford.edu). SEDA is a publicly available series of data files that include test performance and other demographic and economic information about every public school district in the US. She is also a part-time research associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University where she studies teachers and school leadership with Professor Susanna Loeb. Kalogrides received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Santa Clara University and a Masters and PhD in sociology from the University of California at Davis. She has worked at CEPA since 2008.
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Kenneth Shores
Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University
I am an Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University studying education inequality and policy tools for its remediation. Relying on quantitative methodologies, this research includes both description and prevention/intervention. On the descriptive side, I am primarily interested in using large datasets to document racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in student learning and educational policy (e.g., school disciplinary policy). I have additional work using conjoint survey designs to describe individual understanding of and preferences for social inequality. On the prevention/intervention side, I use quasi-experimental methods to identify the effects of environmental contexts on student outcomes as well as policies that are effective at remediating outcome inequality.
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Ericka Weathers
Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University
Ericka S. Weathers is an Assistant Professor of Education at the Penn State College of Education. Dr. Weathers uses quasi-experimental methodologies to examine the impact of structural inequality on educational opportunities and outcomes in topic areas such as school finance, school discipline, academic achievement, and special education. Her current work explores school segregation as well as federal, state, and local education policies as possible determinants of racial disparities in school district revenue and expenditures.
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Elise Dizon-Ross
Elise Dizon-Ross is a doctoral student in Economics of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She received a B.A. and a M.A. in Economics from Stanford University and an M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Elise worked with multiple nonprofit and public sector organizations to increase educational and employment opportunities for disadvantaged communities. Her research examines how economic inequality and educational and social policies impact educational outcomes for low-income and minority populations, with a particular focus on the intersection of education and local economic issues such as housing, affordability, and homelessness.
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PhD Students
Jessica Boyle
Jessica Boyle is a doctoral student in education policy at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and is a recipient of the IES Fellowship and the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship. Jessica received her M.Ed. in education policy and management at Harvard University and her B.A. in sociology at Colby College. Prior to Stanford, she spent several years working with Paul Reville at Harvard’s Education Redesign Lab, where she focused on the role of city government in addressing the iron-law correlation between socioeconomic status and education outcomes. Shaped by her experiences as an unaccompanied homeless youth and first-generation college student, Jessica is interested in education as a lever of social mobility and exploring the potential of big data to inform social policy.
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Heewon Jang
Heewon is a doctoral student studying educational policy at Stanford University and a recipient of the fellowship from the Karr Family Scholarship and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. Her research interests include how educational opportunities are distributed across segregated neighborhoods, how school and residential segregation can widen achievement gaps, and what educational policies can do to close the achievement gap. Prior to starting her doctoral training, she received a bachelor’s degree in Education and Statistics (2013) as well as a master’s in the Sociology of Education (2016) from Korea University.
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Anne Podolsky
Anne is a doctoral student in Education Policy at Stanford University. Her mixed methods research focuses on improving educational opportunities and outcomes, especially for students from underserved communities. An education lawyer and teacher by training, Podolsky has served in legal, research, and policy roles with a variety of organizations. She has worked with the Learning Policy Institute, John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, the New York State Education Department, the Children’s Advocacy Institute, and Palantir Technologies. Anne holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, an M.A. in Education Policy from Stanford University and a B.S. in Elementary Education from Loyola University Chicago (summa cum laude). Podolsky is an Illinois State Board of Education certified teacher and a member of the State Bar of California.
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Marissa Thompson
Marissa Thompson is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education and Sociology of Education programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She holds an M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University and a B.S.E. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) fellow and a recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship (SGF) in Science and Engineering. Her research focuses on racial and socioeconomic inequality in education, with a particular emphasis on postsecondary access and outcomes.
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Carrie Townley Flores
Carrie is a doctoral student in the Race, Inequality, Language, and Education program at Stanford University. She holds a B.A. in Education and English from University of Michigan. She is an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) fellow and a recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering. Before coming to Stanford, Carrie taught in urban and suburban schools in the U.S. as well as an international school in Finland. Her research interests include education inequality in U.S. K-12 schools.
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Kaylee Tuggle Matheny
Kaylee Tuggle Matheny is a doctoral student in Education Policy and Sociology of Education and is a recipient of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) predoctoral training fellowship. Prior to coming to Stanford, Kaylee earned a BA in sociology and creative writing from Emory University. She went on to teach World Literature at a Georgia public high school. She is interested in utilizing mixed methods to understand how socioeconomic status mediates educational opportunity and how education impacts social mobility.
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Research & Development Staff
Belen Chavez
Research Data Analyst
Belen Chavez is a SEDA Research Data Analyst at the Center for Education Policy Analysis. She manages the data for Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA). Belen is an applied data analyst and has previous data experience in e-commerce, utilities, and litigation consulting. Belen received her bachelor's degree in business economics from University of California, Irvine and received her master's degree in economics from Duke University.
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Thalia Ramirez
Operations Manager
Thalia Ramirez is the Educational Opportunity Project (EOP)'s Operations Manager. She oversees day-to-day operations, provides administrative support, and helps manage the EOP’s projects. In her previous role, Thalia worked within the areas of communications, fundraising, and event planning as a Nonprofit Management Fellow at the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) at Harvard University. She is passionate about promoting educational equity and racial justice, and has a background in directing afterschool and summer programming for K-12th grade students in Boston, MA. Thalia received her BA in Neuroscience, with a minor in Teaching and Learning Studies, from Wellesley College.
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Former Project Team Members
Jenny Buontempo
Research Data Analyst
Jenny Buontempo is the SEDA Research Data Analyst at the Center for Education Policy Analysis. She supports professor Sean Reardon, and helps manage the assembly and expansion of SEDA (seda.stanford.edu). SEDA is a publicly available data set that includes test performance and other information about every public school district in the US. Jenny received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and international business from Saint Peter’s University. She obtained a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary education with a STEEM (Science, Technology, Environmental Education, and Mathematics) emphasis from Santa Clara University. Jenny received her PhD in STEM Education from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Ralph Rogers
During a 20-year marketing and communications career in Silicon Valley, Ralph led teams at large companies such as Apple Computer, and was also VP of Marketing in two tech startups. In 2002, he transitioned to the nonprofit sector to help organizations creating positive change in the world. Since that transition, he led the marketing team launching the new Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, led communications at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and served as a board member of the San Francisco Zen Center.
- MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- BS, United States Military Academy
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Richard DiSalvo
Research Data Analyst
Richard worked as the SEDA Research Data Analyst for SEDA version 2.0, and supported the release of SEDA version 2.1. He is an applied economist conducting research in education, environment, and public health policy.
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Hiep Ho
Web Developer
Hiep is the Webmaster for Center for Education Policy and Analysis (CEPA). He's responsible for the implementation, development and maintenance of CEPA websites and servers. He also advises and provides support to CEPA faculty and staff on Information Technology. Prior to coming to CEPA, Hiep was the Computer Information Systems Analyst and the main contributor of database design and implementation, network administration, web design and implementation, and desktop support to faculty and staff of Stanford Neurosurgery, Neurology and Institute for Neuro-Innovation & Translational Neurosciences of School of Medicine.
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Sam Trejo
Sam Trejo is a doctoral candidate in Economics and Education at Stanford University and an NSF and IES Graduate Research Fellow. He is also pursuing two masters degrees at Stanford, in Economics and in Sociology. Before coming to Stanford, Sam received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas with a double-major in Economics and Plan II Honors. Sam specializes in applied econometrics and causal inference; his research interests include Public Economics, Health Economics, Social Science Genomics, and Poverty & Inequality. His work also explores how integrating social science and biological methods can inform social policy. Apart from quantitative social science research, Sam enjoys camping, bikes, board games, and Chinese food.
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Joseph Van Matre
Institutional Research and Academic Planning
Joseph Van Matre is an educational researcher who worked for SEDA from 2016-2017 as a research data analyst on data included in SEDA versions 1.1 and 2.0. His work centers on understanding and improving educational achievement, especially among students from economic, racial, and gender/sexual minority groups that have been historically underserved. He holds a BA and a BS from the University of Arkansas and an MA in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
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“The American Dream will remain out of reach until all of our children have equal educational opportunities. My hope is that this data will help in the hard work of bringing the dream closer to reality.”
Sean Reardon
Funders
This website and SEDA's research are generously supported by the following funders:
The construction of SEDA has been supported by grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305D110018), the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, and by a visiting scholar fellowship from the Russell Sage Foundation. Some of the data used in constructing the SEDA files were provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
The findings and opinions expressed in the research reported here are those of the authors and do not represent views of NCES, the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, or the U.S. Department of Education.