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Spotlight

Urban Institute’s Student Upward Mobility Initiative

The Urban Institute’s Student Upward Mobility Initiative aims to identify Pre-K-12 student skills and competencies across several domains—academic achievement, noncognitive factors, health and well-being, and social capital—that contribute to long-term economic mobility. The initiative invests in innovative research and data assets that develop, identify, and validate Pre-K-12 measures predictive of economic mobility.

This program builds upon the Urban Institute’s education research and policy work, and experience expanding access to education data, including through its Education Data Explorer. The program intends to stimulate greater collaboration among researchers in this space while producing insights to guide educator and policymaker action.

Overdeck Family Foundation funding supports the initiative and projects aligned with our portfolio areas (e.g., development of a new measure of early childhood executive functioning skills). This grant is part of our continued effort to expand the prevalence of data and research to measure and promote academic and noncognitive skills that contribute to students’ long-term success.

Data for Action

Converting data into insights and outcomes.

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Our goal: Harness data to empower the education sector to make impact-driven, cost-effective decisions.

We know evidence generation and usage doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Access to new and siloed education datasets, along with novel research methods, can power the production of evidence and timely learning. Making this evidence useful requires platforms that disseminate and contextualize it for target audiences, including districts, schools, and families.

Our Data for Action portfolio increases education data availability, integration, and utility, with the goal of generating and applying critical insights that improve educational outcomes for children.

Grantee Spotlight

Learn more about some of the work funded by the Data for Action portfolio.

Coleridge Initiative logo

Coleridge Initiative

Creating a new approach for sharing data across agencies and states.

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Edtech Insiders

Building shared insights into the emerging AI-in-ed landscape

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Edunomics Lab

Promoting more cost-effective investments in public education

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Opportunity Insights

Increasing upward mobility through a cross-disciplinary research lens.

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Urban Institute logo

Urban Institute’s Student Upward Mobility Initiative

Establishing Pre-K-12 skills and competencies critical to economic mobility.

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Our Approach

Expand Access to Data

Increase access to new and existing data that can be leveraged to generate research and inform action.

Our Approach

Develop Novel Research

Leverage big data, innovative methods, and AI to produce novel research.

Our Approach

Support Evidence-Based Decision-Making

Develop resources that inform educators and families based on evidence of impact and cost-effectiveness.

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Our Questions

How can we build access and connectivity between education and other datasets to reveal new insights that improve education outcomes?

How do we leverage scalable platforms and national networks to disseminate and act upon data in local communities?

What forms of information and storytelling enable parents to effectively engage in increasing the quality of learning for their children?

Other Portfolios

Toddler and adult male using crayons. Image provided by Nurse-Family Partnership.

Early Impact

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Two children working on a project on a computer. Image provided by NewSchools Venture Fund.

Innovative Schools

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Young boy looking through magnifying glass. Image provided by DonorsChoose.org.

Inspired Minds

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