We’re measuring educational opportunity in
every community in America.
We’re measuring educational opportunity in
every community in America.
The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University has built the first national database of academic performance. We create applications, research reports, and interactive articles to enable anyone to explore and understand our data.
The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University has built the first national database of academic performance. We create applications, research reports, and interactive articles to enable anyone to explore and understand our data.
Explore our data &
research
The 2009-2018 Educational
Opportunity Explorer
View charts and maps that show scores on 3 key measures of educational opportunity; filter by demographics, explore opportunity gaps, export reports, and more.
go to the explorer
The 2019-2022 Education
Recovery Explorer
Compare learning loss in districts across the country and gain insights into how remote learning, federal funds, and other factors impacted students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
go to the explorer
Research
Papers produced by (and using data from) the Stanford Education Data Archive.
Local Achievement Impacts of the Pandemic
Erin Fahle, Thomas J. Kane, Tyler Patterson, sean f. reardon, Douglas O. Staiger
The Geography of Rural Educational Opportunity
Jessica Drescher, Anne Podolsky, Sean F. Reardon, Gabrielle Torrance
Uneven Progress: Recent Trends in Academic Performance Among U.S. School Districts
Kaylee T. Matheny, Marissa E. Thompson, Carrie Townley Flores, & sean f. reardon
Discoveries
Read our featured articles, illustrated with dynamic charts & graphics.
Learning vs Average Achievement for Native Students by County
Erin Fahle & sean f. reardon
Increasing School Segregation Widens White-Black Achievement Gaps
Kaylee T. Matheny, Marissa E. Thompson, Carrie Townley Flores, & sean f. reardon
Racial Socioeconomic Inequality Predicts Growing Racial Academic Inequality
Kaylee T. Matheny, Marissa E. Thompson, Carrie Townley Flores, & sean f. reardon
Learning vs Average Achievement for Native Students by County
Increasing School Segregation Widens White-Black Achievement Gaps
Racial Socioeconomic Inequality Predicts Growing Racial Academic Inequality
Affluent Schools Are Not Always the Best Schools
What Explains White-Black Differences in Average Test Scores
Download the Data
Download and access SEDA and related datasets to start your own research on educational opportunity.
ACCESS THE DATAIn the News
November 28, 2022
Pandemic Learning Loss: The Role Remote Learning Played
“In a sophisticated analysis of thousands of public school districts in 29 states, researchers at Harvard and Stanford Universities found that poverty played an even bigger role in academic declines during the pandemic.”
November 23, 2022
The science on remote schooling is now clear. Here’s who it hurt most.
“Academic progress for American children plunged during the coronavirus pandemic. Now a growing body of research shows who was hurt the most, both confirming worst fears and adding some new ones.”
October 28, 2022
COVID-19 pandemic massively set back learning, especially for high-poverty areas
The COVID-19 pandemic devastated poor children’s well-being, not just by closing their schools, but also by taking away their parents’ jobs, sickening their families and teachers, and adding chaos and fear to their daily lives. The scale of the disruption to American kids’ education is evident in a district-by-district analysis of test scores shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
October 31, 2022
Students Face Massive Learning Curve After Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be winding down, the average student is now half a year behind in math skills and a quarter of a year behind in reading skills, a new analysis of standardized test data shows. Districts with mostly poor students were impacted even more severely, according to the recently released Education Recovery Scorecard. “When you have a massive crisis, the worst effects end up being felt by the people with the least resources,” Stanford University researcher Sean Reardon, EdD, told The Associated Press.”
November 6, 2022
Opinion: No straight line links remote learning to lower achievement
The recent release of national scores showing drops in math and reading sparked criticisms of how long school districts remained virtual during the pandemic. Are those criticisms fair?
October 28, 2022
Stanford-Harvard 'scorecard' translates California's test scores into months of missed learning
A massive data project by researchers at Harvard and Stanford universities, released Friday, has converted national and state test scores into the equivalent measure of learning decline during the pandemic for every school district and student group in California and 28 other states. The interactive data in the Education Recovery Scorecard confirm, in clear and stark terms, the disparities in performance and learning loss among states, districts within states and racial, ethnic and income groups within districts for grades three to eight.
