Northwestern researchers and Evanston school leaders work together to identify problems, research needs, and design solutions related to education and equity. The process involves collecting and analyzing data, so we can develop the most effective policies and solutions.
Values and Commitments
NEERA strives to ensure that:
Policies and Procedures
Researchers working on NEERA projects can directly impact local districts. Our scholars have access to high‐quality, longitudinal data, partnerships with key staff within the districts and larger communities, and the ability to share results with education leaders and practitioners. In exchange, researchers pledge to abide by policies that ensure the reliability of research, and to keep NEERA updated on the work.
Infrastructure
We've built a solid foundation to bridge expertise, share, and safely store sensitive data.
Matchmaking
As districts come up with questions about their schools or communities, we connect them with experts and researchers to help clarify the problem and explore solutions. Researchers seeking more data or information are linked with practitioners who can add nuance and help them shape their questions into research that schools can use.
Data Sharing
Legal agreements ensure the proper use of data that isn’t yet public but will be shared across school districts and universities. Northwestern and Evanston's school districts have created a blanket data sharing agreement to speed up the process. New projects can be added as they develop, rather than re-negotiating a data sharing agreement each time.
Data Storage and Expertise
NEERA staff has a secure server and experience handling sensitive data. Districts and other community organizations have safely shared data with us to aggregate, deidentify, and code for research. We become familiar with the data and can speak to its specifics when researchers have questions.
Added Analytic Boost
NEERA’s data experts support the analytic needs of district partners as well as Northwestern faculty. NEERA provides funding and development for district staff. Faculty help the districts think through potential options for development, such as science curricula to meet new standards. District staff, meanwhile, help faculty develop their research designs, such as the appropriate school partners for new projects.
Research Agendas
ETHS Mission and Equity Statement
Sample Research Areas for Evanston Township High School
STEM Education: How does STEM education impact student performance, post-secondary education decisions, and workforce readiness?
College and Career Ready Students: How do dual credit, advanced placement, or transition to college courses increase the number of students who stay in college and complete their degrees?
Instructional Strategies and Programs: How has the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program affected how well students do in school overall and reduced the disparities?
Mathematics: What institutional barriers perpetuate disparities in math achievement?
High School Readiness: What middle school policies, programs, practices impact whether these students are ready for high school?
NEERA's Value to Northwestern Researchers
Mesmin Destin
Associate Professor, Human Development and Social Policy
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
"As our partnership has deepened with the school district, we’re able to be much more responsive to the range of challenges and opportunities in front of them in the current moment. In parallel, they've become more open and have pushed us to engage with students around how they're experiencing race and ethnicity in school, with heightened attention to racial equity.”
Shirin Vossoughi
Associate Professor, Learning Sciences
"Participatory design and research reimagine the ways educators, researchers, families, and young people can come together to develop justice-oriented learning environments and systems-level change. They require political clarity about the histories of harm enacted through schooling as well as research, and a commitment to processes of partnership that center educational dignity and possibility."