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NORC at the University Chicago
NORC leverages its expertise in assessments and measurement to improve educational programs, practices, and policies.

Educational organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors all need data to make evidence-based decisions. However, in many cases, the data they have access to is unreliable, not applicable, or difficult to understand. NORC provides these organizations with tools that provide unbiased, rigorously produced data that informs their work on early education, K-12, and higher education programs, policies, and practices.

Early childhood education systems have historically lacked a standard approach to measure early math, oral language, and literacy skills in pre-kindergarten classrooms. NORC partners with a variety of agencies and organizations to address that issue. For example, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and Welborn Baptist Foundation hired NORC and the University of Chicago to develop the Kindergarten Readiness Indicators (KRI), a brief assessment that measures early oral language, literacy, and numeracy skills for Pre-K children. Pre-K providers across the state of Indiana now use it to assess students in the On My Way pre-kindergarten funded programs. Through the Getting on Track Early for School Success project, NORC and the University of Chicago built a system that enables teachers to monitor how pre-kindergarten student’s progress on numerical and spatial reasoning skills and on oral language and literacy skills. Those skills make up the foundation for success in later learning in elementary school and beyond.

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Education Assessments & Measurement Experts

Highlighted Projects

Measuring Outcomes from Academically Oriented Kindergarten

Exploring whether advanced academics is related to kindergarteners’ academic and social outcomes

Client:

National Institutes of Health

National Study of Special Education Spending: Foundational Phase

Providing crucial national data on special education spending across districts and schools

Client:

Institute of Education Sciences

The Doctoral Benchmarking Alliance

Doctoral programs create standardized measures to assess their performance

Client:

University of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University, Walden University, Capella University, Indiana Weselyan University, Colorado Technical University, and Northcentral University

Understanding What Matters in the School Choice Process

The first comprehensive review of all text data from Great Schools, a popular school review website

Client:

Institute of Education Sciences

2020 AERA-Spencer COVID-19 Impact Survey

Examining how the pandemic influenced the experiences of early-career doctorates and doctoral students

Client:

American Educational Research Association; Spencer Foundation

Enhancing the Admitted Class Evaluation Service™

Improving services that validate college admissions and placement policies

Client:

College Board

The Survey of Earned Doctorates

The most comprehensive annual census of new research doctorate recipients from U.S. institutions

Client:

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Analyzing Parent Narratives to Create Parent Gauge™

Helping Head Start build a tool to assess parent, family, and community engagement

Client:

National Head Start Association, Ford Foundation, Rainin Foundation, Region V Head Start Association

The Indiana University Abortion Attitudes Project

A multi-year study aimed at developing and testing measures to assess abortion attitudes

Client:

Indiana University

Kindergarten Readiness Indicators

Measuring early literacy and numeracy skills for pre-K children

Client:

Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Welborn Baptist Foundation

Qatar National Education Data System

Creating a system for measuring the impact of nationwide education reforms

Client:

Government of Qatar

Tracking State Assessment in Science and Math Education

The first-ever tracking system for math and science education comparisons

Client:

National Science Foundation

From the Classroom to the Lab and Back

Teaching preschoolers math fundamentals to enhance later learning

Funder:

McCormick Foundation

Pre-K Developmental Loss from COVID-19 Closures

Examining preschoolers’ cognitive and social skills during the pandemic

Client:

University of Colorado, Denver

Improving the Institutional Transformation Assessment

Adding a state policy rubric to enhance a self-assessment tool for colleges

Client:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

National Assessment of Educational Progress

Assessing whether the NAEP, used to gauge learning progress, can also measure college readiness

Client:

National Assessment Governing Board

The Cost Analysis in Practice (CAP) Project

Support and guidance for education researchers conducting cost analysis

Client:

Institute of Education Sciences (via Teachers College, Columbia University)

The Perch Perspective: Rice University Staff Climate Survey

Assessing employee engagement and satisfaction at Rice University

Client:

Rice University

Getting on Track: Improving Pre-K Outcomes

An innovative assessment tool that reliably alerts teachers to lagging language and math skills

Client:

Heising-Simons Foundation, Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, PNC Foundation

Climate Study for the Canadian Economics Association

Examining the work situations of an entire field of economists in Canada

Client:

Canadian Economics Association

Our Sunday Visitor Institute

Tailored survey development to improve and assess a Catholic charity’s initiatives

Client:

Our Sunday Visitor Institute

A Data Dashboard to Promote Postsecondary Success

Developing tools to support college access and equity

Client:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Graduate Research Fellowship Program Pilot Project

Innovating data collection methods to track National Science Foundation research fellowship outcomes

Client:

National Science Foundation

College Ranking Systems Assessment

An in-depth methodological review of college ranking systems

Funder:

Vanderbilt University

Enhancing the Admitted Class Evaluation Service™

Improving services that validate college admissions and placement policies

Client:

College Board