Practice Areas

We work in a variety of practice areas. Click to see recent projects, publications, and work in each area.

A picture of a schoolhouse in Watertown, MA

K-12 Education

We got our start (personally and professionally!) in K-12 education and have worked with nonprofits, districts, state education agencies, the federal government on K-12 projects including:

  • Analytics and data system design
  • Evaluation and research design
  • Data analysis, visualization, and data integration
  • Research ethics, equity, and community engagement

Higher Education

Our K-12 education work quickly led to higher education projects, especially those focused on:

  • Predictive analytics for enrollment and retention trends
  • Using public data sources to plan recruitment
  • Data system and organizational capacity building
How to Take Back the Budget, the title page from the report of this name.

Public Finance

Our whole focus is data analysis for civic good. A very important component of that is tools and analysis to empower communities to share their perspective on where public funds should be spent. Our recent work in this area is focused on:

  • State and local government fiscal stabilization funds
  • Public budgeting
  • City and county finance
Campus policing toolkit

Policing

We’re committed to providing accessible, actionable analysis of policing data so that community groups have more information and a larger platform to rethink public safety in America. We’ve worked independently and with non-profit and for-profit groups to put out:

  • Tools comparing police department sizes, pricing policing and alternative social programs, etc.
  • Independent research on calls for service, police deployment, and the geography of policing
  • Toolkits to help groups use this information in their community

Data Science

We deploy the appropriate data science tools across content areas, focusing not just on the software and statistics but the ethical and practical concerns. We’re experts in:

  • Multilevel modeling tools
  • Modeling strategies for public sector work
  • Data pipelines, infrastructure, and preparation