Education and learning are embodied experiences that unfold in time.
We aim to understand how identities, aspirations and learning opportunities coevolve to shape lives and life chances.
We use many data sources, methods and frameworks to understand how people navigate learning.
paths to work
The relationship between schools and workplaces is complex and changing rapidly. Our work informs public discourse on how best to scaffold education and learning opportunities over the entire life course.
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Learn more about this projectstudent narratives
Utilizing a cache of hundreds of thousands of essays submitted with applications to a large public university system, the student narratives team is exploring how young people make sense of their life experiences and represent their accomplishments to others.
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Learn more about this projectsequences and forecasts
Using computational, qualitative and archival techniques to understand how learning paths unfold.
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Learn more about this projectplatforms and toolkits
Powerful, user-friendly tools to aid in course search and path discovery.
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Learn more about this projectonline learning
What works, what doesn't, and what the future of online learning might be.
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Learn more about this projectresponsible use
The ubiquity, detail and fidelity of data describing learning interactions brings extraordinary opportunity to improve education -- but also obliges educators to share and deploy data responsibly. Pathways Lab takes these responsibilities seriously and continuously.
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Learn more about this projectWe share our work.
Essay content is strongly related to household Income and SAT Scores: Evidence from 60,000 undergraduate applications
We utilize a corpus of 240,000 admissions essays submitted by 60,000 applicants to the University of California in November 2016 to measure the relationship between the content of application essays, reported household income, and standardized test scores (SAT) at scale. We find that essays have a stronger correlation to reported household income than SAT scores.
Science Advances, 2021
Read this paperReimagining Education for a New Map of Life
Horwitz and Stevens synthesize several scholarly literatures to call for investments in early childhood education and flexible alternatives to four-year college degrees. Together these investments enable serial career transitions and meaningful lifelong learning.
Stanford Center on Longevity, 2021
Read this paperForecasting Undergraduate Majors Using Academic Transcript Data
Committing to a major is a fateful step in an undergraduate education, yet the relationship between courses taken early in an academic career and ultimate major selection remains little studied at scale. Using transcript data capturing the academic careers of 26,892 undergraduates enrolled at a private university between 2000 and 2020, we describe enrollment histories using natural-language methods and vector…
EdArXiv, 2021
Read this paperNSF Report: An Applied Science to Support Working Learners
Supported with funds from the National Science Foundation, Stanford University hosted a virtual convening in July 2021 to frame an applied science to support working learners. The goal of this science is to measurably improve educational opportunities and mechanisms of occupational mobility for adult Americans. We forward nine recommendations.
2022
Read this paperShould I Start at MATH 101? Content Repetition as an Academic Strategy in Elective Curriculums
Drawing on serial interviews (N = 200) of 53 students at an admissions-selective university, we show that incoming students with disparate precollege experiences differ in their orientations toward and strategies for considering first college math courses. Content repeaters opt for courses that repeat material covered in prior coursework, whereas novices opt for courses covering material new to them. Content repeaters receive high grades and…
Sociology of Education, 2022
Read this paperFrom Bat Mitzvah to the Bar: Religious Habitus, Self-Concept, and Women’s Educational Outcomes
This study considers the role of religious habitus and self-concept in educational stratification. The authors follow 3,238 adolescents for 13 years by linking the National Study of Youth and Religion to the National Student Clearinghouse. Survey data reveal that girls with a Jewish upbringing have two distinct postsecondary patterns compared to girls with a non-Jewish upbringing, even after controlling for…
American Sociological Review, 2022
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