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Education and learning are embodied experiences that unfold in time.

This is the anchoring insight of Pathways Lab.

We aim to understand how identities, aspirations and learning opportunities coevolve to shape lives and life chances.

Learning is complex. Context, emotions, prior experiences, and relational systems like race, class, gender, and nationality influence how learning unfolds. We try to keep it all in sight.
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We use many data sources, methods and frameworks to understand how people navigate learning.

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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.

Projects

  1. an applied science to support working learners
  2. pandemic response
  3. universities and the future of work

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student 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.

Projects

  1. fairness and ethics in computational assessment
  2. the production of merit

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sequences and forecasts

Using computational, qualitative and archival techniques to understand how learning paths unfold.

Projects

  1. undergraduate cohort study
  2. course consideration
  3. observing major selection
  4. course evaluations and peer review
  5. STEM pathways

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platforms and toolkits

Powerful, user-friendly tools to aid in course search and path discovery.

Projects

  1. Carta platform
  2. Via sequence visualization tool

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online learning

What works, what doesn't, and what the future of online learning might be.

Projects

  1. learning from MOOCs
  2. ambiguous credentials

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responsible 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.

Project

  1. responsible use website

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We share our work.

We publish research results in a variety of peer-reviewed venues. Team members also write opinion pieces and policy briefs. Have a look.
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Essay content is strongly related to household Income and SAT Scores: Evidence from 60,000 undergraduate applications

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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

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Reimagining Education for a New Map of Life

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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

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Forecasting Undergraduate Majors Using Academic Transcript Data

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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

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NSF Report: An Applied Science to Support Working Learners

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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

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Should I Start at MATH 101? Content Repetition as an Academic Strategy in Elective Curriculums

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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

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From Bat Mitzvah to the Bar: Religious Habitus, Self-Concept, and Women’s Educational Outcomes

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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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We are a diverse team.

Since our inception in 2016 we have benefitted from the contributions of scores of students, faculty and staff researchers from every unit of Stanford. Pathways Lab is truly interdisciplinary, with special depth of expertise in computer science, economics, gender theory, machine learning, market design, social psychology and sociology.
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Join us.

We're always on the lookout for collaborators, critics and fellow travelers.

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