Our Mission

Using research to educate and illuminate

The Kingsbury Center at NWEA has an elementary mission: To help kids learn. How? With powerful, insightful research designed to engage the education community with data that informs the decisions that can improve teaching and learning. Working in affiliation with NWEA, the Kingsbury Center was created by a collaborative of educators and researchers, including Gage Kingsbury, a pioneer in adaptive achievement testing. Our independent research studies take an authoritative, in-depth look at education trends in the United States’ student population. This groundbreaking research is driven by the NWEA’s Growth Research Database — the single largest known repository of student growth data in the United States. The database is a powerhouse of knowledge, containing demographic information and highly reliable student achievement data for nearly 10 percent of the U.S. student population. Through collaborative research studies with foundations, think-tanks, universities and NWEA partner schools, the Kingsbury Center is helping to change the conversations around education’s most challenging issues. The Center and our partners strive to influence the thinking of leaders at all levels of the educational system. Our work ranges from research that influences national policy to reports that provide actionable information to school systems.

Partnerships mean progress

The Kingsbury Center is committed to research that helps educators improve student learning by partnering with leading educational organizations. These partnerships are pushing boundaries, advancing knowledge and providing educators with real-world solutions to create a stronger, more focused educational system.

Learn more about our partnerships