The Committee for External Research Review (CERR), led by the Strategic Data and Evaluation Branch, reviews, approves, and monitors all research conducted in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). If you are looking to conduct research inside LAUSD schools or plan on contacting anyone associated with the District (administrators, teachers, parents, students) as part of your research study or evaluation, you must submit a proposal to CERR for review and approval. If your research study or evaluation requires individual-level data (e.g., student or staff), you will be also required to submit a Data Use Agreement to the Data Privacy, Analysis, and Reporting Branch (DPAR) for review and approval. If you only need school- or district-level data, you will find a wide array of publicly-available information regarding the work of LAUSD and its impact on students, teachers, principals and parents in the LAUSD Open Data Portal: http://opendata.lausd.net 

Please be aware that the proposal and approval process can take several weeks to complete so CERR strongly encourages researchers to plan accordingly.

If you have any questions about CERR or the research proposal submission process, please email the CERR Team. You can also call (213) 241-4100.  

No late submissions will be accepted. Researchers who miss the submission window will be encouraged to apply during the next submission window which open in October. CERR only processes District-sponsored research projects and projects conducted by LAUSD employees who are pursuing PhD, EdD, or master’s degrees outside of submission windows. For more information regarding late submission exceptions, please contact the CERR Team or call (213) 241-4100.

Due to the difficulties experienced by our school and District communities, only those research projects found by program decision-makers to be of concrete and timely benefit to the District will be approved. CERR, in concert with program staff, will determine the benefit to the District proposed by the researcher(s). 

In addition, please note that at this time we are NOT accepting proposals from graduate students who wish to distribute and collect surveys. Graduate students may still submit proposals that focus on qualitative research and/or administrative data (quantitative).   

LAUSD employees and external researchers who aim to conduct research in the District to fulfill their EdD or master’s program requirements should thoroughly review the LAUSD Research Guidelines webpage (below) and CERR approval process documents related to action research not standard CERR approval process documents. After researchers have reviewed all necessary materials, they should submit their application via the “Action Research Submission” link. Note: LAUSD principals who aim to conduct research at their school site are encouraged to contact the CERR Team to discuss participant recruitment strategies prior to applying. 

All others who seek to conduct research in the District (including LAUSD employees or external researchers who are PhD candidates) should review the LAUSD Research Guidelines webpage and all documents related to the standard CERR approval process. Once applicants have reviewed all necessary documents, they should submit their application via the “Standard Research Submission” link, which is only available during the submission windows.

Proposals submitted during submission windows will go through an initial review within 15-30 working days from the date the submission window closes. However, approval requires program input so plan your research study period accordingly.