Rockville Institute Affiliates in
Children & Families

Ronna J. Cook, MSW
George G. Gabel, MA, MS
Robert B. Hill, PhD
Crystal MacAllum, PhD
Karla McPherson, PhD
Allison Meisch, PhD
Jane Mettenburg
Elizabeth Quinn, MA, MS
Beth A. Rabinovich, PhD
Debra J. Rog, PhD
Andrea J. Sedlak, PhD

Ronna J. Cook, MSW, is a nationally recognized expert in research and evaluation of child welfare programs. She has designed and directed a number of major national studies of services to children and families, including the National Head Start Impact Study; the Assessment of the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program; several major evaluations of family preservation, family support, and reunification services; the original evaluation of the Illinois Subsidized Guardianship Waiver Demonstration, as well as the extension of this program pertaining to older wards; the National Evaluation of Title IV-E Foster Care Independent Living Programs; and several studies on public adoption services and adoptive parent recruitment. Her experience spans an extensive range of methodologies, including randomized control group designs, audio computer-assisted self-interviews (ACASI) with youth, the design of original instruments for interviews or records extraction, and the use of standardized assessments.
Back

George G. Gabel, MA, MS, has directed several local and state evaluations relating to children and family issues. In child welfare, he has directed the evaluation of the Wisconsin Subsidized Guardianship Waiver and secondary data analysis of foster care experiences for the evaluation of Ohio's IV-E Flexible Funding Waiver. He currently manages Westat’s participation in the National Resource Center for Child Welfare Data and Technology and is Deputy Evaluation Director for the Colorado Consortium on Differential Response. Mr. Gabel has particular interest in how research results are communicated to practitioners and the public to foster change in local policy. He has provided technical assistance to local governments in implementing random assignment, using administrative data for case management, and writing empirically based policies and procedures.
Back

Robert B. Hill, PhD, is a sociologist and a national expert on issues affecting minority and low-income children and families. His work has focused on foster care and adoption, child abuse and neglect, child support, noncustodial fathers, welfare reform, youth development, youth violence, kinship networks, and faith-based initiatives. Dr. Hill has engaged in all phases of research and evaluation, including program and evaluability assessments, performance measurements, and policy analyses. He formerly directed the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Back

Crystal MacAllum, PhD, is a social psychologist with experience designing, managing, and conducting multisite process, outcome, and impact studies in the areas of child welfare, at-risk youth, and human services. She has special expertise in the design and management of randomized treatment-control evaluations. Dr. MacAllum frequently partners with universities and other nonprofit organizations to provide high quality data with high response rates for longitudinal evaluations. Dr. MacAllum’s expertise includes questionnaire development for hard-copy and computer-assisted interviews, web survey design, site visit protocol development, intensive individual interviews, focus groups, large-scale survey administration, design of management information systems, and statistical and qualitative analysis.
Back

Karla McPherson, PhD, is a social psychologist with extensive experience in teaching and research. Her work has addressed a variety of issues related to children and families, criminal justice, racial and ethnic minorities, health disparities, and health care quality. Dr. McPherson's research experience includes the National Incidence Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS), Evaluation of the New York Justice Corps, the National Evaluation of Runaway and Homeless Youth, the Adoption Assistance Impact and Outcomes study, the Evaluation of Ohio's Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project "ProtectOhio," and the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement for the Office of Juvenile Justice. She has also directed program evaluation and database development for the African American Health Program and strategic planning for the Asian American Health Initiative in Montgomery County, Maryland. Dr. McPherson's areas of expertise include survey design and methodology, evaluation, and quantitative analysis.
Back

Allison Meisch, PhD, is a developmental psychologist with experience in research on child development, early childhood education, program evaluation, adolescent education, and mental health. She has experience evaluating programs designed to improve child and adolescent cognitive and social emotional development, as well as conducting research examining the context of child and family development in a variety of settings.
Back

Jane Mettenburg has extensive experience in the social services field. Her expertise centers on the analysis of child welfare data in the formulation of performance and outcomes measurement used in evaluating the services provided to children and families. Ms. Mettenburg's research experience includes studies on child abuse and neglect, foster care, adoption, guardianship, substance abuse prevention and treatment, early childhood development, adult protective services, family violence, and teen pregnancy. Ms. Mettenburg served for 23 years as a staff director in a state human service agency. She was responsible for the analysis and evaluation of service and client data covering abused and neglected children and adults, the aged and disabled, families in need of assistance, child support, and Medicaid. Ms. Mettenburg's responsibilities also included systems development, budget modeling and monitoring, performance and outcome measurement development and monitoring, monitoring compliance with Federal and state laws and regulations, and research and evaluation for human services programs.
Back

Elizabeth Quinn, MA, MS, has worked extensively on issues affecting disadvantaged populations. Her experience encompasses program evaluations, program assessments, policy studies, and secondary analyses of large data sets. She has designed and conducted studies on youth in foster care; anti-poverty programs for at-risk youth; sexually exploited youth; state child welfare waivers; housing issues for foster families; and child welfare financing.
Back

Beth A. Rabinovich, PhD, holds a doctorate in human development with experience in research on children, youth, and older persons. She has designed and conducted studies on employed mothers and their children, children who are victims of exploitation, elder abuse, and community-based services for the elderly. Dr. Rabinovich is adept at using a range of methodologies, including large-scale surveys, program evaluations, and small-scale observational studies of naturally occurring behavior. Her expertise includes using software to analyze qualitative data. Dr. Rabinovich is an adjunct at the University of Maryland where she teaches courses on parenting, domestic violence, and cross-cultural psychology.
Back

Debra J. Rog, PhD, has extensive experience in program evaluation research and applied social research, and is known for her expertise in homelessness. She has managed a number of multisite research and evaluation projects in the areas of poverty, homelessness, housing for vulnerable populations, mental health, and applied research methodology. Dr. Rog recently has led a series of evaluability assessments of childhood obesity prevention projects for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has provided project management and subject-matter expertise for research funded by clients such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Mental Health Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Mental Health Association, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. Dr. Rog has published and presented widely on mental health treatment issues, program evaluation, and applied research methodological topics and is a recognized expert in evaluation methodology, homelessness, and mental health. She is an editor on numerous books, series, and journals. Dr. Rog is also the President of the American Evaluation Association.
Back

Andrea J. Sedlak, PhD, is a social psychologist with experience in research on children, youth, and families, with special focus on troubled, vulnerable, and victimized groups. She has designed and conducted studies on child abuse and neglect, adopted children and their families, missing children, runaway and homeless youth, and juvenile offenders in residential placement. Her methodological expertise ranges from large-scale national incidence designs to in-depth interviews on highly sensitive subjects, and she is adept at devising creative methods to maintain confidentiality and anonymity of study data.
Back