Rockville Institute Affiliates in Education
Marsha Brauen, PhD
J. Michael Brick, PhD
Elaine Carlson, PhD
Elizabeth Farris, PhD
Thomas Fiore, PhD
Joy Frechtling, PhD
Babette Gutmann, MA
Jennifer Hamilton, PhD
Camilla Heid, EdD
Allison Henderson, MA
Keith MacAllum, PhD
David Marker, PhD
Joy Markowitz, EdD
Allison Meisch, PhD
Debra J. Rog, PhD
Keith Rust, PhD
Gary Silverstein, MA
Patricia Troppe, PhD
Trevor Williams, PhD
Patrick J. Wolf, PhD
Marsha Brauen, PhD, has experience
in education research with a particular emphasis on special education and
vocational rehabilitation. Her technical skills include policy analysis,
research design and methodology, quantitative data analysis, report writing and
coordination, and providing technical assistance to states.
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J. Michael Brick, PhD, is a research professor in the Joint Program in Survey
Methodology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Brick has contributed to the statistical
and procedural designs for numerous studies, including establishment,
education, transportation, and product injury studies. He has published widely in all phases of
survey sampling and design. Dr. Brick is
a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the
International Statistical Institute.
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Elaine Carlson, PhD, specializes in special
education policy research. She currently directs the Pre-Elementary
Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS), a 6-year study of preschoolers with
disabilities, the services they receive, and the outcomes they achieve. Dr. Carlson has also
gained extensive experience in the areas of teacher quality
and high school completion for children with disabilities.
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Thomas Fiore, PhD, has significant
experience directing research projects and evaluations. His areas of
expertise include special education, charter schools, students
with emotional or behavioral disorders, personnel preparation, policy
implementation and evaluation, survey design, and program evaluation.
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Joy Frechtling, PhD, has expertise in evaluation, addressing issues from
elementary to postsecondary levels. She has expertise in both
quantitative and qualitative methods and has applied her skills in the
assessment of the impacts of professional development programs, curriculum
reform, and broader based systemic changes.
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Babette Gutmann, MA, has extensive experience in research related to early childhood, and elementary and secondary
education at the Federal, state, and local levels. She has designed, managed, and conducted randomized experiments (e.g., the
evaluation of the District of Columbia school voucher program and an evaluation of curriculum interventions in Even Start
projects) and program evaluations for services to at-risk children, primarily children receiving Title I services. Ms.
Gutmann's areas of specialization include project management, Federal education programs and related databases, and data
collection and analysis.
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Jennifer Hamilton, PhD, has experience managing research projects that require random assignment
and the analysis of complex data. She has done extensive work in directing tasks involving adolescent literacy and prekindergarten
education. Ms. Hamilton's areas of specialization include structural equation modeling, with a focus on growth mixture models.
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Camilla Heid, EdD, has experience in education policy research
focusing on disadvantaged students in early childhood programs, as well as
elementary and secondary education programs. Her expertise includes impact studies
using random assignment, program
evaluation, instrument design, and data analysis.
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Allison Henderson, MA, has expertise with research design, case studies, statistical analysis, database management, and
report writing in the field of education policy and evaluation research. She has a wealth of experience in providing decisionmakers
with information about Federal and state education programs. Ms. Henderson has particular expertise in teacher quality policy at
the Federal and state levels, including an in-depth understanding of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) teacher quality requirements.
She has been active in a variety of initiatives related to NCLB's Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) challenge, including Title II,
Part A monitoring, the Teacher Assistance Corps (TAC), and HQT data collection and reporting.
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Keith MacAllum, PhD, is a research sociologist with expertise in programs and policies related to educating and
preparing youth and young adults so that they may be productive academically and in the job market. He has also researched
partnership development among public education and governmental, philanthropic, and private sectors. Dr. MacAllum's extensive work
on career development includes initiatives that address special needs populations, at-risk youth, and out-of-school youth. His
familiarity with educational systems extends from secondary to higher education with a special interest in community college systems
and public/private partnerships.
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David Marker, PhD, is a senior statistician with experience in
project management, quality control, survey research, sampling, data analysis,
imputation, modeling, and small area statistics. He served on the National Center for Education Statistics'
(NCES') National Review Board for the Schools and Staffing Survey, is an elected fellow of the American
Statistical Association, and is past president of the Washington Statistical
Society. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Statistical Association and Chair of its Scientific and Public Affairs Advisory Committee. Dr. Marker is an internationally recognized consultant in quality
improvement, having conducted training sessions for the Swedish, Norwegian, and
Finnish governments on improving the quality of their data collection
activities. Dr. Marker played a key role in the revision of all of NCES
statistical standards.
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Joy Markowitz, EdD, has experience doing research, evaluation, and policy analysis in
special education and developmental disabilities. She has expertise in project
and budget management, project design and instrument development, staff training
for data collection and test administration, and data analysis for
presentations and reports. Dr. Markowitz's particular expertise is in early
childhood education and early intervention, and state policies and procedures.
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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.
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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.
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Gary Silverstein, MA, has extensive evaluation experience on assessing the implementation and impact of efforts
to expand the Internet and related technologies to underserved populations, examining the relationship between learning technologies
and student achievement, and studying Federal, state, and local efforts to enhance educational opportunities for children and
adults. Mr. Silverstein has also focused on developing logic models, identifying performance indicators, and designing online
performance monitoring systems. Grant program clients have included the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of
Commerce, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the State of Pennsylvania, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation.
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Keith Rust, PhD, is a senior statistician with extensive
experience in sampling methods, the design and specification of large-scale
sample surveys, and analysis of survey data. His areas of special expertise
include methods for analyzing large, complex data sets; methods of deriving
survey weights; and sampling error estimation procedures. He has applied his
research and knowledge to a variety of education research projects over the
past several years, both national and international. Dr. Rust has also directed
work on government sample surveys related to education, health, and social
issues. He has experience teaching statistics, particularly relating to survey
sampling, to a variety of audiences.
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Patricia Troppe, PhD, has experience researching education programs
and policy issues. Her areas of expertise include postsecondary education
and Federal student financial aid programs. Dr. Troppe
has additional evaluation experience in early childhood and
elementary education instructional practices and has researched private funding
for public education.
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Trevor Williams, PhD, is a sociologist with experience in the analysis
of educational surveys. He has worked with universities, government,
and private research agencies in Australia, Canada, and the United States.
Since 1994 he has directed the U.S. component of the several international studies
sponsored by the International Evaluation Association (IEA) and the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
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Patrick J. Wolf, PhD, is Professor of Education Reform and Endowed Chair
in School Choice at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions.
He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited two books and more than two dozen journal
articles and book chapters on education policy, public management, and campaign finance,
with an emphasis on the evaluation of school choice initiatives. Dr. Wolf has designed
and implemented policy evaluations using experimental, quasi-experimental,
meta-analytical, and qualitative methods.
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