The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) staff represents diverse backgrounds, including education, psychology, economics, sociology, and communications. The WWC staff consists of leading experts in the field of scientifically
based evidence in education research.
Dr. Mark Dynarski is the project director of the WWC. He is senior fellow and vice president and director of the Center for Improving Research Evidence (CIRE) at Mathematica Policy Research Inc., where he has worked since 1988. He has overseen many rigorous studies at the forefront of the national policy agenda, including the national evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers and the national evaluation of educational technology. He has played a leading role in many of Mathematica’s elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult education studies, including the largest-ever evaluation of federally funded dropout prevention programs. Dr. Dynarski has a national reputation for his work in education policy, particularly in programs for at-risk children and youth. He is well known for his expertise in econometrics and evaluation methodology, including the design, implementation, and analysis of evaluations of education programs using random assignment and quasi-experimental designs. He is a member of the National Research Council Committee on Evaluating Effectiveness of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards certification program and serves on advisory boards for several studies funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. He is also an advisor to the Atlantic Philanthropies Strategic Learning and Evaluation Team, as well as an associate editor of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and Effective Education. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and is a frequent presenter and discussant at research conferences. Dr. Dynarski received a Ph.D. in economics from the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Jill Constantine is the deputy director of the WWC and the Principal Investigator of the Beginning Reading topic area. She is a senior economist, education area leader, and associate director of research at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Her expertise includes using random assignment, matching procedures such as propensity scoring, and advanced statistical modeling.
Dr. Constantine, who joined Mathematica in 2001, also directed the firm's evaluation of Talent Search, one of the federal TRIO programs designed to improve access to college for low-income students. She is currently overseeing Mathematica's study of the efficacy of different teacher preparation methods in contributing to the academic achievement of elementary school students. She has conducted impact and statistical analyses on several large-scale projects, including the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project, which focused on the cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes of young children and parenting skills of their parents.
Before joining the firm, she was an assistant professor at Williams College. She has published in and serves as a reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Industrial Relations, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, and Review of African American Education.
