Staff

Andrew Bacher-Hicks

Andrew Bacher-Hicks is a Research Analyst at the Center.  Prior to joining CEPR, he worked as a Research Analyst at Microsoft Research, where he focused on auction theory.  Prior to Microsoft, he worked as an Economic and Litigation Consultant for Cornerstone Research, where he worked primarily on securities and antitrust litigation.  Andrew holds a B.A. in Economics from The College of William and Mary.
Phone:  617-496-0319
E-mail: 

Mary Beisiegel

Mary Beisiegel is an Instructional Specialist for Heather Hill’s instrument development group. Her work includes using the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) instrument to assess teaching; creating a training program for the MQI instrument; recruiting, certifying, hiring, and overseeing MQI raters for NCTE and other projects; and analyzing data from these projects. Prior to joining NCTE, Dr. Beisiegel was an assistant professor of mathematics at Western Oregon University. She has taught mathematics and statistics at the university level for thirteen years, with a focus on mathematics content courses for future elementary teachers. She is interested in teacher preparation and teachers’ mathematical knowledge in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary mathematics.
Phone:  617-496-0422
E-mail: 

Hilary Bresnahan

Hilary Bresnahan is a Project Manager for the Achievement Network i3 Evaluation research project.  This study examines the impact of Achievement Network’s model of data-driven instruction on student achievement, teacher and school leader behavior, and school culture.  Prior to working at CEPR, Hilary worked with the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Executive Leadership Program for Educators and Ed.L.D. degree programs, developing curricular resources and providing research support.  Hilary has also worked as an education consultant to public and charter schools, and higher education institutions, providing support in K-12 curriculum development, assessment and evaluation systems, and federal grant evaluation.  She is also a former elementary classroom teacher.  Hilary received a B.A. in English and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Phone:  617-496-0519
E-mail: 

Nina Cohodes

Nina Cohodes is the Program Assistant for Heather Hill’s sponsored research. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in Biology and the Science in Society Program.
Phone:  617-496-4815
E-mail: 

Patty Diaz

Patty Diaz is the Director for SDP Education and Outreach.  She manages the design and delivery of the programming, professional development, and individual support of over 50 fellows placed in school systems across the U.S.  Additionally, she oversees the development, release, and dissemination of various education tools, resources, and curricula that help analysts in an education agency improve their use of data to inform decision making. She began her career in education as an NYC teaching fellow in the Bronx and later taught at the Harlem Children’s Zone.  Upon completing her graduate work, she joined the newly created Progress Report Team in the New York City (NYC) Department of Education’s Office of Accountability.  There, Patty supported increased efforts to develop data informed decision-making practices at the school and district levels.  Among these efforts were the NYC Progress Reports, the NYC Quality Review, ARIS (an online data reporting system), and increasing the availability of data for all stakeholders through Inquiry Teams.  Before joining SDP, Patty worked with 25 NYC schools across all NYC boroughs, guiding teachers and principals to conduct analytics of student achievement with the goal of improving instructional practices.  Patty holds a B.A. from Cornell University in government and economics, and a M.A. in quantitative methodologies in the social sciences from Columbia University.  She is currently completing her Ph.D. in education leadership at New York University.

Phone:  617-496-0210
E-mail: 

Ashley Dixon

Ashley Dixon is the Coordinator of Communications & Events at the Center.  Prior to working at CEPR, she worked at Simmons College, the Amherst Pelham Regional School District, and as a freelance event planner.  Ashley graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.A. in Theater, where she also minored in Education and Psychology and was strongly involved with the Alumni Association and Residence Life.  She continued her education at UMass Amherst with a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration and as a Special Assistant to the Dean of Students. 
Phone:  617-496-9457
E-mail: 

Aaron Dow

Aaron Dow is a Research Analyst at the Center. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Aaron has tutored intermediate micro and macroeconomic courses. He has also worked and volunteered in the special education department of his local town’s school district. Aaron is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon honor society.
Phone:  617-496-2940
E-mail: 

Ilya Faibushevich

Ilya Faibushevich is a Research Analyst at the Center.  Prior to joining CEPR, Ilya worked with Michael Greenstone at MIT to investigate the health and energy implications of global climate change.  He has also done work investigating the effectiveness of Medicare’s market-based prescription drug coverage program at Acumen LLC and served as a research assistant in the Federal Reserve system.  Ilya holds a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College.
Phone:  617-496-2505
E-mail: 

Barb Gilbert

Barb Gilbert is the Project Manager for the National Center for Teacher Effectiveness (NCTE) at CEPR.  She is responsible for oversight of the operational side of the Developing Measures of Effective Mathematics Teaching study.  Prior to joining NCTE, Gilbert served as an internal evaluator for project FANC, an NSF-funded project studying the effect of implementing formative assessment strategies in networked mathematics classrooms through the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa; project KARES, a Math-Science Partnership; and the Hawai‘i Arts Alliances’ Arts and Literacy for All project funded by the U.S. Department of Education Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination program. Before this she worked as the Director of Instructional Technology for Spokane Public Schools in Washington State. Gilbert is currently working on a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Washington State University. She holds a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Washington and B.A. in Secondary Education: English.
Phone:  617-496-0313
E-mail: 

Sheila Griffin

Sheila Griffin is the Executive Assistant at the Center.  Before this position, she supported the Center as the Recruitment Coordinator on the Strategic Data Project Fellowship.  Prior to joining Harvard, Sheila worked in the corporate arena as an administrative assistant and in various internal audit positions.  She has a B.S.B.A. in accounting from Suffolk University.
Phone:  617-496-1563
E-mail: 

Havala Hanson

Havala Hanson is a Research Analyst at CEPR.  Prior to joining CEPR, she completed an M.A. in Urban Education Policy from Brown University.  While at Brown, her independent research focused on the influence of governance policies (i.e. autonomy, accountability) on student achievement at the international level.  She also served as a founding board member of Rhode Island is Ready, a grassroots community organization that advanced legislation for a state funding formula in Rhode Island that was approved in May, 2010.  Before attending Brown, Havala taught Spanish and English in Milwaukee’s inner city.  Her experiences as a teacher drive her enthusiasm for large-scale improvements in urban education. 
Phone:  617-496-9081
E-mail: 

Rachel Hitch

Rachel is the Agency Partnership Manager for the Strategic Data Project. In this role, she works with the leadership of the school districts and state education agencies partnering with SDP to support and develop a network of education leaders committed to quality data analysis. Before joining CEPR, Rachel was a program manager at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, where she directed strategies to engage, connect and inform the nation’s most active leaders in urban economic development. Previously, Rachel held leadership positions working for the City of New York where she managed communications for a major bureaucratic transformation within the NYC Department of Education and provided economic and financial analysis expertise for high-profile redevelopment projects at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Rachel started her career as a research assistant at MDRC, a nonprofit social science research organization. She holds a Master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University.
Phone:  617-496-9837
E-mail: 

Todd Kawakita

Todd Kawakita is the Manager of Product Development for the Strategic Data Project.  Previously, Todd was a Research Analyst at the Center.  He is a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, where he received a BA in Economics.  Prior to coming to CEPR, Todd worked as a research assistant at Dartmouth where he helped analyze labor patterns amongst the self-employed.  He has also studied a number of other economic topics including the impact of Massachusetts’s health insurance mandate on employment and the macroeconomic consequences of natural disasters.
Phone:  617-496-0554
E-mail: 

Dan McGinn

Dan McGinn is an Instructional Specialist for Heather Hill’s instrument development group.  This work includes creating a training program for the Mathematical Quality of Instruction
(MQI) instrument; recruiting, certifying, hiring and overseeing MQI raters for NCTE and other projects; and analyzing data from these projects. Dan received a PhD in mathematics and
a master’s degree in mathematics education from the University of Wisconsin, where he worked extensively to revamp the mathematical content courses for pre-service teachers. He is
interested in the mathematical preparation of teachers.
Phone:  617-496-0670
E-mail: 

Beth Morton

Beth Morton is a Research Analyst on the Achievement Network i3 evaluation.  This study is an important addition to the research on the impact of data-driven instruction on student achievement, teacher and school leader behavior, and school culture.  Beth is currently completing her Ph.D. at Boston College in Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. Her studies have focused on teachers’ use of data to improve teaching and learning. Prior to starting her doctoral program, Beth was an Analyst at the American Institutes for Research where she supported the National Center for Education Statistics and the Schools and Staffing Survey. Beth holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Castleton State College and a master’s degree in sociology from the University of New Hampshire.
Phone:  617-496-4665
E-mail: 

Meg Nipson

Meg Nipson is a Research Analyst at the Center. Prior to joining CEPR, she worked at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, where she focused on low-income housing policy and rental affordability. She also carried out spatial analyses of foreclosures and participated in research on consumer bankruptcy. As a research associate at Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, she worked on a large telemarketing study and managed data acquisition for several projects on state and city fiscal accountability. Her prior experience was as a group manager and project administrator for the Harvard Institute for International Development, where she oversaw collaborative research and development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. She has a master’s degree in finance from Brandeis University and an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
Phone:  617-496-3126
E-mail: 

Antoniya Owens

Antoniya Owens is a Research Manager at the Center. Prior to joining CEPR, she served as a research analyst at Mathematica Policy Research, where she worked on evaluations of charter school effectiveness and of various aspects of teacher effectiveness, conducted reviews for the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse, and contributed to nutrition policy research related to the federal SNAP program (formerly the Food Stamp program).  Previously, she worked as a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, focusing on regional policy and economic issues, such as demographic and labor market trends, state and local public finance, and minimum wage issues. Antoniya holds a B.A. in economics from Mount Holyoke College and an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School with a concentration in Social Policy, Labor, and Education.
Phone:  617-496-5200
E-mail: 

Lindsay Page

Lindsay Page is the Senior Research Manager for the Strategic Data Project at the Center for Education Policy Research and a lecturer in statistics at Harvard University.  Lindsay recently received her Ed.D. in Quantitative Policy Analysis from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Her dissertation research focuses on analytical methods for understanding the mechanisms underlying causal impacts in experimental evaluations.  Lindsay’s other current projects explore improving college access for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, residential segregation in response to changes in school desegregation policies, and trends in the black-white achievement gap.  Prior to her doctoral work, Lindsay worked as a research analyst at Abt Associates, Inc.  Lindsay holds a master’s degree in Statistics from Harvard University, a master’s degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College.
Phone:  617-496-1110
E-mail: 

Jared Silver

Jared Silver is the Data Architect and Manager at the Center, responsible for designing and implementing the data management strategies such as data collection, organization, security, and storage.  Prior to joining CEPR, he spent 7 years implementing data warehousing and business intelligence solutions for a small consulting firm based in Pembroke, MA, whose clients mostly comprised state tax and revenue agencies.  Jared holds a BS in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, where he also minored in Business Administration.
Phone:  617-496-0506
E-mail: 

Ashley Snowdon

Ashley Snowdon is the Senior Coordinator for Fellows Support and Outreach for the Strategic Data Project.  She originally joined the CEPR staff as a Program Assistant in August 2008.  Previously, Ashley worked for Harvard University in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.  She graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English and Psychology.
Phone:  617-496-8017
E-mail: 

Sarah St. Germain

Sarah St. Germain is the Program Assistant for the Strategic Data Project.  Previous to joining CEPR, she supported the Executive Leadership Program for Educators (ExEL) at Harvard Graduate School of Education for three years.  Sarah received her B.A. from Wellesley College in American Studies and Art History.  She bikes to work most days.
Phone:  617-496-9097
E-mail: 

Selena Tan

Selena is the Fellows Manager for Professional Development and Analytic Support. She has had extensive experience working in various education institutions, from early childhood education to adult education. With Stand Up for Kids, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless and at-risk youth, Selena worked with youth as an Outreach Counselor and Volunteer Trainer for the Orange County Chapter.  In 2007, as part of Project Vietnam with the South East Asian Leadership Network (SEALNet) she was part of an international team that developed and set up an English curriculum at the May 15 School for street kids in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  Selena earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and recently obtained her MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Phone:  617-496-3408
E-mail: 

Mike Tith

Mike Tith is the Senior Manager for Partnerships and Business Development for CEPR.  Mike is an experienced consultant who has worked in school district operations and data analysis.  Most recently, he served as a founding team member and consultant at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he helped start a new business practice, called Analysis in Action.  He designed a peer district diagnostic tool for analyzing inefficiencies and ROI of district spend. Prior to that, he worked for The Lucas Group, a business strategy and management consulting firm founded by partners from Bain & Co. where he worked on government, corporate strategy and PE due diligence engagements. Before Lucas Group, he worked on financial and organizational consulting in higher ed. at Eduventures, Inc., and has also helped Boston Public Schools, DC Public Schools and the School District of Philadelphia in implementing web based IEP software.  Mike brings a passion for combining private sector best practices with education and making education technology easy and effective for school leaders and staff.  He earned a B.A. in both Economics and English from Tufts University. 
Phone:  617-496-9010
E-mail: 

Sylvia Zelaya

Sylvia Zelaya is the program assistant for the National Center for Teacher Effectiveness.  Before joining CEPR, she served as a corps member with City Year New York, where her work focused on supporting literacy-based in-school and after-school programs, youth leadership and community transformation of the PS 57 school community in East Harlem. She received a B.A. in Writing from Ithaca College, where she also minored in Italian and Sociology.
Phone:  617-495-5624
E-mail: