Claire Smither Wulsin

Claire Smither Wulsin’s research focuses on evaluating programs and policies serving at-risk youth and children from low-income families. She works to create rigorous evidence for policy decision makers.

Smither Wulsin has worked on projects across a range of policy areas, including education, early childhood, nutrition, family support, labor, and disability. She has extensive experience conducting site visits and qualitative interviews with state agency staff and other stakeholders. Smither Wulsin has contributed to implementation, fidelity, and process evaluation studies in education, early childhood, nutrition, and disability topic areas. She has designed and coordinated administrative and cost data collection and analyzed the resulting data. She has provided evaluation technical assistance to grantees and has experience translating research and policy into practitioner-friendly products. She also worked on the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse for more than 10 years, systematically reviewing education research and translating the findings of rigorous evidence into practical recommendations for educators.

Smither Wulsin joined Mathematica in 2008 and has an M.P.P. from Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy.