Diana McCallum has deep expertise in evaluating strategies designed to improve economic mobility, employment, and education outcomes for individuals and families.
Since joining Mathematica in 2017, she has led high-profile projects spanning economic empowerment, family support, education, and nutrition policy. McCallum serves as project director for the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) project, a rigorous impact evaluation that tests innovative employment interventions for people facing complex barriers such as health conditions, criminal justice involvement, or limited work history. She also leads the Understanding Experiences in SNAP Employment and Training study, which uses qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews and photovoice, to explore participant perspectives. As vice president for human services at Mathematica, she oversees work in economic opportunity, family strengthening, early childhood, and child welfare, guiding a multidisciplinary team to generate evidence that informs policy and practice.
Committed to helping policymakers, states, and grantees use high quality evidence to make decisions, she has led several federal clearinghouses and systematic reviews, including the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, a Department of Transportation clearinghouse, and the What Works Clearinghouse as a federal project officer. She has leveraged her understanding of high-quality research to provide evaluation technical assistance that helps grantees and agencies implement and test programs across a range of topic areas.
Before joining Mathematica, McCallum worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and in the U.S. Department of Education as a research analyst, overseeing federal systematic reviews and national evaluations. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Best Journal Article award from the Society for Research on Adolescence for Parent Involvement in Middle School: A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Strategies That Promote Success.. She holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and a certificate in education policy from Duke University.
This report brief provides guidance for employment service providers and other human services agency staff who want to replicate evidence-based interventions.
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