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Agodini Named Director of Mathematica's Center for Improving Research Evidence
Supporting Evidence-Based Decision Making
Contact: Amy Berridge, (609) 945-3378
PRINCETON, N.J.—June 23, 2011—Mathematica Policy Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Roberto Agodini as director of the company’s Center for Improving Research Evidence (CIRE). Agodini, who joined Mathematica in 1997, is known for designing, conducting, and assessing evaluations and using a range of scientific policy research and evaluation methods. He has led some of the company’s highest-profile studies in education and other areas. Previously, he served as assistant director for CIRE during its early years.
“Now more than ever, there is a need for the insights and advice CIRE provides,” says Agodini. “With tight budgets and increased scrutiny for programs, the need for evidence-based decision making is crucial. At CIRE, we assess the research evidence on program effectiveness and implementation to inform important decisions about program funding and operations. We also help decision makers plan studies that answer questions existing research does not address.”
CIRE was founded in 2008 to provide evaluation technical assistance in designing, assessing, and interpreting research and evaluation studies, as well as to strengthen the methods and standards used in evidence-based research. Through forums, issue briefs, conference presentations, and project reports, CIRE reaches out to practitioners and policymakers to help make research more accessible to the audiences it serves. CIRE services include:
Building capacity to understand and use research evidence. CIRE gathers and assesses evidence on program implementation and effectiveness, and synthesizes the findings for clients’ decision-making needs. CIRE activities focus on building capacity to understand and use evidence and conducting systematic reviews to identify programs, policies, and practices with evidence of effectiveness. CIRE also develops and conducts training on using evidence effectively in decision making.
Planning rigorous and relevant evaluations. CIRE helps clients design implementation, outcome, and impact evaluations to support their objectives, including making funding decisions, developing measurement strategies, and building an evidence base.
Strengthening research methods and standards. Over a broad range of projects, Mathematica has developed new approaches for designing and analyzing rigorous implementation, outcome, and impact evaluations. CIRE helps clients understand the evidence they have, or helps them shape the research they want to sponsor, by using transparent and scientific standards to review and plan studies.
About Mathematica: Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, provides a full range of research and data collection services, including program evaluation and policy research, survey design and data collection, research assessment and interpretation, and program performance/data management, to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Ann Arbor, Mich., Cambridge, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C., has conducted some of the most important studies of health care, education, international, disability, family support, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs.