Margaret Sullivan

Margaret Sullivan has broad expertise in research on education, training, and other supports designed to increase opportunities and improve social outcomes for disadvantaged youth and families. Sullivan works closely with school districts, state and local human service agencies, community-based organizations, and private foundations to provide technical assistance and lead mixed-method evaluations to support program improvement.

Sullivan has directed a portfolio of projects that take a cross-sector approach to solving complex policy problems. She recently served as an advisor to the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force for the state of California, helping the task force synthesize recommendations across more than a dozen policy areas related to child welfare. She also led evaluations of the Working Families Success Network and Working Students Success Network (sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Lumina Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Achieving the Dream) that take an integrated service delivery approach to helping clients achieve self-sufficiency.

Sullivan has worked on numerous education projects spanning teacher preparation and professional development, teacher effectiveness, charter schools, postsecondary transitions and transfer pathways, community colleges, and scholarship and fellowship programs. She has expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and served as principal investigator for the Women in STEM topic area of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research. She was also a task leader on several high-profile evaluations for the National Science Foundation, including the congressionally mandated Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program (LSAMP), the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate, and the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.

Sullivan is a certified reviewer for the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse and a peer reviewer for Regional Educational Laboratories. She holds an M.P.P. in education, family, and social policy from Georgetown University.