Dana Russo
CTL Alumnus : Student Associate
Dana is currently a master's student in Administration and Policy Analysis at Stanford University's School of Education. As part of this program, she has had the opportunity to work on a year-long evaluation project. Her internship at CTL involves working on the Materials Review Study for the GLOBE Evaluation along with Christine Korbak and Bill Penuel.
Prior to coming to SRI, most of her academic and professional career had been focused on issues relating to the education of urban youth. Her research experience includes a two year internship at New York University's Family Resources and Housing Dynamics Project where Dana developed interview protocols, input and analyzed data, and helped develop reports on the impact of homelessness and poverty on adolescents. As part of this experience Dana also completed a Westinghouse Research Project in which she compared the aspirations of adolescents who were homeless, those whose families were receiving welfare, and those who came from middle-income families. Not surprisingly, the results showed how the disparity in family income translated to a difference in aspirations amongst the three groups.
Struck by the severity of the problems facing poor students, Dana decided to major in social policy with a concentration in educational policy at Northwestern University. As part of her studies, she interned at Youth Guidance, a social service agency in Chicago that helps to implement school reform programs in local elementary schools. Her experience working in several urban schools made her realize that she wanted to teach before entering the policy arena.
Dana joined Teach For America and taught in Newark, NJ for five years. For four of these years she was a technology coordinator and had the responsibility of teaching students, conducting staff development, and working on administrative tasks. Integrating technology into the curriculum proved beneficial for the students and teachers that Dana worked with and gave her a wonderful background for her current work at CTL.
Education
- M.A., Administration and Policy Analysis, Stanford University, 2003
- B.S., Social Policy, Northwestern University, 1997
Professional Experience
- Student Associate, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (2002-present)
- Technology Coordinator, Maple Avenue School, Newark, NJ (1998-2002)
- Social Studies Teacher, Warren Street School, Newark, NJ (1997-1998)
- Intern, Youth Guidance, Chicago, IL (1996)
- Intern, Global Custodies Department, Bank of New York, New York, NY (1995, 1996)
- Research Assistant, Family Resources and Housing Dynamics Project, New York University, New York, NY (1991-1993)
Past Projects at CTL
- Evaluation of the GLOBE Program ended 2006
Publications
-
Penuel, W. R., Bienkowski, M., Korbak, C., Molina, A., Russo, D., Toyama, Y., et al. (2005). GLOBE Year 9 evaluation: Implementation supports and student outcomes. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Read more