Our Team
Fiona Hollands, Ph.D.
Fiona Hollands is the Founder and Managing Director of EdResearcher. Her work includes evaluating the effectiveness and costs of educational programs and strategies with the aim of demonstrating how education leaders and policymakers can optimize the use of resources in education. Fiona has led the development of software and tools to facilitate various types of cost analysis in education including E$timator (formerly CostOut®) and DecisionMaker®. She strongly believes in learning by doing and aims to help other researchers do just that.
Jaunelle Pratt-Williams, Ph.D.
Jaunelle Pratt-Williams is a Senior Research Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago, where she works with researchers and practitioners on economic evaluations and mixed-methods policy research studies. Jaunelle’s expertise also extends to school finance. She has collected and analyzed data from the Local Education Agency (School District) Finance Survey (F-33) to explore funding trends and the association of student support services funding on student support service staff and student outcomes.
Robert Shand, Ph.D.
Robert Shand is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at American University. A former high school economics and government teacher, his interests lie at the intersection of research, policy and practice. Current research focuses on how schools and teachers use data from economic evaluation and accountability systems to make decisions and improve over time. Rob is a co-author of the third edition of Economic Evaluation in Education: Cost-Effectiveness and Benefit-Cost Analysis.
Candice Benge, M.P.A.
Candice Benge is a mixed methods researcher at SRI International with expertise in school finance, California education policy, and student-centered pedagogies. Her recent work includes coordinating instrument development and client communication for a large-scale study of five federally-funded programs for the U.S. Department of Education. Benge holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of California – Berkeley, a Master of Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, and a B.A. from Southern Methodist University.
Yuan Chang, M.Ed.
Yuan Chang is an education researcher whose research interests include evaluating educational programs as implemented in school districts, investigating how Title I funds are used in schools, studying ethnic disparities in early childhood education and culturally responsive pedagogy, and conducting cost analysis of educational programs. She builds databases and tools for education practitioners to assist them in investing in evidence-based practices. She earned a B.S. degree in psychology from Beijing Normal University and an M.Ed. in Sociology and Education from Teachers College.
Laura Head, M.A.
Laura Head is a teacher, entrepreneur and education researcher with an interest in evidence-based practices and cost analysis in education. She founded and is the CEO of Heads Up Learning which provides school support and enrichment for English and French learners. Previously, Laura spent four years teaching in a bilingual classroom in a New York City public school and several years as a researcher at Teachers College, Columbia University, Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis. Laura holds her M.A. in Education Policy and B.S. in Special and Inclusive Education.
Katherine Javier, M.Sc.
Katherine Javier is a Consulting Partner at Grupo Línea Base. She is an economist by training and works with governments, the private sector, NGOs, and multilateral entities to design and assess policies in the fields of K-12 and Vocational Education & Training, youth, the labor market, and competitiveness. She has conducted social and economic studies, designed and evaluated programs and policies, and monitored development interventions. She holds an M.S. in Applied Statistics from Teachers College, Columbia University, a B.A. in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), and an M.Sc. in International Development from the University of Manchester.
Anna Kushner, M.A.
Anna Kushner is a researcher and Ph.D. student studying Education Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include decision-making in education and she developed and taught a course for decision-makers on applying cost-utility analysis to problems of practice. She has also worked on a cost-effectiveness analysis of a math professional development program as part of an EIR study. Previously, she taught middle school and conducted mixed methods research at the New York City Department of Education. Anna holds an M.A. in Education Policy from Teachers College and a B.A. in Studies in Women and Gender from the University of Virginia.
Yixin (Karen) Wang, M.A.
Yixin (Karen) Wang is a graduate of the Economics and Education M.A. program at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a research assistant in the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at Teachers College, she worked on cost analyses and value-added analysis of educational programs, and on developing tools for assessing the relevance and credibility of research studies. Her other research interests include poverty alleviation and international economic development, gender equality and empowerment, and the application of behavioral economics to the education context. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from New York University.