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Shari Golan

Program Manager, School Partnerships

Shari Golan, Ph.D., Manager of the School Partnerships Program, has more than 20 years of experience in research and evaluation of education, health, and social programs for children, youth, and families. Her expertise includes managing complex, multisite process and outcome evaluations; using qualitative and quantitative research methods; developing and working with indicators of child, family, and community well-being; working with organizations and community members to design evaluations that meet their needs; and communicating evaluation findings clearly to a wide range of audiences. She also has experience providing technical assistance on data collection and evaluation through training and guidebooks.

Dr. Golan is currently working with Ready Schools Florida on an evaluation of strategic investments to connect the public school system with early learning centers, families, and community-based organizations to support improved child well-being and increased student academic achievement. Dr. Golan also directs an evaluation of the Santa Clara County Family Wellness Court for Infant and Toddlers—a 5-year federal demonstration project funded by the Children’s Bureau designed to improve the permanency outcomes for children affected by methamphetamine or other substance abuse through a coordinated set of services. She recently worked with the Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) and its partners to design recommendations for a kindergarten readiness assessment process for Washington State. Dr. Golan also recently completed a Parent Needs Assessment and a parent brochure about the Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks for DEL.

In 2007, Dr. Golan completed an evaluation of First 5 California, a statewide early childhood and school readiness initiative to improve the health, development, family functioning, and systems of care for children from birth to age 5. For 5 years, the evaluation tracked program performance, systems change, participant- and community-level outcomes, and trends in school readiness among entering kindergartners across First 5-funded programs statewide. Dr. Golan helped design the web-based data system used by First 5 County Commissions to collect and report program- and participant-level data. She oversaw individual and group-focused technical assistance on statewide evaluation activities for all County Commissions and provided leadership for the analysis and writing of the First 5 California Annual Report to the California Governor and Legislature.

Dr. Golan also has directed studies and evaluations related to school-based services, parental involvement, pregnancy prevention, and child care. These include an evaluation of the Local Investment in Child Care (LINCC) initiative and an analysis of data on families with young children from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF). She directed the evaluation of the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) program and managed the evaluation of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley's 21st Century Education Initiative (Challenge 2000). In addition, she was deputy director of the evaluation of California's Healthy Start School-Linked Services initiative and led SRI's contribution to the design of the San Francisco Beacons Initiative, a school-based youth development program.

Dr. Golan received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Golan can be contacted at cehs@sri.com.