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Christine Padilla

Senior Policy Analyst

Christine Padilla is a manager in the Center for Education Policy. Over the past 35 years she has evaluated a wide variety of education programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, state governments, and private foundations. Her work has focused on program implementation and evaluation, policy analysis, district and school reform, special populations, and accountability issues.

Ms. Padilla is currently the principal investigator for an evaluation of a pilot project in California to develop district capacity to support school improvement as well as the regional capacity of county offices of education that provide technical assistance to districts and schools identified for improvement under NCLB. She is co-directing a 5-year task order for the U.S. Department of Education on national technology initiatives. Activities include a study of education data systems and decisionmaking, preparation of policy briefs, and participation in partnership activities with other organizations in support of data-driven decisionmaking to improve instruction. She is also a task leader in two studies of high school reform initiatives in Texas and California.

Previously Ms. Padilla directed a longitudinal evaluation of accountability systems and policies at the state, district, and school level. This study was part of a larger effort by the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of Title I under NCLB. Other work in education reform has extended to examinations of the impact of changes in policies and practices on disadvantaged and special education students, educational technology in grades K-12, school-to-work transitions, and technical assistance to states and districts to develop evaluations of program impacts.

Ms. Padilla has experience with managing large-scale projects with both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including case study design, qualitative data collection and analysis, survey design and analysis, and the integration of data from multiple sources. She is experienced in working with policymakers at the national, state, and local levels. She has translated research into resource materials for practitioners and the public, and has authored or co-authored more than 40 reports, book chapters, journal articles, and papers for professional organizations. She holds degrees in education and business from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Santa Clara. Prior to her work at SRI, Ms. Padilla earned her secondary teaching credential and taught ninth grade history.