Debbie is a senior research scientist at NORC with 20 years of experience leading high-impact studies at national and local levels. She uses institutional and organizational theory lenses to study the field of education policy. In particular, she studies policymaking and implementation, organizational change, decision making, school choice, college access, and disability-focused interventions. Debbie is a recognized expert in mixed-methods research, specializing in qualitative design to drive actionable insights. Throughout her work, she centers the voices of participants and community stakeholders through co-design processes and innovative data collection techniques. Debbie disseminates broadly and has presented her work at The White House, Brookings Institution, NASA, and major academic and practitioner conferences. Her research is widely published in top journals, including the American Educational Research Journal and Teachers College Record.

Debbie currently serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) for an evaluation of a student-led civic action curriculum that teaches students the skills needed to carry out a community-based civic action plan. She is also PI on an evaluation of a Washington-based family engagement center. She also focuses on issues related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). She is PI on a project examining the impact of COVID-19 on high school students’ STEM trajectories. Debbie also serves as co-PI on an evaluation of the effects of an alliance-based program of higher education institutions that aims to diversify the STEM workforce in America. Debbie previously served as PI on an innovative evaluation of a college access program in Kansas City. The research team used a storytelling technique, rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and learning, to gather stories from program participants. The team also trained program participants in gathering stories from loved ones in their life to further contextualize their experiences in the college access program.

Prior to joining NORC, Debbie worked as a dual postdoctoral scholar with Northwestern University and Tulane University. At Northwestern University, Debbie worked for the National Center for Research in Policy and Practice studying the ways that district leaders draw on research and data in their instructional decision-making. At Tulane University, she worked on America’s first randomized control trial of a free college scholarship intervention.