My Summer Internship at MNA By Aneesha Goodala August 29, 2019 I have just completed my first summer internship at MN Associates, Inc. here in Fairfax, VA. MNA is a small, woman-owned research and evaluation firm established in 2004 by Kavita Mittapalli, Ph.D. How it began? I met Kavita at one of the Hindu temple events where we both volunteer over the weekends. We started talking about “my” future. Kavita mentioned that her company is considering opening a summer intern position. She …
News and Updates
The Year of Conferences
As I hang another conference name tag to accompany its buddies on a chair, here are a few reflections, learning, and takeaways from the education conferences I have either attended or presented so far. 1. They are all informational, although, some of them are expensive. 2. I do like to attend sessions that may inform my work. 3. I plan my between-session breaks—one simply cannot attend all the sessions that seem great. 4. I like to interact with as many people as I can including …
Long story short-our NSF grants evaluation work since 2009
July 1 seems like an appropriate day to share our NSF grants research and evaluation story since 2009. Long story short, it's been quite a journey. We have hustled a lot (continue to do so). We have made great connections, built relationships with our clients, sometimes written full grants, plugged in research & evaluation designs and reviewed the project narratives endlessly our in-depth comments. On rare occasions, we've urged the PIs or Co-PIs to re-write the narrative and most of them …
We have a summer intern!
We have our 1st summer intern! Introducing Aneesha Goodala, a sophomore at University of Virginia majoring in Statistics and Public Policy. Aneesha is a youth mentor and an advocate to prevent sexual assaults and harassment on and off campus, a state-varsity level debater, and the current chair of the Indian Students Association at UVA. She will work with us on our NSF-funded STEM grants and advise us on how to be more strategic on social media. Welcoming a second Hoos to MNA. Fun learning and …
We wrote a grant….and it was awarded. All $1.25M of it.
In summer 2018, Dillard University in New Orleans engaged MNA to conduct a grants writing workshop for their STEM and social science faculty. Soon, they commissioned the team to write a National Science Foundation grant proposal for an HBCU-UP Implementation project. MNA along with DU's STEM faculty and the Office of Sponsored Research Programs planned throughout summer and fall to write and submit the full proposal to NSF's HBCU-UP track. On Friday afternoon, we received word that the …
A New Addition to Our Team!
We are pleased to announce a new addition to our MNA team—Ms. Dia Adams. Dia brings with her about 10 years of education finance and policy and research and evaluation experience. She has worked at all levels of the education system including the federal, state, local, and foundations levels. Highlights from her career include working at the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). While at NASBE, she was responsible for organizing and facilitating learning study groups (or …
ISTE Taps MNA to Evaluate the GM-funded Initiative: AI in Education
We begin 2019 with some exciting news. We start new evaluation work with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for the General Motors-funded initiative: AI in Education. Taking the lead on exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, the ISTE and GM have partnered on a multi-year initiative that includes extensive professional learning opportunities for teachers and hands-on school-based pilots across K-12 systems in the U.S. Stay tuned for our …
Looking back, moving forward
The year in reflection. Looking forward to more collaboration and collective impact in 2019. …
DCPS taps MNA to Evaluate their Community Schools Initiative
A community school is both a place and a network of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, youth development, family engagement and support, health and social services and community development leads to improved student engagement and learning, stronger families, and healthier communities. We are proud to work with DC Public Schools and their partners: Communities in Schools in the Nation's Capital (CIS), The Flamboyan Foundation, …
MNA and DC Action for Children Join Forces to Evaluate School Health Services Program
DC Action for Children, a research and advocacy group and MNA join forces to provide comprehensive evaluation services of the School Health Services Program to assist the Department of Health and project leads with all aspects of implementing with fidelity a program based upon the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. We are really excited about this new work and the opportunity to work across hundreds of DC public and public charter schools in the District of Columbia. …