Ben Allen, Ph.D. joins MNA's growing team as the early childhood learning policy, research, and evaluation expert. Ben brings his extensive experience from his previous engagements as the National Head Start director and director of early childhood policy in Vermont. In his new role at MNA, Ben will work with us to complete a research and feasibility study to develop a mixed-revenue model to help establish an early learning center in Loudoun County, VA. This one-year study is commissioned by the …
News and Updates
We are hiring an associate to join our growing team!
POSITION: 25-30 hours/week; M-F (flexible schedule); Work from home office JOB: Associate LOCATION: Washington DC metropolitan area (preferred) MN Associates, Inc. (MNA) is a woman-owned, small business based in Northern VA that specializes in providing education research and program evaluation services to clients across the nation. Established in 2004, MNA is headed by Kavita Mittapalli, Ph.D. who has over 16 years of experience in conducting R & E work for various programs for …
MNA completes a large-scale quasi-experimental STEM study for Johns Hopkins University
We bid our evaluation adieu to the National Science Foundation-funded Math and Science Partnership project, STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools (SABES), a 6-year collaborative partnership between the Whiting School of Engineering and School of Education at Johns Hopkins University and The Baltimore City Schools. SABES reached over 3000 students, trained 110 teachers and impacted nine elementary/middle schools in grades 3-5. The quasi-experimental mixed-methods study at the nine …
MNA goes national!
MNA takes a gentle leap. MNA has just become the national evaluation technical assistance providers for the federally-funded Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) grants. In close partnership with SAFAL Partners- prime contractor (Houston, TX) and SwingTech (Greenbelt, MD), MNA will provide evaluation TA to over 160 schools/districts that provide academic support each year to over a million military-connected students and their families across the country. We are very happy and …
MNA goes to the first state
Earlier last week, we received news that we have been selected to complete the statewide external evaluation of the 21stCCLC after school program grant for Delaware. Using a mixed methods, we will be assessing and tracking data across 25 grantees in 38 sites since 2015. Our thanks to the Delaware Department of Education and the University of Delaware for this opportunity. Stay tuned for some cool dataviz and infographics. …
MNA to evaluate the equity in arts education project at Baltimore City Public Schools
We are excited and glad to continue our evaluation work in several Baltimore City Public Schools this new school year to assess an equitable access to arts education and arts integration in collaboration with Arts Every Day, a non-profit arts-advocacy group based in Baltimore. This work is supported by grant funds from the Goldseker Foundation. …
Power of Mentoring
Young people rely on positive and caring adults in order to reach their goals. Our recently concluded evaluation of the Power of One mentoring program at Anne Arundel County Public Schools demonstrates just that: Youth experiencing homelessness thrive when adults invest in their education and overall well being. We applaud the tireless work of pupil and social workers at the county and schools who ensure that all students graduate from high school and enter post-secondary education. …
Career Navigators are heroes without capes
As we wrap up our Department of Labor - TAACCCT grant evaluation contracts, a note of appreciation to all the career navigators we have met with / spoken to in the past five years in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma to learn about their tireless and often self-less work with community college students. They are heroes without capes. …
An Infographic is Worth a Thousand Words
Telling a grant's impact story using data visualization is something we do well at MNA. For our multi-site, Department of Labor-funded, Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grant (2014-18) in Arizona, we have developed a few infographics to inform and present evidence at each of the four sites on what works in workforce development and community college training in the area of advanced manufacturing. These data metrics include: Participants’ educational and …
Seeking an education finance statistician or expert to partner on a proposal
MN Associates, Inc. (MNA) is planning to bid on an education policy / school finance proposal that is due soon. We are interested to partner with a part-time consultant (location not critical) who has extensive research / evaluation knowledge and work experience in completing the following for the project, if awarded: 1. Cost modeling at the state/ federal levels 2. Calculating school funding formulae at the state/ federal levels 3. Education policy (early learning systems and processes) 4. …