Erin Stafford leads collaborative research and culturally responsive evaluations that focus on improving equity in pre-K–12 education, out-of-school time learning, digital learning, philanthropy, and cultural institutions. She specializes in mixed-methods evaluations, evaluation capacity building, program development, community engagement, and logic model facilitation.
Stafford is the co-principal investigator of the national convening “Advancing the Conversation of Scaling National Informal STEM Programs,” which was co-led with the National Girls Collaborative Project. She has evaluated initiatives for the U.S. Department of Education, NOAA, National Science Foundation, Institute for Museums and Library Services, National Park Foundation, and North American Association of Environmental Education.
Stafford has published in the Journal of Online Research, the Journal of Research on Technology in Education, and Afterschool Matters. She co-authored a report on racial equity in philanthropy. Before joining EDC, she was a manager of evaluation, assessment, and research for Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
Stafford holds an MA in Social and Cultural Foundations in Education from DePaul University and a BA in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.