Our Team
Affiliated Specialists
Beth Gamse
Education Evaluation Leader and Consultant
Dr. Beth Gamse, MC² Affiliate and Independent Consultant, is an experienced education evaluation leader. She has worked with federal, state, local, philanthropic, and non-profit partners to design and conduct program and policy studies. Dr. Gamse has conducted studies across diverse content areas, school/district reform efforts, and policy initiatives--the majority of which address implementation and impact of initiatives to improve educational outcomes for underserved students, teacher preparation and evaluation, transitions to postsecondary college and career, improvements to afterschool and expanded learning, and research-practice partnerships. She has an Ed. D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Deborah Good
Evaluation and Organizational Learning Consultant
Deborah is co-founder of Good Insights Consulting. For more than 15 years, Deborah has explored how community-based research and evaluation can inform program, policy, and practice in a variety of settings. She partners with schools and nonprofits in using meaningful data to deepen their organizational learning. She currently serves as the Research, Evaluation, and Assessment Coordinator for Oregon State University’s Outdoor School.
Ruth Júarez
Data Analyst and Visualization Consultant
Ruth Juárez is a Data Analyst and Visualization Consultant for MC². Ruth brings her deep expertise developing data dashboards to support several nonprofits and state-led efforts to understand program impact to her work as a consultant with MC² Education. Ruth's interactive dashboards allow the consumer to improve their understanding of complex and nuanced social issues that a static table or graph cannot convey. Her formal training in physics and chemistry add to the rigor she employs in every task. Her newer studies in equity and data sovereignty help her deploy products that are grounded in respect and inclusion. In all, she brings her experience of eight years to this work with MC² Education.
Carla Nieto
Accounting Consultant
Carla is an accounting consultant for MC². Carla keeps the business end of our work running smoothly. Carla has over 10 years of experience in financial accounting. She completed her Master of Accounting (MACCT) from the University of New Mexico, Anderson School of Management. With a robust background spanning over a decade in both government and nonprofit sectors, Carla has worked with nonprofit organizations in grant management and financial and accounting planning. She brings substantial expertise and experience in the nonprofit accounting arena. Carla has a deep connection and commitment to her community and, in her free time, has volunteered for Income Tax Assistance/Counseling for the Elderly programs offering free essential tax returns. She was also the Treasurer of the board of South Valley Academy, her alma mater.
Bruce Randel
Research Methodologist & Statistician
Bruce Randel, Ph.D., President and Chief Consultant at Century Analytics, Inc., is an affiliate of MC². Dr. Randel has worked on dozens of rigorous evaluations of educational interventions. He has extensive experience with evaluation design, randomized control trials (RCTs), cluster randomized designs, quasi-experimental designs (QEDs), comparison interrupted time series, difference-in-differences analyses, propensity score matching, statistical power analyses, and implementation fidelity. Dr. Randel is certified under Version 5.0 of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards and Procedures for group designs. He also has experience in educational measurement, including psychometrics, item response theory, classical test theory, large-scale testing, formative assessment, and alignment.
Helen Chen
Senior Analyst
As founder and principal of HC Consulting LLC, Helen has a passion for improving opportunities for youth through education. Her consulting practice focuses on program evaluation, curriculum and teacher professional development, and technical assistance. She provides thought partnership to leaders intent on delivering high-quality, evidence-based programs, at scale, with the goal of reducing gaps in opportunity. Working with researchers and foundations, she has designed and implemented randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations for studies in K-12 and postsecondary education, with a particular focus on building pathways from grade to grade and into postsecondary education and the workforce. She guides organizations in program evaluation, project management, and coaching to improve their direct services and internal capacity for scale and sustainability.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Amy Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. She is the author of Choose to Change: A step-by-step teaching guide for fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, Missing Peace Press, 2009.The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
Barbara Goodson, PhD
Senior Analyst
Barbara Goodson, PhD is a nationally-recognized expert in research and policy on families and young children, with more than 40 years of experience designing and conducting large, multi-site implementation and impact studies examining impacts and implementation of interventions for low-income and language minority children and families. She is an author of publications on family support programs and parent involvement. She has served as a PI on multiple evaluation technical assistance projects, providing direct support to local evaluators in three federal grant programs on design and conduct of rigorous impact and implementation studies. She has expertise in measurement of fidelity and implementation. She has also served as a PI on multi-site early childhood studies, focused on low-income, disadvantaged students. She has written multiple publications on measurement of and supports for quality in early childhood environments, including home-based care as well as out-of-home care settings of different types. She is also an expert in research methodology.
Beth Boulay
Senior Analyst
Beth understands that policymakers and practitioners need evidence to make critical decisions about how to meet the needs of those they serve and she sees opportunities to use robust evaluation tools and methods to generate that evidence. She has been producing evidence to inform education policy and practice for over 20 years. She designs and conducts evaluations of education programs that provide actionable evidence to program staff, practitioners, and policy makers. She understands the opportunities and challenges of integrating program goals and evidence building activities, and of conducting field-based evaluations in schools. Since 2010, she has supported numerous organizations and evaluators to conduct meaningful, rigorous evaluations of their approaches to improve outcomes for students, teachers and schools. She builds on this experience to grow the ways in which rigorous evaluation tools can be deployed for the benefit of practitioners and those they serve. She serves as President-Elect of the Society for Research in Educational Effectiveness and on the Technical Working Group for Evidence for ESSA. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She loves skiing with her three teenage children, walking her dog, and watching volleyball of all levels.
Amy Franklin
Senior Analyst
Amy McConnell Franklin, Ph.D., M.Ed., M.P.H, is the Executive Director of the not for profit, non-partisan grassroots organization - the Social and Emotional Learning Alliance for New Mexico (SEL4NM.org). For over 20 years Amy has been an independent educational consultant supporting schools and human service agencies to integrate emotional intelligence skills and mindful, ethical social and emotional skills development, universally and proactively. As a pioneer in the fields of SEL and EI she has trained hundreds of educators, parents, students and community workers in pre-K through university and in pre-service teacher preparation throughout the US and on 4 continents. Amy and SEL4NM.org are committed to transformative SEL (tSEL) in which the concepts and skills of SEL are put at the service of understanding and dismantling historic injustices and systems failures that leave too many people vulnerable and discriminated against in our systems. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, (NM-LMHC) she recognizes the need to explicitly and universally develop social and emotional skills so that everyone can learn to create and sustain more mutually respectful relationships and make more compassionate and accountable decisions on behalf of self and others. Social and emotional skills are foundational to good mental health and wellbeing over the lifespan. Amy has a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New Orleans and a Bachelor's Degree from St John’s College- Annapolis. The daughter of two educators, one in early childhood education and one in higher education, Amy was raised in Santa Fe in the 1960s and 70s. In 2000, with her husband and four children she returned to New Mexico where she lives in Taos.
WHO WE ARE
Transforming Education with Expertise
At MC², we are committed to answering questions with real-world context. With team members located coast-to-coast and with offices based in New Mexico and Massachusetts, together we cast a wide net of experiences while centering local context and cultural relevance in our work.
Our team specializes in research and evaluation, data democratization, and international development, employing a unique mix of research methods such as interviewing, focus groups, lottery studies, quasi-experiments, and descriptive studies to inform decision making.
