Helzner serves as a research associate and resource manager in the Family Well-Being and Children’s Development policy area. She supports project teams by developing and maintaining project budgets, contracts, project proposals, work plans, and progress reports, and serves as a liaison for funding agencies and project partners. Her portfolio of projects includes Research-Practice Partnership with Acelero Learning, Building and Sustaining the Early Care and Education Workforce (BASE), Child First, NS FACES, Elementary Math Quality Guidelines, Guilford Readiness of Children for School (ROCS), Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions (VIQI), and Head Start Connects. In addition to her management work, Helzner recently worked on the Measuring Thriving in Young Children project, where she engaged directly with caregivers and state and school leaders to understand the current landscape and support the development of user-centered assessment tools in grades K-2.
Before joining MDRC in 2022, Helzner worked as a project manager in the Office of School Climate and Culture in the School District of Philadelphia. In addition, she was a K-12 English teacher in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Texas. Helzner holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary English education from Millersville University and a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.
