Leigh Parise

As director of program development, Parise plays a key role in supporting the development of new projects and strategic initiatives across MDRC’s policy areas and centers and oversees MDRC’s grants management and funder relations. Parise is an education research and policy expert, a mixed-methods researcher, and host of MDRC’s Evidence First podcast. Since joining MDRC in 2011, Parise has been a lead researcher on numerous MDRC projects, including large-scale randomized controlled trials, non-experimental studies, and descriptive studies. Most recently, Parise led the implementation research on MDRC’s Evaluation of the P-TECH 9-14 high school model, a career pathway model that begins in high schools and extends into postsecondary education and the workforce. Before joining MDRC, Parise began her career as an elementary school teacher, and she is also the co-founder of Classroom Champions, a nonprofit organization that empowers children to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally through the mentorship and mindset of world-class athletes. Parise holds a B.A. in history and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in teaching from Pace University; she received her Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern University.