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Our Team

Victoria Schaefer

REL Appalachia director
Victoria A. Schaefer, PhD, leads REL Appalachia with a passion for the region, a commitment to improving the lives of its people, and a strong sense of place and how history shapes the context in which schooling occurs. Schaefer offers over twenty years of experience in education, including nearly five years leading training, coaching, and technical support activities for REL Appalachia. Having lived experience as both a classroom teacher and a researcher, Schaefer brings first-hand knowledge of the importance of bringing evidence-based practices to the region’s highest-priority needs. Her grassroots perspective of the day-to-day life of educators and students drives a commitment for creating relevant and useful materials based on solid research; that same grassroots experience informs her passion for applied research, knowing personally why finding ways to improve teaching and learning matters. Schaefer centers the needs of educators and students as she engages across the region. She has deep experience in college and career readiness, trauma-sensitive practices, rural education, and data-driven decision making. Schaefer holds a Ph.D. in Education Psychology, Measurement, and Evaluation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mary Klute

REL Appalachia deputy director
Mary Klute, PhD, is a principal education researcher at SRI International. She has over 20 years of experience conducting research and evaluation studies in education. She specializes in supporting educators to use data and evidence to improve outcomes for students. Klute has worked in the REL program since 2013 in the Appalachian and Central regions. During that time, she gained extensive experience conducting research within the REL program, including serving as the Applied Research task lead and authoring nine peer-reviewed REL reports. She has also led TCTS projects, many of which have focused on evaluation planning or supporting the use of research- and evidence-based practices. For example, she led a TCTS project that supported educators in Tennessee to conduct a pilot study of a high-dosage early literacy tutoring program. She also co-led a project with the Nebraska Department of Education to develop a resource inventory of evidence-based interventions and strategies that educators can include in individual reading plans to meet legislative requirements. She is a What Works Clearinghouse-certified reviewer for group design studies (version 5.0) and advanced group designs (version 5.0).

Kayla Benson

Supporting Students, Grandfamilies, and Kinship Caregivers community of practice co-lead
Kayla Benson, MPA, co-leads the REL Appalachia community of practice on Supporting Students, Grandfamilies, and Kinship Caregivers. She is the Director of Impact with The EdVenture Group and currently serves as Director of the West Virginia Statewide Family Engagement Center as well. Benson brings over 10 years of nonprofit leadership experience working with children, families, and team members to support communities in West Virginia and across the nation. This background provides perspective and an understanding of the strengths, complexities, and challenges of the families and communities served by REL Appalachia. Benson earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration and her B.A. in Multidisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Leadership Studies, Entrepreneurship, and Communication from West Virginia University. She also holds a certificate in Executive Leadership from Duke University.

Kirby Chow

Building Safe, Caring, and Trauma-Sensitive Schools partnership lead
Kirby Chow, PhD, specializes in the academic achievement and social and emotional well-being of historically underserved children, including students who have experienced homelessness. She uses a mixed-methods approach to research and evaluate education programs and interventions and has experience providing technical assistance to educators and state leaders. Chow has extensive experience leading large-scale projects, including an implementation and outcomes study of a trauma-informed intervention in K–12 schools in West Virginia, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-funded study of Arkansas’ implementation of early childhood suspension and expulsion policies, and an Institute of Education Sciences (IES)-funded efficacy study of a behavioral management intervention for secondary school teachers. Before joining SRI International, Chow was a Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellow at HHS. She received her BA in psychology and social welfare from the UC Berkeley, and her MA and PhD in education from UCLA.

Kerry Friedman

Teaching Math to Young Children Toolkit advisor
Kerry Friedman, MPP, brings nearly 10 years of experience partnering with educators and system leaders to improve teaching and learning. As a senior researcher at SRI International, Friedman delivers training and coaching to educators in Appalachia and beyond on evidence-based practices that support student learning and educator competency in areas such as mathematics, family engagement, data use, and social-emotional learning. She also leads policy-relevant research and technical support to promote evidence-based and equity-focused decisionmaking at the systems-level. Friedman has expertise in data visualization and communicating and disseminating research in ways that are accessible, actionable, and culturally responsive. Prior to her role at SRI, she taught high school mathematics in Washington, D.C. and facilitated an afterschool program on civic engagement and global competency.

Douglas Gagnon

Applied Research task lead
Douglas Gagnon, PhD, is a principal education researcher at SRI International with over 12 years of experience conducting research and leading technical assistance in education. Gagnon is an author on four REL reports on dual enrollment, career and technical education, remote learning, and estimating postsecondary effectiveness. These reports employ a range of methodologies, including quasi-experimental design, descriptive analysis, document review, and the examination of statistical modeling. Gagnon has also led multiple projects intended to increase partner capacity to collect and use data to inform program planning and evaluate outcomes. For instance, Gagnon supports the Kentucky Department of Education in their evaluation of the Mathematics Achievement Fund, a math coaching program in 13 schools, as part of the current REL AP contract. Gagnon is certified in What Works Clearinghouse group design standards (version 5.0).

Sarah Dec

Supporting Students, Grandfamilies, and Kinship Caregivers community of practice co-lead; Dissemination task lead
Sarah Dec, EdM, is an education researcher at SRI with over 10 years of experience in education, including leading and contributing to applied research and technical assistance projects. Dec has experience partnering with educators across the four-state region to improve experiences and outcomes for educators, students, and families, as well as expertise in producing materials that are actionable, practitioner-friendly, and accessible. Dec also has significant project management experience on multifaceted, complex projects, including previously serving as the senior project manager for REL Appalachia. Prior to joining SRI, Dec served as an elementary classroom teacher and brings this lens to engaging in technical assistance, research, and dissemination. Dec earned her B.A. in history from Davidson College, and her Ed.M. in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Hannah Cheever

Developing Resilient and Supportive Community Colleges partnership lead; Working in Partnership with Stakeholders task lead
Hannah Cheever, MPP, brings nearly 10 years of experience in education, serving as a classroom teacher and partnering with educators and system leaders to improve teaching and learning. As a senior researcher at SRI, Cheever delivers training and coaching to educators in the four-state REL Appalachia region and beyond on evidence-based practices that address partner needs, particularly those related to trauma-sensitive supports. Cheever also has extensive experience managing diverse, multi-year projects in collaboration with key partners. Prior to her role at SRI, she taught middle school Spanish in Maryland and served as a data coordinator for a four-year teacher preparation company specializing in placing teachers in urban areas. She holds an MPP in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and BA in political science from Davidson College.

Stephanie Wilkerson

Training, Coaching, and Technical Support task lead
Stephanie B. Wilkerson, PhD, is president of Magnolia Consulting, a woman-owned small business partner for REL Appalachia. Since 1998 she has provided research; evaluation; and training, coaching, and technical support (TCTS) across the REL Appalachia and Central regions. Her TCTS contributions to the REL program have included leading researcher-practitioner partnerships with school districts and state departments of education focused on teacher data use, multi-tiered systems of support, comprehensive school improvement, and mathematics coaching. She specializes in engaging district and state partners in co-designing evaluation plans, logic models, needs assessments, and measurement tools that promote the use of evidence in decision making for policy and practice. She has also led large-scale research studies of data use and systemic school improvement under the REL program in addition to directing over 30 curriculum efficacy evaluations measuring student learning outcomes in the areas of science, literacy, and mathematics. Having taught at both the preschool and postsecondary levels, she is passionate about the role research, evaluation and TCTS can play in dismantling barriers and increasing education opportunities and success for all learners.

Stephanie Suarez

Strengthening Students’ Preparation for College and Careers partnership lead
Stephanie Suarez, EdM, brings over 10 years of experience in college and career readiness. Suarez provides research and technical assistance support to education leaders in the Appalachian region and beyond to improve student outcomes and forge college and career pathways for students. Her ground-level experience as a former high school college adviser for first-generation students shapes how she approaches research and technical assistance. Areas of expertise in technical assistance include coaching for continuous improvement, logic model development and measurement, and data-informed decisionmaking. She holds an Ed.M. in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA in international development studies with a minor in education from UCLA.

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