Contact the Applied Research and Evaluation Team
Navjeet Singh, Vice President, nsingh@commcorp.org
Gene White, Senior Analyst and Deputy Director, gwhite@commcorp.org
Lisa Soricone, Research Analyst, lsoricone@commcorp.org
Cynthia Rodday, Graphic Designer, crodday@commcorp.org
Katherine Shields, Research and Evaluation Analyst, kshields@commcorp.org
John Huynh, Data Analyst, jhuynh@commcorp.org
529 Main Street, Suite 1M8
Boston, MA 02129
617-727-8158
617-242-7660 (Fax)
Navjeet Singh, Vice President, Applied Research and Evaluation
Navjeet
Singh joined Commonwealth Corporation in 2003 and is Vice President
for Research and Evaluation. He leads a team
that determines the effectiveness of education and
workforce development programs and conducts research
on labor market information trends in Massachusetts.
Mr. Singh enjoys exploring the crossroads of labor market
research and strategy development, and has been the
force behind the Skills Gap research project on the
availability of skills commensurate with the needs
of employers and the implications of the baby boom
generation retiring. He manages the various
evaluation projects associated with the Extended Care
Career Ladder Initiative (ECCLI), a sectoral project
for direct-care workers at nursing homes and home
care agencies.
Experienced in economic and business research, Mr. Singh
worked in operations and strategy development at Bell Labs
and Lucent Technologies before coming to Commonwealth
Corporation. He has an MS in Science and Technology
Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic, an MBA from the
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a BS
from the Indian Institute of Technology.
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Gene White, Senior Analyst and Deputy Director, Applied Research and Evaluation
Mr. White has considerable experience managing data analysis projects, and working with large data sets, including school proficiency (MCAS) data from Massachusetts DOE, unemployment wage record data, and workforce development training and performance data. Mr. White has been responsible for a series of quantitative studies for the Massachusetts Department of Education, Massachusetts Department of Public Assistance and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. Most recently, program evaluation projects have included contracted work for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, LaGuardia Community College of New York, and Jewish Vocational Services/The Work Place. Mr. White is expert in performance accountability systems for education and workforce development systems. Mr. White is expert in SPSS, MS Access and MS Excel. Mr. White has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Boston College.
Recent Reports:
- Gene White, Melissa Nemon and Charles Goldberg. (2007). Baseline Evaluation Report of the Retention and Advancement Project at Training, Inc. Boston, MA: United Way of Massachusetts Bay.
- Charles Goldberg and Gene White. (2006). Evaluation of the Women Offender Re-entry Collaborative: Year One Formative and Baseline Report. Boston, MA: Jewish Vocational Services, The Work Place.
- Charles Goldberg and Gene White. (2006). Evaluation of Hotel TEACH - Teaching English and Careers in Hospitality: Phase One Formative and Summative Report. New York, NY: LaGuardia Community College, Center for Immigrant Education and Training.
- Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board, FY2006 Workforce Investment Profiles. (2007).
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Lisa Soricone, Research Analyst, Applied Research and Evaluation
Lisa Soricone is a Research Analyst with the Applied Research and Evaluation team. She is currently leading evaluation of the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund and recently conducted an evaluation of the Collaborating for the Advancement of Nursing: Developing Opportunities project in the Pioneer Valley region. Ms. Soricone has also participated in CommCorp's projects for the United Way and the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council as a consultant. Prior to working at CommCorp, she worked as a Research Associate at the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning (NCSALL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her work focused on adult learner persistence in basic education programs and developing the capacity of adult education instructors to integrate health literacy skill development into their instructional practice.
Ms. Soricone holds a doctorate in community education and lifelong learning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her dissertation examined the labor market outcomes of Spanish-GED recipients. She has also taught English and French in a variety of contexts, including workplace education programs in Boston-area health facilities, as well as schools in Indonesia, New Caledonia, and Rochester, New York.
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Cynthia Rodday, Graphic Designer, Applied Research and Evaluation
Ms. Rodday is the Graphic Designer for the Center for Research and Evaluation. With over eight years of experience as a graphic designer, Ms. Rodday provides the Center for Research and Evaluation and the cross-divisional Communications Department at Commonwealth Corporation an in-house capability to produce various print materials as well as web site design and maintenance. Notable examples of her design work include the Reach Higher Initiative: A Preliminary Report of Findings, the ECCLI Virtual Library, YouthWorks 2007 and YouthWorks 2006, the occupational critical vacancy tables, the Evaluation of the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund: Final Report, the FY2004–2006 Workforce Investment Profiles, and the Commonwealth Corporation Research and Evaluation Briefs.
Ms. Rodday received a BA in Studio Art from Wheaton College and a Master of Fine Arts from Georgia Southern University. She continues to exhibit her artwork and serves as a Steering Committee Member and Web Master for the Greater Boston Wheaton Club, a regional alumni group of Wheaton College.
Katherine Shields, Research and Evaluation Analyst, Applied Research and Evaluation
Katherine Shields is a research and evaluation analyst responsible for program evaluation and applied labor market research, with a focus on the Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative and quantitiave analysis.
Prior to joining Commonwealth Corporation, Ms. Shields was a research manager at Eduventures, where she led the production of benchmarking and best practices research for a higher education learning collaborative. As a curriculum specialist at World Education, she designed, implemented, and evaluated training programs to build the skills of healthcare practitioners in the United States, Africa, and Asia. She piloted training for public health administrators in Pakistan and South Africa on using data to improve performance,
designed a monitoring and evaluation system for a multi-site international training program on refugee health, and worked with community boards in the U.S. to apply epidemiological data to the allocation of federal HIV/AIDS funds.
Ms. Shields holds a Masters in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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