Research/Areas of Interest:
Child and family policy; program evaluation; home visiting and other family support programs
Education
- PhD, Child Development, Tufts University, United States
- MA, Child Development, Tufts University, United States
- BA, English & Anthropology, Oberlin College
Biography
Jessica Goldberg, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University. With a focus on child and family policy, she is interested in the processes by which policy priorities and stated program objectives are realized, challenged, and re-shaped by the day-to-day interactions of frontline program staff and the clients they serve. Currently, she is Co-Principal Investigator of the implementation evaluation of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) in Massachusetts (entitled the Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative [MHVI]). She also has served as director of multiple program evaluations, including a randomized, controlled trial of a Healthy Families Massachusetts, an evaluation of the Touchpoints Early Care and Education Initiative, and an evaluation of a staff-development equity initiative for teachers. She graduated with a BA in English from Oberlin College, and then received a Master's in early childhood education, and a doctorate in child development, from Eliot-Pearson.
Current Research Projects
Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI) Implementation Study
With Dr. Francine Jacobs (Tufts University)
The Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI), a federal-funded program administered by the MA Department of Public Health (MDPH), is an expansion and enhancement of home visiting services in 17 high-need Massachusetts communities. MHVI is intended to effect change in early childhood systems of care at the individual, family, program, community, and state levels. Its success, as envisioned by MDPH, is predicated both on its ability to provide evidence-based home visiting services with fidelity to the model and to facilitate the community- and state systems-levels of collaboration and change necessary to ensure an early childhood system of care that is comprehensive, coordinated, responsive to families' needs, and sustainable over the long term. The MHVI Implementation Study investigates programmatic and operational activities of MHVI at the program, family, and individual levels, with a focus on program processes, operations, and integration into, and expansion of, existing systems of care. Information generated from this study should facilitate improved operational and programmatic coordination and efficiency at the state and community levels. MHVI is funded by the Maternal Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, a federal policy initiative authorized under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation (MHFE)
With Drs. Ann Easterbrooks, Francine Jacobs, and Jayanthi Mistry (Tufts University)
For the past decade, our team of researchers has been contracted by the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund (MCTF) to evaluate the Healthy Family Massachusetts newborn home visiting program (HFM). In 2005 we completed our first phase of evaluation, the Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation (MHFE-1). In 2008, we began collecting data for the second phase of the HFM evaluation (MHFE-2). MHFE-2 is a randomized controlled trial designed not only to assess whether or not HFM is meeting its five stated long-term goals, but also to examine the ways in which participants' personal, family, program, and community contexts influence and/or explain program utilization and program outcomes. To date, TIER has collected three waves of data, which we are currently analyzing. Currently, we are collecting fourth and fifth waves of data as part of the Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation-2 Early Childhood Study (MHFE-2-EC). MHFE is funded by grants from MCTF, and through the MHVI initiative described above.
Current Research Projects
Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI) Implementation Study
With Dr. Francine Jacobs (Tufts University)
The Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative (MHVI), a federal-funded program administered by the MA Department of Public Health (MDPH), is an expansion and enhancement of home visiting services in 17 high-need Massachusetts communities. MHVI is intended to effect change in early childhood systems of care at the individual, family, program, community, and state levels. Its success, as envisioned by MDPH, is predicated both on its ability to provide evidence-based home visiting services with fidelity to the model and to facilitate the community- and state systems-levels of collaboration and change necessary to ensure an early childhood system of care that is comprehensive, coordinated, responsive to families' needs, and sustainable over the long term. The MHVI Implementation Study investigates programmatic and operational activities of MHVI at the program, family, and individual levels, with a focus on program processes, operations, and integration into, and expansion of, existing systems of care. Information generated from this study should facilitate improved operational and programmatic coordination and efficiency at the state and community levels. MHVI is funded by the Maternal Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, a federal policy initiative authorized under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation (MHFE)
With Drs. Ann Easterbrooks, Francine Jacobs, and Jayanthi Mistry (Tufts University)
For the past decade, our team of researchers has been contracted by the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund (MCTF) to evaluate the Healthy Family Massachusetts newborn home visiting program (HFM). In 2005 we completed our first phase of evaluation, the Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation (MHFE-1). In 2008, we began collecting data for the second phase of the HFM evaluation (MHFE-2). MHFE-2 is a randomized controlled trial designed not only to assess whether or not HFM is meeting its five stated long-term goals, but also to examine the ways in which participants' personal, family, program, and community contexts influence and/or explain program utilization and program outcomes. To date, TIER has collected three waves of data, which we are currently analyzing. Currently, we are collecting fourth and fifth waves of data as part of the Massachusetts Healthy Families Evaluation-2 Early Childhood Study (MHFE-2-EC). MHFE is funded by grants from MCTF, and through the MHVI initiative described above.