Sepanik is the principal investigator of the Next Generation California Partnership Academies study, a rigorous evaluation of career academies; an evaluation of the Oregon Early Indicator and Intervention System, a quasi-experimental study of a statewide early warning system; the long-term follow-up study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways, a college developmental math reform; and a study of California State University’s proposal to require an additional high school quantitative reasoning course for enrollment. She has been involved in several other evaluations during her 15-year tenure at MDRC, including an impact study of Diplomas Now, the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Central Florida Collaborative evaluation, the Enhanced Reading Opportunities impact study, professional development impact studies for second-grade reading teachers and seventh-grade math teachers, the evaluation of the Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading program in Boston Public Schools, the Getting Ready for Success college readiness pilot project in Tacoma, Washington, and an exploratory study of college readiness partnerships in Texas. She has been responsible for running site and student recruitment efforts, managing quantitative and qualitative data collection, designing surveys and interview protocols, analyzing program effects, and coauthoring several reports. Before joining MDRC, Sepanik worked as a research intern at Chicago Public Schools, conducting research on student access to quality teaching and supporting efforts to create a school accountability system for the district. She has also taught middle school language arts and social studies. She has an MPP from the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
