Tiffany Berry is a full research professor in the Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences. She is a core faculty member in two concentrations: Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation and Applied Research Methods. She regularly teaches and provides research supervision to master’s and doctoral students in both concentrations. In addition, she is an active educational program evaluator and associate director at the Claremont Evaluation Center (CEC) at CGU.
Berry received her PhD from Claremont Graduate University in Developmental Psychology & Evaluation, specializing in the development of intrinsic motivation among youth who participate in after-school programs. This research led to her working as an Internal Evaluation Consultant for one of the nation’s largest after-school programs, Los Angeles’s Better Educated Students for Tomorrow (LA’s BEST). This experience highlighted the importance of using evaluation to collaborate authentically with front-line practitioners as well as the need to connect developmental science to real-world practice. Not only do programs have the potential to become stronger through evaluation, but developmental theory can be strengthened by contextualizing program strategies and measuring youth development in context.
Berry’s research stems from her experience evaluating educational programs that aim to improve developmental and educationally significant outcomes among children and adolescents. She has established multi-year partnerships with several programs, including after-school, college readiness, social-emotional learning, early childhood education, youth sports, teacher professional development, and educational curricula. She regularly examines the theoretical foundation in which they are based, the quality of program implementation, and program impact. Evaluation findings are used to identify effective strategies for optimizing positive outcomes, drive organizational improvement, and satisfy accountability requirements. These partnerships also afford graduate students experiential training opportunities to learn the scientific practice of evaluation, how to collaborate effectively with diverse practitioners and become fluent in the bi-directionality between theory and practice.
Since 2004, Berry and her students have disseminated their evaluations broadly. She has published more than 75 technical evaluation reports, published peer-reviewed articles in leading evaluation journals (American Journal of Evaluation and New Directions for Evaluation) and youth development journals (Journal of Early Adolescence), and presented her findings at scientific and practitioner conferences. In 2014, Berry was invited to serve as a member of the Evaluation and Research Advisory Committee (ERAC) with the After-school Division of the California Department of Education.
Berry, T., Sloper, M., & Newhouse, C., (2022). California’s Expanded Learning Programs Since Proposition 49 Passed in 2002, Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, USC. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont, CA.
Berry, T., & Sloper, M. (2020). Building effective continuous quality improvement systems: The need for evaluative thinking about out-of-school time program quality. In Measure, Use, Improve! Data Use in Out-of-School Time. Information Age Publishing. C. Newhouse & C. Russell (Eds.).
Berry, T., Teachanarong, L., Sloper, M., Dym-Bartlett, J. & Steber, K. (2018). Promising Practices for Building Protective and Promotive Factors to Prevent Poor Outcomes in Youth for the LA’s BEST: Protective Factors Afterschool Project, Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Berry, T., Sloper, M., Pickar, H., Talbot, H. (2016). Aligning Professional Development to Promote Program Quality: A Case Study of Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond the Bell Branch. International Journal for Research on Extended Education, Special Issue: Extended Education: Professionalization and Professionalism of Staff, 4, 65–84.
Berry, T., & Teachanarong, L.R. (2015). Lessons Learned from Gunn High School: Main Findings + Recommendations + Next Steps for Survey Development for the Youth Empowerment Seminar. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Berry, T., Wanzer, D., Sloper, M., Rykaczewska, A. (2015). An Evaluation of After-School All-Stars, Los Angeles: Final Report. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Berry, T., Teachanarong, L.R., Buttitta, K., Pickar, H., Beckmann, B. (2015). An Evaluation of Project GRAD Los Angeles GEARUP: Final Report September 2015. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Berry, T. & Lamar, K., & Fayles, C. (2015). An evaluation of Montebello Unified School District’s Extended Learning Opportunity Program (ELO) in 14/15: Final Report. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Edwards, K. & Berry, T. (2014). Annual Evaluation of Early Childhood Education Professional Learning Communities (ECEPLC) 2013/2104. Los Angeles County Office of Education: Downey, CA.
Berry, T. & Sloper, M. (2014). Strategic Evaluation Plan for Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond the Bell Branch. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA.
Berry, T. & LaVelle, B.K. (2013). Comparing Socio-Emotional Outcomes for Early Adolescents who Join After School for Internal or External Reasons. Journal of Early Adolescence, 33, 77–103.
Eddy, R.M. & Berry, T. (2009). The evaluator’s role in recommending program closure: A model for decision making and professional responsibility. American Journal of Evaluation, 30, 363–376.
Berry, T. & Eddy, R.M. (2008). Consequences of No Child Left Behind for Educational Evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, 117.
Berry, T. & Arruda, E. (2008). Risk factors, protective factors, and development. In N. Salkind (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology. New York: Sage Publications.
Berry, T. (2003). Special report on the 21st century community learning centers program national evaluation, The Evaluation Exchange: A Periodical on Emerging Strategies in Evaluating Child and Family Services, 9, 12–13.
Applied Developmental Psychology
Evaluation Procedures
Evaluating Youth-Focused Programs
Evaluation Practicum
Directed Research: Evaluation and Applied Research Methods