Our Team
Dynamic, friendly education program researchers and evaluators working together to serve education throughout the country.
Rachel McCormick,
President & Co-Director
.png)
Rachel is President of MC² Education, which she opened in 2021 after more than 15 years leading education research, evaluation, and technical assistance at a national scale. She now supports evaluations and data systems for locally designed and implemented education solutions throughout the country. Prior to opening MC² Education, Rachel worked at Abt Associates, serving as the Project Director for Abt’s largest portfolio of projects with the United States Department of Education, providing evaluation technical assistance to over 200 Investing in Innovation and Education Innovation and Research grant evaluators. She contributes to national studies of educational program effectiveness and impact at scale. One of Rachel’s most difficult and rewarding jobs to date was teaching (preschool and kindergarten) for three years. She deeply respects teachers and their essential role as the backbone of our education system. Rachel also understands the nuances of school operations, finances, and leadership systems, having served on the governing council of a public charter school in the south valley of Albuquerque.
Jacqueline Mendez,
Co-Director
.png)
Jackie is Co-Director of MC² Education and has been a part of the team since 2022. Ms. Mendez began her career in early childhood education and special education working with ethnically and linguistically diverse children and families in a variety of settings. She believes in the importance of bringing an equity and culturally responsive lens to her work. She is a qualitative researcher with over 15 years of experience conducting applied research at the national, state, and local levels in the areas of early education and care and K-12 education with a particular focus on dual language learners. She has recruited for lottery studies and quasi-experiments with great success given her capacity to identify and communicate how participants benefit from a study/project. Ms. Mendez is skilled in engaging various stakeholder groups and collecting data in dual language settings. She is an expert trainer in various child assessments and classroom observations in English and Spanish.
Liah Watt,
Senior Analyst
.png)
Liah, a Senior Analyst at MC² Education, is an early childhood specialist who believes that equitable education policy and educational opportunity are vital for children’s health and development. She also has lasting interests in clinical healthcare delivery, greenspace, and the built environment’s effect on health. Liah got her Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Gender Studies from Wellesley College, and her Masters of Public Health in maternal and child health from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Through her background in hard science, her time in medical research, and her public health training, she has built a love for mixed-methods research and pairing good data with participant voice. Her public health background also means that she loves zooming out and looking at context and how systems interact. When she is not helping to manage projects, build out data dashboards, write reports and materials, and perform other research tasks at MC², she is working through her to-be-read sections on her overflowing bookshelf and trying to perfect her mother's masala chai recipe.
Ben Steiner, Senior Consultant
.png)
Ben is a Research, Evaluation and Business Development Consultant for MC². After teaching for 11 years in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque Public Schools, Ben left the classroom to pursue an education doctorate at the University of New Mexico with a focus on game-based design. He has extensive experience in curriculum planning, employee organizing and advocacy, and promoting student leadership. He serves as a consultant on many of our projects at MC², specializing in relationship management, copyediting, data systems and user-friendly design. Ben always strives to incorporate student, educator, and community voices into research projects. He spends his free time with his wife and two young children, playing soccer when he can. (He also originally built this website!).
Elisabet R. García,
Researcher & Marketing Specialist
.png)
Elisabet is a Research and Marketing Associate with MC² Education. She also has a career as a Global Education DEI Specialist working in international education. In all cases, she pursues her mission to better support historically underserved students access more equitable education and learning opportunities. Elisabet attained her B.A. in Anthropology from UC Santa Cruz and has conducted ethnographic work in the U.S., Mexico, and the Dominican Republic on the impacts of immigration and language across borders and generations. In addition to this, she has worked on-site experiential education programs in each of these countries supporting students across a diverse range of racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. She is also the co-founder of the ExchangeAlumni Ambassador Program, a nationwide outreach program that promotes international exchange to historically underserved communities throughout the U.S.
Mariano Fernandez,
Business Manager & Data Analyst
.png)
Mariano Fernandez is our team's Business Manager & Data Analyst who helps operate daily business functions and create strategic approaches to our client needs. Mariano was a first-generation student who’s now on a mission to support other underrepresented students. Born in Albuquerque, he lived on the San Felipe Reservation in his early years. He grew up attending Albuquerque public schools and San Felipe schools where he explored his interests in guitar, weight training, and economics. After obtaining his BA in Economics and BBA in Finance, he is continuing his education at The University of New Mexico (UNM) in the MBA program. His favorite part about working with MC² Education LLC is the opportunity at inspiring change to education policy and protocol that has lasting effects on how education programs are used to serve underrepresented students.
Affiliated Specialists
We partner with Independent Specialists
on a variety of our projects.
Beth Gamse,
Education Evaluation Leader
& Consultant
.png)
Dr. Beth Gamse (she/her), MC² Affiliate and Independent Consultant, is an experienced education evaluation leader. She has worked with federal, state, local, philanthropic, and non-profit partners to design and conduct program and policy studies. Dr. Gamse has conducted studies across diverse content areas, school/district reform efforts, and policy initiatives--the majority of which address implementation and impact of initiatives to improve educational outcomes for underserved students, teacher preparation and evaluation, transitions to postsecondary college and career, improvements to afterschool and expanded learning, and research-practice partnerships. She has an Ed.D from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Lawrence Bernstein,
Design, Analysis, &
Evaluation Consultant
.png)
Lawrence consults on design, analysis, and overall evaluation approach for MC² . He has over 30 years of experience in program evaluation and statistical data analysis. Lawrence has designed and implemented a range of evaluations of national, state, and local programs intended to improve academic outcomes for elementary and secondary students. Lawrence’s major areas of research include high school reform, college access programs, elementary/secondary education, and student mentoring programs. His areas of specialization include the design of complex research studies involving experimental random assignment and quasi-experimental designs, and multivariate statistical analysis, such as hierarchical linear modeling and longitudinal growth curve modeling.
Ruth Júarez,
Data Analyst & Visualization Consultant
.png)
Ruth Juárez is a Data Analyst and Visualization Consultant for MC². Ruth brings her deep expertise developing data dashboards to support several nonprofits and state-led efforts to understand program impact to her work as a consultant with MC² Education. Ruth's interactive dashboards allow the consumer to improve their understanding of complex and nuanced social issues that a static table or graph cannot convey. Her formal training in physics and chemistry add to the rigor she employs in every task. Her newer studies in equity and data sovereignty help her deploy products that are grounded in respect and inclusion. In all, she brings her experience of eight years to this work with MC² Education.
Carla Nieto,
Accountant Consultant
.png)
Carla is an accounting consultant for MC². Carla keeps the business end of our work running smoothly. Carla has over 10 years of experience in financial accounting. She completed her Master of Accounting (MACCT) from the University of New Mexico, Anderson School of Management. With a robust background spanning over a decade in both government and nonprofit sectors. Carla has worked with nonprofit organizations in grant management and financial and accounting planning. She brings substantial expertise and experience in the nonprofit accounting arena. Carla has a deep connection and commitment to her community and, in her free time, has volunteered for Income Tax Assistance/Counseling for the Elderly programs offering free essential tax returns. She was also the Treasurer of the board of South Valley Academy, her alma mater.
Deborah Good,
Evaluation and Organizational Learning Consultant
.png)
Deborah is co-founder of Good Insights Consulting. For more than 15 years, Deborah has explored how community-based research and evaluation can inform program, policy, and practice in a variety of settings. She partners with schools and nonprofits in using meaningful data to deepen their organizational learning. She currently serves as the Research, Evaluation, and Assessment Coordinator for Oregon State University’s Outdoor School.