Betsy Davies-Mercier

Senior Researcher, SRI Education

Betsy Davies-Mercier, PhD, conducts evaluation and provides technical assistance to address children’s social-emotional and behavioral needs and to support initiatives serving young children with disabilities and the adults who care for them. Her work is guided by a strong foundation in early childhood systems building at the national, state and regional levels. Davies-Mercier has a background in quantitative and qualitative research, including extensive experience with case study design, analysis, and reporting. She has expertise in quality assurance and disseminating research and evaluation findings for a wide range of audiences.

At SRI, Davies-Mercier’s work supports educators in promoting children’s mental health and behavioral competence. She recently led an evaluation of Maine’s infant and early childhood mental health consultation program, and she supported a federal Education Innovation and Research grant focused on developing behavioral competence among children in preschool and kindergarten classrooms through implementation of the Pyramid Model. She is co-principal investigator of an Institute of Education Sciences initial efficacy study of Classcraft, a digital instruction platform that supports teachers in managing classroom behavior and improving student engagement in learning.

Additionally, Davies-Mercier brings innovation to the complex task of evaluating technical assistance. She leads the evaluation activities for the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy Center), which supports state agencies implementing IDEA early intervention and preschool special education programs to collect, analyze, use, and report high-quality data, and she is the external evaluator of the national Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). For the DaSy Center, she also provides technical assistance to state clients and center staff around using data for continuous quality improvement. Davies-Mercier has developed numerous resources to advance the use of data in program improvement efforts, including tools to address the use of exclusionary discipline in early care and education settings. She has supported the production and dissemination of TA resources for the DaSy Center and for the Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia.

Previously, Davies-Mercier led case studies focused on early childhood systems building for the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. She also conducted case studies of the implementation and use of kindergarten entry assessments by early adopters of statewide assessment programs for the U.S. Department of Education. Davies-Mercier holds a PhD from The George Washington University and a BA from Bates College.

Key projects

• Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy Center)
• Initial Efficacy Study of Classcraft
• Evaluation of the Maine Early Childhood Consultation Partnership® (ECCP®) Pilot
• Scaling up Pyramid Model Implementation in Preschool and Kindergarten Classrooms

Selected publications

• DaSy Data Inquiry Cycle