Senior Education Researcher, SRI Education
Wei-Bing Chen, PhD, focuses on early childhood development, school readiness, family support and engagement, and improving outcomes for disadvantaged children. She has experience evaluating a wide range of school- and community-based programs (including in non-early childhood content areas) using both quantitative and qualitative methods. She also provides technical assistance (TA) to state and local clients, increasing their capacity for evaluation, program implementation, and systems-building.
From 2020 to 2022, Chen was the Deputy Director of the National Technical Assistance Center for Preschool Development Grants Birth through 5 (PDG B-5 TA), funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. She is an expert on coordinating eligibility and enrollment into early childhood programs as a strategy for systems-building.
Her prior projects include assisting Oregon in implementing their PDG B-5 initial grant, an evaluation of an early literacy initiative funded by the McKnight Foundation in Minnesota, a feasibility study of using the Pay for Success model to fund preschool quality enhancement in Minnesota, and an evaluation of a newly implemented centralized system of supports for evidence-based home visiting program staff in Washington. She also conducted an evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of two of Minnesota’s Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge programs, developed an online guide to reducing preschool suspensions and expulsions, and provided technical assistance and evaluation services to programs supporting early childhood development in San Mateo County, California.
Before joining SRI, Chen developed and implemented a visuospatial fine-motor-skills intervention in an after-school setting, examined the effects of the pre-referral intervention team process on elementary student and teacher outcomes, and evaluated community-based programs supporting kinship caregivers and families who adopted children with disabilities. She began her career as a paraprofessional in a school for children with severe emotional disorders in need of intensive residential or day treatment.
She earned her PhD in educational psychology-applied developmental science from the University of Virginia, and BA in psychology and molecular cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Key projects
Recent publications
more +Selected publications
- Evaluation of the Oakland Health Pathways Project: Final Report
- Who gets what? Describing the non‐supervisory training and supports received by home visiting staff members and its relationship with turnover
- Student Experiences in Health Pathways. Findings from an Evaluation of Oakland Health Pathways