Marycruz Diaz has devoted two decades to conducting research and evaluation studies of education and community-based programs, spanning the federal, state, county, district, and school levels. Her work identifies the key areas that clients can address to improve the effectiveness of their programs.
Diaz has directed studies of college affordability advising, college and career readiness, after-school programs, alternative school environments, and teacher professional development. She has overseen the development of study designs, strategic plans, data collection tools, and reporting.
Diaz has extensive experience studying charter schools. She oversees the Charter School Programs Developer project that monitors federally funded charter schools nationally in regards to their fidelity to the program, program quality, and fiscal accountability. In this capacity, Diaz leads monitoring teams that collect data and produce comprehensive reports of findings for the U.S. Department of Education.
Diaz has produced various resources for education practitioners, such as tools to support evaluation capacity and continuous improvement. She developed online training modules on family engagement and community partnerships for after-school practitioners. She has delivered research-based technical assistance to states and districts to support reform.
Diaz received an MA in social sciences in education from Stanford University and a BA in sociology and Spanish from the University of California, Davis.