Kyla Wasserman

Research Associate
MDRC

Wasserman is a researcher in the Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and Employment policy area at MDRC. Her responsibilities include designing implementation research studies, conducting qualitative data collection and analysis, delivering technical assistance to programs taking part in MDRC evaluations, and providing overall project management. She was the lead author and implementation researcher for MDRC’s evaluation of a violence-prevention program for young men involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems in Chicago, and she has served as an implementation researcher on other MDRC evaluations of programs for disconnected young adults and those involved in the justice and foster care systems, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Learn and Earn to Achieve Employment (LEAP). Her current projects include the Families Forward Demonstration, an employment program for noncustodial parents who have difficulty paying their child support due to low earnings, and LEAP, a study of two program models being adapted to help young people obtain high school credentials or begin postsecondary education. Wasserman holds a master’s degree in anthropology from the New School for Social Research and a bachelor’s degree from Bard College.