Our Team

 Professor Emeritus at the University of  Vermont (UVM) where he taught quantitative methods, evaluation design and  leadership development from 1971 through 2013 and served as the director of the James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research.  From 2000 through 2006, while on leave from UVM, he served Vermont as Deputy Commissioner of Education for Assessment and School Improvement.  Bud has designed and conducted program evaluations for a wide range of education and human service programs.     His experience includes twenty studies of state educational and human services programs for Vermont’s Research Partnership and the Jeffords Center as well as fifteen program evaluations carried out as an independent evaluator for Lighthouse Evaluation from 2000 through the present.  The latter focused on the Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) programs of the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Education based in Massachusetts and Vermont.   

 Ruth  retired after a forty-year career at the University of  Vermont, having served in a variety of roles within the University's grant-seeking enterprise, most recently as the University's Associate Vice President for Research Administration.  During her career she advised investigators from a broad range of disciplines in the evaluation, interpretation and management of program and reporting requirements for state and federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education, and various state and private granting agencies.  She has shared her expertise as a presenter for the National Council of University Research Administration (NCURA) and served as a member of NCURA's distance learning faculty. Prior to retirement she led an organization change initiative combining the University's pre-award and post-award grants offices into a single, integrated service unit.  

As Director of Core Research and Evaluation (CRE) for many years Douglas Harris provided professional development and technical assistance to schools, districts, state agencies, and other educational organizations in program evaluation, basic and applied research , standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment as well as common core and new generation science standards implementation. Doug served as a principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent in his more than thirty years as an educational leader. He also served as an investigator on projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and state and local agencies including both a Statewide Systemic Initiative and a statewide Mathematics Science Partnership.  He  served as program evaluator for numerous mathematics/science projects, conducted special education program evaluations, local curriculum audits, and program evaluations nationwide. Doug served on the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Executive Board and as Policy Analyst and President of Vermont ASCD.  

After more than two decades working in small business, non-profit, and education contexts, Stephanie has extensive experience with program implementation and evaluation. Prior to consulting with Lighthouse Evaluation, she worked at The Vermont Institutes, an education non-profit dedicated to supporting school systems to improve learning for all students. While there she served as program manager and coordinator of internal evaluation for The Vermont Mathematics Partnership. She currently works as Director of Assessment, Data, and Accreditation Her expertise includes direct classroom observation using Nicole Saginor's Diagnostic Classroom Observation protocol.