Dr. Stephanie Baird Wilkerson founded Magnolia Consulting in 2002 because of her drive to cultivate learning and positive change through education (the heart of Magnolia’s mission). Starting as a preschool teacher, her love of learning and helping students led her to pursue a career in research and program evaluation. Since 1991, Stephanie has worked on national, state, and local evaluation and research studies involving schools at every level, from preschool to higher education. Working in collaboration with clients, classroom teachers, school and district administrators, state education leaders, and students, she has studied implementation and outcomes associated with math, science, English language, and literacy programs. As part of the Regional Educational Laboratory program, since 1998 Stephanie has led collaborative research-practitioner partnerships with school districts and state departments of education, developed comprehensive measurement tools, provided research-based technical assistance and coaching, and served as the principal investigator for large-scale research and evaluation studies.
As President of Magnolia Consulting, Stephanie manages a large portfolio of work, oversees a highly skilled team of employees, and communicates with a wide range of clients who represent state departments of education, federal education agencies, non-profit organizations, the private sector, and the education community. She has expertise in qualitative and quantitative methodologies and research methods, program evaluation, meta-analyses, program planning and development, multilevel modeling, qualitative data analysis, logic model development, instrument construction, and infographics. She earned a Ph.D. in Research, Evaluation & Statistics at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, where she has taught introductory and advanced program evaluation courses for graduate students.
As part of her dedication to creating a balanced, high-quality life, Stephanie enjoys international travel, yoga, meditation, cross-country skiing, kayaking, and horseback riding. But she revels most in the simple, precious moments with her husband and two sons.
