Robert Fischer

Robert Fischer

[email protected]


Cleveland
Center Co-Director

Robert L. Fischer,M.P.P., Ph.D., in Policy Development & Program Evaluation,Center Co-Director, MSASS Research Associate Professor

Robert L. Fischer is a Research Associate Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University. He is also Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development at MSASS, and leads the Center’s efforts in regard to evaluation research. Dr. Fischer leads a range of evaluation research studies and teaches evaluation methods to students in social science administration and nonprofit management. Since 2001 he has led the Center’s research on Invest in Children, a county-wide early childhood initiative that includes home visiting, children’s health, and child care components. From 1994-2001, Dr. Fischer served as Director of Program Evaluation for Families First, a nonprofit family and children's agency in metropolitan Atlanta, conducting evaluations of family interventions dealing with issues such as divorce, teen pregnancy and parenting, and homelessness.

 

Dr. Fischer has presented the findings from his research at national and international conferences in the evaluation and social work and nonprofit research fields and has published these results in various professional journals. Dr. Fischer is an active member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and served for six years as president of the Ohio Program Evaluators’ Group, a state-wide organization of evaluation professionals. He has served as an evaluation methods consultant in such areas as social work intervention, organ donation promotion, faith-based programming, and minority health programming. He is the 2011 recipient of the Roberta O’Keefe Service Award from the Ohio Program Evaluators’ Group and a 2006 recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award from the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations. Dr. Fischer received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in policy development and program evaluation and holds a masters degree from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education, and a bachelors degree from Duke University, both in public policy studies.
Interests
 
  • Evaluation of social/behavioral interventions in regard to delivery and effectiveness
  • Nonprofit program research and outcome measurement
  • Policy context and using data to inform movements in social welfare field
Issue Expertise: School Readiness, Performance Measurement, Community Indicator Projects, Child and Youth Well-being