Caitlin Howley
Caitlin offers more than 20 years of experience in research, program evaluation, and technical assistance to improve outcomes for young people through the programs that serve them. Her areas of expertise include rural education, education equity, broadening the participation of historically underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); college access and success; and agency and evaluation capacity building.
In her current role, Caitlin conducts multimethod research and evaluation for various education and child welfare projects. Her recent work includes the Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative's Center for States and the National Science Foundation-supported First2 Network. She also provides technical assistance to state education agency clients of the U.S. Department of Education’s Region 8 Comprehensive Center.
Caitlin previously served as director of the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center; led evaluation for the Appalachia Eisenhower Regional Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education; provided evaluation services to the Region IV Comprehensive Center; and served as a research and evaluation specialist with the Appalachia Educational Laboratory.
Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Evaluation; the Journal of Appalachian Studies; the Journal of Research on Rural Education; the Peabody Journal of Education; and Educational Foundations. She also received the 2006 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Rural Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association.
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Ph.D., Sociology, Temple University
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Howley, C.W., & Redding, S. (Eds.). (2021). Cultivating rural education: A people-focused approach for states. Information Age Publishing.
- Howley, C.W., & Sturges, K. (2018). Building capacity in state education agencies: Using organizational theory to guide technical assistance. Journal of Organizational Theory in Education, 3(1), 1-19.
- Sturges, K., & Howley, C.W. (2017). Responsive metaevaluation: Balancing evaluator capacity and evaluation quality. American Journal of Evaluation, 38(1), 126-137.
- Howley, C.W., Johnson, J., Passa, A., & Uekawa, K. (2014). Descriptive analysis of college enrollment in rural Pennsylvania. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic.
- Howley, C.W., Chavis, B., & Kester, J. (2013). “Like human beings”: Responsive relationships and institutional flexibility at a rural community college. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 28(8), 1-14.
- Howley, C.W. (2006). Remote possibilities: Rural children’s educational aspirations. Peabody Journal of Education, 81(2), 62-80.