UCI Shines Spotlight on THINK Together's Director of Evaluation

Dr. Jenel Prenovost, Ed.D., THINK Together's Director of Evaluation, is in the spotlight. The Department of Education, University of California Irvine (UCI), frequently spotlights accomplished alums on its website and recently featured Dr. Prenovost.

From the profile:

Graduate An Early Advocate for After-School Programs in Orange County

Jenel received her joint doctorate from UCI-UCLA in 2001. Her dissertation focused on the evaluation of some of the first middle school after school programs in the state. The outcomes of the evaluation were part of just a handful of data available to the California legislature to help determine whether to continue additional funding.

Dr. Prenovost earned her B.A. in Political Science from UC Davis in 1992, where she became engaged and interested in education policymaking during an internship experience in Washington D.C. It was here that she decided her career should start with teaching. After earning her teaching credential and Masters from UCLA in 1992, she taught at both the high school and middle school levels, serving as both a master and a mentor teacher for World History. (See Entire Spotlight Article)

Among other organizations, Jenel is part of the California Afterschool Network's Policy Committee. And she was a participant in the statewide dialogue "Achieving Success for All Students: A Statewide Initiative on Closing the Achievement Gap."

Her research is catalogued as part of the Harvard Family Research Project and that work is cited in several white papers published by the Afterschool Alliance:

• Formal Evaluations of Afterschool Programs’ Impact on Behavior, Safety and Family Life
• Afterschool Candidate Resource Kit 2006
• A Summary of Formal Evaluations of the Academic Impact of Afterschool Programs