Christine Leicht
Christine leads the design and implementation of complex evaluations such as understanding outcomes for organizational change and implementation support, the influence of technical assistance, the extent of target audience reach as a result of dissemination, and the causal impact of support for at-risk youth. Through evaluation capacity building, empowerment evaluation, and developmental evaluation, she supports organizations to participate effectively in the evaluation process, ensure their services have clear theory and are evaluable, and use results to improve service delivery effectiveness.
Christine currently leads the evaluation of the Children’s Bureau’s Capacity Building Center for States, which works to support state-level public child welfare agencies in improving safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families. This evaluation aims to understand the pathways through which capacity building and implementation support can position agencies to improve their practice and improve long term outcomes. She also helps evaluate the Child Welfare Information Gateway and the Children’s Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Study of Prenatal Alcohol and Other Drug Exposures in Child Welfare.
Previously, Christine evaluated federal technical assistance centers such as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center and the U.S. Department of Education’s Reform Support Network. She also led a randomized controlled trial for Communities in Schools, Inc., a national dropout prevention program. She directed mixed methods evaluations of programs to support youth outside of school, such as an internet safety program, a program for at-risk youth, and evaluations of local programs to support youth with service learning or literacy. Christine holds a Master of Arts from Wake Forest University and a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Tech.
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Leicht, C., Pho, H., Campbell, K., Wang, K., Deweese, T., Ferreras, D., Michalski, B., Loyco, K., (2020). Capacity Building Center for States final evaluation report: Fiscal years 2015–2019 [Technical Report]. Washington, DC: Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Wang, K., Cowley, K., Leicht, C., MacDonald, A., Deweese, T., Kennedy, L., Ferreras, D., Eaton., Michalski, B., Loyco, K., (2020). Understanding fidelity to the Center for States’ Tailored Services Capacity Building Practice Model [Technical Report]. Washington, DC: Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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DeSantis, J., Leicht, C., Lucero, N., (2019, August). An Evaluator’s Balancing Act: Juggling the Conflicting Roles of Developmental Evaluation and Independent Evaluation. Panel presentation at the National Child Welfare Evaluation Summit, Washington, DC.
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Leicht, C., Deakins, B., Vanyukevych, N (2017, November). Working together to monitor progress: Empowering agency improvement through evaluation capacity building. Paper presented at American Evaluation Association, Washington, DC.
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Leicht, C., Clawson, H., Porowski, A., (2010). Randomized Controlled Trial of Communities in Schools, Jacksonville, FL: Final Report. Prepared for Communities in Schools, Inc and Atlantic Philanthropies.
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Fleeson, W., Leicht, C. (2006). On delineating and integrating the study of variability and stability in personality psychology: Interpersonal trust as illustration. Journal of Research in Personality, 40 (1), 5-20.
