Heather Weiss, Ed.D., is the founder and director of the Global Family Research Project. Weiss writes, speaks, and advises on programs and policies for children and families, and serves on the advisory boards of many public and private organizations. Her recent publications focus on reframing research and evaluation to support continuous improvement and democratic decision making, examining the case for complementary learning from a research and policy perspective, and assessing new ways of providing and evaluating professional development. Weiss is a consultant and advisor to numerous foundations on strategic grantmaking and evaluation and was formerly a senior research associate and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously she was the executive director of the Harvard Family Research Project where she envisioned and worked toward a transformative role in family and community engagement in education reform, early childhood education, and afterschool. She received her doctorate in education and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Yale Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy.