About MDRC
Wulfsohn currently works on the operations team for the Building Bridges and Bonds project, a study of innovative fatherhood programs. She is the primary liaison with one of the program developers for the project. Previously she headed up the technical assistance efforts for High 5s and Making Pre-K Count. As a licensed psychologist, she integrates a clinical perspective into her work that is both research- and policy-relevant. She has more than 15 years of experience in providing coaching and mental health consultation to home visiting and early childhood education programs. Before working at MDRC, Wulfsohn successfully developed and oversaw a statewide effort in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education to provide mental health coaching to home visiting programs (targeting children from birth through age 3) and prekindergarten programs throughout Illinois. There she demonstrated her leadership in an effort that enhanced the capabilities of early childhood professionals, built a workforce of mental health coaches statewide, and provided a model for other states to expand coaching in early childhood systems. Wulfsohn received an MS in human development and a PhD in human development and school psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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MDRC Publications
BriefThe Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) Study
April, 2017This practitioner brief describes three new approaches in the B3 evaluation of enhancements to Responsible Fatherhood programs: a cognitive behavioral workshop that builds skills for employment stability; Just Beginning, an interactive approach to high-quality parenting; and DadTime, a mobile app to encourage active participation by fathers with their children.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Almost 42 percent of third-grade students in Philadelphia are reading at or above grade level — which means that about 58 percent are reading below that level. For elementary school students, reading proficiency is critical not only for doing well in school, but for remaining in school in the future.
The official poverty rate for the U.S. population is high, at 13.5 percent, and the rate among children is higher still, at 19.7 percent.
Shira Kolnik Mattera, Sharon Huang, Seth Muzzy, Jocelyn Page, Samantha Wulfsohn, Marissa Strassberger, Amena Sengal, Mirjana PralicaThe High 5s project is part of the Robin Hood Early Childhood Research Initiative, a partnership between MDRC and the Robin Hood Foundation focused on improving the life trajectories of low-income children in New York City.
Virginia Knox, Cindy Redcross, Dan Bloom, JoAnn Hsueh, Rekha Balu, Dina A. R. Israel, Erika Lundquist, Electra Small, Michelle S. Manno, Rebecca Behrmann, Samantha Wulfsohn, Ann Bickerton, Douglas Phillips, Patrizia Mancini, Erin Jacobs Valentine, Emily Brennan, Charlotte O’HerronFathers play a unique role in their children’s lives and development, but some fathers face personal or societal barriers to positive involvement with their children — such as low levels of education, stigma from criminal records, declining wages for low-skilled men, or family instability.
Barbara S. Goldman, Sharon Huang, Shira Kolnik Mattera, Michelle Maier, Lyndsay McDonough, Seth Muzzy, Jocelyn Page, Electra Small, Samantha Wulfsohn, Marissa Strassberger, Amena Sengal, Mirjana PralicaMaking Pre-K Count is the result of a partnership between MDRC and the Robin Hood Foundation whose goal is to build evidence about ways to improve the life trajectories of children living in poverty in New York City. The partnership’s first project focuses on improving preschool children’s math skills.