Suyapa Silvia

Suyapa Silvia specializes in program evaluations and policy analysis related to K-12 education. With expertise in project management and the design of national evaluation studies, she leads a team that conducts school-based research on safety, violence prevention, and school health. She also evaluates programs for English language learners, among other topics.

Since joining RTI in 1991, Dr. Silvia has led and contributed to a wide array of projects. Currently, she is involved with several school safety studies for the National Institute of Justice: a national study of emergency preparedness in schools, a follow-up study of student, faculty, and staff comprehension of emergency protocols for violent events, and an assessment of efforts to prevent bullying and violence on school buses. These studies aim to generate practical knowledge that can improve the safety of schools and students nationwide. Previously, she led a randomized controlled trial of a violence prevention program in middle schools for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. In the field of English language learning, Dr. Silvia recently completed a Walmart Foundation-funded evaluation of an English language program for retail workers.