Charles Smith, PhD.

Charles is the Executive Director of the Weikart Center and the Vice President of Research at the Forum.

In addition to guiding the Weikart Center’s portfolio of work on quality accountability systems and policy, Charles leads the Centers work on metrics and evaluation of program change interventions. Charles Smith manages youth-level research, training and consulting and direct service. Now as director of the Center, he guides the Center’s portfolio of work on quality accountability systems and policy and leads the Centers work on performance metrics and other areas of related research. He has served as principal investigator for the Youth Program Quality Validation study (completed in 2005) and the Youth Program Quality Intervention, an ongoing randomized trial for a data driven performance change intervention.

Previously, Charles coordinated a longitudinal evaluation of the Michigan School Readiness Program for High/Scope. His current policy and consulting focus is on development of quality accountability and improvement systems in education and human service organizations.

His current research includes observational assessment methodology and modeling multi-level relationships between setting characteristics and individual outcomes.

Charles pursued an undergraduate focus on early development of the welfare state, an M.A. focus on adult learning and completed a Ph.D. in Public Policy, all at Wayne State University. He received his degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit with primary concentrations in welfare state history, urban planning and education policy. While at Wayne State, he co-founded and implemented the Youth Urban Agenda Civic Literacy Project, an ongoing civic learning initiative for secondary and undergraduate students.