Sophie Bright

Sophie Bright supports education clients in developing and implementing evidence-based strategies, including field-facing dissemination plans, internal learning agendas, and coaching and training practices. She has 10 years of experience as a K–12 educator, postsecondary practitioner, and consultant.

Since joining Mathematica in 2022, Bright has served as the project director for the Walton Family Foundation’s Causal Pathways Initiative Planning project. She led the planning for a series of projects related to the foundation’s Causal Pathways Initiative that focus on using participatory approaches, theory-based evaluation, and Bayesian interpretation to develop research agendas, better understand causal pathways, and communicate practical research findings. She also supported the foundation’s Innovation Learning Partner project, which focused on co-developing and executing an iterative learning agenda across the foundation’s investments in innovative K–12 education strategies. Currently, Bright serves as a deputy partnership lead on the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic project. She has led a variety of evidence-based, practitioner-informed dissemination tasks for state education agencies and foundations, including a dynamic set of handouts for the Pennsylvania Department of Education on taking an organizational approach to social-emotional wellness, and a series of engaging at-a-glance documents and implementation guides for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework Dissemination project.

A native Michigander, Bright began her career as a middle school English teacher in Detroit through the Teach For America program before transitioning to the postsecondary sector to serve as a Crisis Support Coordinator. Before joining Mathematica, she worked in government strategy consulting for a large professional services firm. Bright holds a B.A. in English and psychology and an M.P.P. in social policy, both from the University of Michigan.