Salem Valentino is the Senior Director of Research and Evaluation at the Forum for Youth Investment’s Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. Salem brings over 15 years of experience conducting applied research on adolescent well-being, youth program effectiveness and mentoring, as well as within K-12 educational settings focused on math and reading interventions, special education services, and professional development.  Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Research and Evaluation for FullBloom, a national educational services contract provider where she reviewed program effectiveness for tens of thousands of students and teachers across 1,100 District partners. Prior to joining FullBloom, Salem oversaw research departments for two national mentoring organizations, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Summer Search. In those roles she led teams through all aspects of applied research, from building logic models and identifying measures through data interpretation and application, as well as convened research advisory boards and coordinated bi-directional research-to-practice pipelines in partnership with practitioners and youth.

Having been embedded within national youth-serving organizations for the length of her career, Salem uses this insight to review and guide the research and evaluation processes embodied by the Forum’s Weikart Center with the aim of strengthening youth programming and promoting positive outcomes for all youth.

Salem has her doctorate in applied developmental science from Colorado State University. She lives in Philadelphia where she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, attempting to cook and reading non-fiction.