Michelle (Shelly) Sloper is an Associate Professor of Evaluation Practice for the Claremont Evaluation Center (CEC) at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and Co-Director of YDEval (www.ydeval.com) splitting her time between Claremont, CA and Haines, Alaska. Sloper received her PhD in Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University in 2016. Her academic journey at CGU was shaped by an appreciation of the Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspective and the Applied Development Science (ADS) movement.
Since starting evaluation work in 2009, Sloper has served as Evaluation Project Manager, Principal Investigator (PI), or Co-PI for 30+ evaluation projects supervising teams of graduate students and professionals to conduct comprehensive evaluations with diverse program partners across the United States. These evaluations include national evaluations of several youth development initiatives, training and capacity building efforts, programs aiming to reduce hunger among children and college students, youth financial education programs, curriculum materials for middle and high school students, youth sports programming, and access and quality initiatives for early childhood education efforts. She possesses a particular expertise for evaluations of expanded learning programs (e.g., afterschool programs and outside-of-school-time [OST] programs).
Sloper strives to make evaluation useful for her organizational partners and responsive to their needs. Building collaborative relationships with youth-serving organizations is the first step in changing attitudes toward evaluation and promoting the value of evaluation as an important tool for decision-making and continuous quality improvement, as opposed to accountability.
When Sloper is not at her desk, she enjoys being outside, paddle boarding with friends, reading fiction novels, listening to podcasts on long walks, spending time with her family (especially her four incredible nieces), and serving as a School Board Member for the Haines Borough School District. In 2017, Sloper was awarded the Alumni Emerging Leader Award from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Hite, B., Berry, T., Theodorou, E., & Sloper, M. (2026). Evaluating Youth Programs with Intention: Integrating Developmental Research for a Youth-Centered Approach. Journal of Youth Development, 21(1), DOI: 10.5195/jyd.21.01.02
Berry, T., Hite, B., Sloper, M., & Umans, H. (2024). The Role of Evaluation Theory and Practice in Narrowing the Research-to-Practice Gap. American Journal of Evaluation, 45(4), 502-518. DOI: 10.1177/1098214023121352
Berry, T., Bhaskara, S., Sloper, M., Polivy, R., & Thomas, M. (2023). Recruitment and Retention of Girls in Sports: The Critical Role of Parent Engagement. Claremont Evaluation Center, Claremont Graduate University: Claremont, CA. Retrieved from:
https://issuu.com/playequitymovement/docs/full_report_made_to_play_la_neighborhood_parent_en?fr=sOTNiMTYxMjg0Njk
Berry, T., Sloper, M., & Newhouse, C. (2022). California’s Expanded Learning Programs Since Proposition 49 Passed in 2002: Progress, Evidence, & Future Directions. Retrieved from: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qoVrPKxyBC6ebxQTAutlTxrz9YlueVfg/view
Berry, T., & Sloper, M. (2020). Building effective continuous quality improvement systems: The need for evaluative thinking about out-of-school time program quality. In C. Newhouse & C. Russell (Eds.). Measure, Use, Improve! Data Use in Out-of-School Time, Information Age Publishing.
Berry, T., Sloper, M., Pickar, H., & Talbot, H. (2016). Aligning Professional Development to Continuous Quality Improvement: A Case Study of Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond the Bell Branch. International Journal for Research on Extended Education, Special Issue: Extended Education: Professionalization and Professionalism of Staff, 4(1).
Wray-Lake, L. & Sloper, M., (2016). Investigating general and specific links from adolescents’ perceptions of ecological assets to their civic actions. Applied Developmental Science, 20(4), 250-266, doi: 10.1080/10888691.2015.1114888
Applied Developmental Psychology
Evaluation Procedures
Evaluation Procedures Practicum