Nicassia Belton AA AA
- Bio
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Dr. Nicassia Belton is a strategic leader and architect of accountability ecosystems that center culturally responsive, equitable evaluation, data, and technology use to spark innovation, elevate performance, and catalyze sustainable systems-level change. With over 20 years of experience advancing performance improvement and organizational transformation across federal, state, and nonprofit sectors, she specializes in designing and operationalizing high-impact strategies that expand access, opportunity, and measurable outcomes across education and workforce systems. A human-centered systems thinker and agile project leader, Dr. Belton brings deep expertise in guiding cross-functional teams, leading evaluations, optimizing complex programs and processes, and directing enterprise-level data, accountability, and continuous improvement strategies to convert insight into action. Her work is grounded in leveraging evaluation and inquiry to deepen understanding, uncover systemic inequities, and inform strategies while creating a culture of data stewardship throughout the organization to promote shared accountability for data accuracy, integrity, and appropriate use, internally and externally.
Dr. Belton has served as a Program Officer and Education Research Analyst at the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, where she provided technical leadership and authoritative guidance for the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) program. In this role, she led high-impact initiatives that scaled continuous improvement, advanced equitable research practices, and modernized systems for nationwide dissemination and stakeholder engagement. Previously she was the Vice President of Learning, Evaluation, and Data Management at the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF), where she led the agency’s community-accountable, youth-centered evaluation and data strategy. There, she launched a performance management framework and integrated data platform to enhance transparency, impact measurement, and organizational learning. At the state level, Dr. Belton served as the Director of Data and Accountability for Career and Technical Education at the Maryland State Department of Education. There, she spearheaded the development of statewide accountability frameworks, performance dashboards, and equity monitoring systems serving 25 local education agencies and 16 community colleges. Her leadership advanced the integration of federal and state accountability requirements and supported data-driven decision-making across secondary and postsecondary institutions.
Dr. Belton holds an Ed.D. in Mathematics Education and a B.S. in Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics from Morgan State University, and an M.S. in Mathematics with a specialization in Computational Finance from Purdue University. Her work leverages advanced quantitative methods, agile project management, and human-centered systems thinking to help organizations turn data into action for sustainable systems-level change.
Teaching
Summer 2024
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PROF-650 Evaluation: Quantitative Meth
Fall 2024
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PROF-650 Evaluation: Quantitative Meth