Prior to establishing the Shaffer Evaluation Group, Dr. Shaffer was the Evaluation Manager for NASA's Office of Education and Vice President of the Educational Policy Institute. She has led over forty educational program evaluations ranging from national evaluation studies conducted for federal agencies including the Library of Congress and the President's Committee for the Arts and the Humanities to smaller-scale research and evaluation studies for state educational agencies and school districts. Dr. Shaffer specializes in the evaluation of educator professional development and district-based reform initiatives, especially in the subject areas of reading/literacy, mathematics, and STEM. Dr. Shaffer contributed to several important state and national policy studies, including the 2008 National Council on Disability progress report to the President on The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She also served on STEM evaluation federal interagency working groups in K-12 education convened by the Obama White House administration. Prior to her career in evaluation, she was an art educator in museums across the United States and Canada. Dr. Shaffer earned a Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership at the College of William & Mary and a M.A. in Curriculum Studies at the University of Toronto.