Wayne Mayfield
Dr. Wayne A. Mayfield is Associate Director of Research at the Institute of Public Policy, Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. His professional interests include measurement and evaluation, particularly in the early childhood and youth development arenas.
In December 2021, he was named to the National Workforce Registry Alliance Advisory Committee. Dr. Mayfield and Ikhee Cho wrote the bi-annual report that combines the early childhood and school-age workforce registry data from fourteen states (The National Workforce Registry Alliance 2021 Workforce Dataset: Early Childhood and School-Age Workforce Trends with a Focus on Racial/Ethnic Equity).
Since 2019, he has worked with Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to evaluate the $33.5 million Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five. Awarded by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, the purpose of the grant is to help the state coordinate a more effective, high-quality early learning system for Missouri’s children and families.
Since 2013, Dr. Mayfield has worked with DESE and the Missouri Afterschool Network to develop a comprehensive statewide evaluation system for federally funded afterschool programs in Missouri. Other recent research and evaluation projects include the Greater Kansas City Early Care and Education Childhood Landscape Study (a detailed survey of early childhood and child care programs in metropolitan Kansas City), Learn the Signs, Act Early (an applied research project that investigated the implementation of a developmental monitoring program aimed at families who use WIC services), and a report for the National Workforce Registry Alliance examining early childhood and school-age workforce characteristics (based on professional registry data from fourteen states).
Prior to working at IPP, Dr. Mayfield was Director of the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA). He has also worked as a research and policy analyst at the Center for Family Policy and Research (University of Missouri) (2001-2010) and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (University of Missouri) (2010-2012).
