“CIRCL generates, and advances ideas aimed at providing access to quality of life for everyone.”
Melodie is currently the National Policy Director at Just Equations–an independent resource on math opportunity. As a nationally recognized education leader and advocate, she has devoted her career to advancing education opportunities for disadvantaged students.
Baker has chaired various national, state and local coalitions, including Raising New York, The Coalition for Community Schools, and the Erie/Niagara Birth to 8 Coalition. She directs the research and evaluation effort for the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s First 1000 Days on Medicaid Initiative, headed by the New York State Department of Health, and was recently tapped to serve on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Reimagining Education Advisory Council to devise strategies for re-opening schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Melodie earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Buffalo State College in 2005, a Master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Change from Daemen College in 2009, an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistical Analysis from SUNY-Buffalo in 2019 and is finishing up a PhD in Educational Psychology and Quantitative Statistics also at the University at Buffalo.