Todd Franke, PhD
Leadership Team
Dr. Todd Franke is a Professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare. Dr. Franke has 27 years of experience in conducting cross-sectional and longitudinal research in a variety of interconnected fields including child welfare, education, juvenile justice, mental health and adolescent violence. His experience includes data analysis (multivariate, predictive analytics, machine learning), data visualization, and linking large existing datasets together for the social good. Over the years Dr. Franke has worked on numerous evaluation projects in these areas and is currently co-editor of the American Evaluation Association journal, New Directions in Evaluation.
In the area of child welfare, he has done work on multiple levels including examining the child welfare system and the related systems involved in the lives of children and families (e.g, health, mental health, juvenile justice, education, housing), workers and worker training, as well as children and families. He has received over $90 million dollars in funding. He recently completed a study examining the link between children in out-of-home care and early childhood education through a project funded by the Administration for Children and Families.
In addition to working with the Center of Excellence at UCLA around Trauma informed practice/training, Dr. Franke currently oversees the training provided to all new and current staff at the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services as well as the cross-training that is beginning to occur between county agencies and for service providers and families.