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Linda Toms Barker, M.A., is a Principal Analyst at Berkeley Policy Associates with 30 years of experience in public policy research and program evaluation across areas such as employment and training policy, disability policy, education, and community service programs. As Project Director and Principal Investigator for dozens of studies, she has drawn on her expertise in identifying innovations and effective practices, developing standards and benchmarks for measuring program performance, estimating the benefit-cost of different program strategies, and assessing the replicability and transferability of program models and strategies. Her work on over 75 projects at BPA has emphasized linkages from research to practice. She has developed performance standards, evaluation criteria, and reporting systems for state/federal VR programs, RSA-funded discretionary grant programs, JTPA programs, family literacy programs, IDEA Research to Practice programs, and educational technology programs. She also specializes in facilitating workgroups and strategic planning processes, development of training and replication materials, providing training and technical assistance, and conducting workshops and seminars.
Ms. Toms Barker currently serves as Principal Analyst and Survey Team Leader for the Evaluation of Generation I of the Workforce Innovation Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative. She also is Project Director of one of BPA's two technical assistance contracts to provide DOL regional offices with support in serving dislocated workers. Recently, she directed another DOL contract providing technical assistance to ETA's Business Relations Group to support dissemination and replication efforts of the High Growth Job Training Initiative and Community-Based Job Training programs.
Ms. Toms Barker also led BPA's recent technical assistance efforts for DOL focusing on improving access to workforce investment services for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). These projects included Improving Job Corps Services and Support to LEP and Hispanic Youth, developing an ESL/VESL Program Guide for Job Corps, and developing a Technical Assistance Guide for Dislocated Workers Requiring Multicultural Service Strategies. She also directed two related DOL research projects, one which developed a Special Census Tabulation of LEP Populations, and another that calculated Cost Estimates for Implementation of LEP Initiatives in the Workforce System to Ensure Compliance with DOL Guidance. For the last study, Ms. Toms Barker worked with DOL staff to develop the findings from this study into a report to Congress.
Previously, Ms. Toms Barker contributed to two other DOL technical assistance guides to improve services provided in One-Stop Career Centers, including Services for Employed Workers Under the Workforce Investment Act and the Technical Assistance Guide Addressing Health Care Workers Skill Shortages. Ms. Toms Barker has served as key staff for dozens of national studies of employment services for people with disabilities. One of the more recent examples was the Evaluation of Department of Labor Disability Employment Grants Services to Individuals with Disabilities.
Ms. Toms Barker holds a Master's Degree in Health Services Administration from Antioch University West and a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from University of California, Riverside.
