Staff & External Partners

Dr. Martone is a Senior Evaluator at SmartStart Evaluation and Research. She received her PhD and her MSW from Loyola University Chicago’s School of Social Work. Jessica was a research fellow and is currently a research affiliate for the Institute for Migration and International Social Work. Jessica has been involved with immigration and education focused research projects. Prior to SmartStart, Jessica was an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University Chicago teaching undergraduate and graduate level social work courses. In addition she worked as a consultant conducting research and evaluation.

Dr. Kohne received her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Irvine/Los Angeles with a specialization in program analysis and evaluation. She is the founder of SmartStart and has conducted numerous formative and summative evaluations and impact studies involving K-12 students and adult participants using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Dr. Kohne has served as a Board of Institutional Review member for Cal State-Channel Islands and Cal State-Bakersfield. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemical sciences from Hope College in Holland, MI and a master’s degree in educational administration from Cal State-Fullerton. Prior to founding SmartStart, Dr. Kohne served as a high school science teacher and school site administrator in the Garden Grove Unified School district for 17 years and an adjunct faculty member at University of California, Irvine.

Ms. Schmalstig earned her M.A. in Applied Developmental Psychology and Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University and her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Pitzer College. Her evaluation interests are focused on educational projects with a specific emphasis on assessing programs that help underserved students get to and through college. Her previous work experiences include managing research studies related to teaching and learning as well as assisting on various types of evaluations, including capacity building.