Shana Metcalf is a research analyst in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute. Her passion lies in program evaluation, applied statistical methods, and translating findings into insights that are digestible and actionable. Her research interests in K–12 education policy include school choice, segregation, and the education-to-workforce pipeline. 

Metcalf’s recent work connects federal data across K–12, postsecondary, and workforce systems to highlight how educational pathways link to labor market outcomes. She also leads data cleaning and preparation for the Education Data Portal, a database that harmonizes major national education datasets to make them more accessible for researchers and policymakers. Across all projects, she brings strong technical expertise to her work advancing equity and improving student outcomes. 

Before joining Urban, Metcalf worked in finance at UBS in New York City and volunteered as a mentor for underserved high school students through uStrive. She holds a BA in economics from Oberlin College and an MPP from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she specialized in education policy and data analytics.