Dennis Zeller, Ph.D

Dennis Zeller, Ph.D.,

Principal

Dennis E. Zeller is President and founder of Hornby Zeller Associates. Dr. Zeller’s major areas of expertise include policy analysis, research design, data analysis and computer application development.

Prior to founding the consulting firm, Dr. Zeller was Director of the Bureau of Policy Planning of the Division of Family and Children’s Services at the New York State Department of Social Services. In that role he was responsible for all child welfare and child care regulations, for proposing and negotiating Department-sponsored legislation and for negotiating litigation settlements. He was instrumental in implementing the State’s preventive services program, the uniform case record for foster care and preventive services, utilization review procedures for foster care cases and other aspects of New York’s Child Welfare Reform Act of 1979. He also negotiated litigation regarding kinship care and foster children preparing for independence. Prior to his work in New York, he was a planner for the Texas Department of Human Services, performing research and policy analysis for the agency.

Ongoing performance measurement systems have been a primary focus of Dr. Zeller since he authored the monograph, Model Child Welfare Management Indicators, published by the National Child Welfare Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine in 1991. Dr. Zeller was the person who initiated turning AFCARS data into longitudinal files, so that states could assess their own performance on the achievement of permanency more accurately than the federal outcome measures permit, especially for those without SACWIS or historical management information systems. The Child Welfare League of America disseminated nationally the methodology that he developed. Many of the concepts are now incorporated in the prospective cohort measures adopted by the Administration for Children and Families.

Dr. Zeller co-authored “Kinship Care in America: What Outcomes Should Policy Seek” published in Child Welfare. He has spoken broadly at state, regional and national conferences in the areas of child welfare, research and statistics. He received a master’s degree in social work and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.

Case Management System

From Illinois DCFS Foster Care Placement System Proposal – June 2016

Dennis E. Zeller, Ph.D., M.S.S.W, Principal Investigator

Dr. Zeller is President and founder of HZA. His major areas of expertise include policy analysis, research design and data analysis.

Dr. Zeller serves as the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for nearly all of HZA’s projects involving child welfare programs. Dr. Zeller has taken the lead not only on evaluations of specific programs but also on the establishment of performance and outcome monitoring systems for entire state child welfare systems. Over the past decade, he has directed projects for the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services; the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth and Families; the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources; the New Jersey Department of Children and Families; and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, all aimed at measuring outcomes and performance. Focusing on state and federal outcome measures, he has managed the production of management reports for statewide and local consumption by legislators, agency directors and program managers, primarily by analyzing statewide case management data. He has worked closely with states to develop automated tools to enhance case practices and satisfy reporting requirements, including those for federal programs and to satisfy consent decrees.

From Connecticut Data Collect System Consult – 2007

Dennis E. Zeller, Ph.D., M.S.S.W., President

Dennis E. Zeller is President and founder of Hornby Zeller Associates. He participates in all of the larger projects undertaken by the firm, generally serving as either principal investigator or project director. Dr. Zeller’s major areas of expertise include policy analysis, research design and data analysis.

Prior to founding the consulting firm in 1988, Dr. Zeller was Director of the Bureau of Policy Planning of the Division of Family and Children's Services at the New York State Department of Social Services. In that role he was responsible for all child welfare and child care regulations, for proposing and negotiating Department-sponsored legislation and for negotiating litigation settlements. He was instrumental in implementing the State's preventive service program, the uniform case record for foster care and preventive services, utilization review procedures for foster care cases and other aspects of New York's Child Welfare Reform Act of 1979. He also negotiated litigation regarding kinship care and foster children preparing for independence. Prior to his work in New York, he was a planner for the Texas Department of Human Services, performing research and policy analysis for the agency.

Much of the consulting work on which Dr. Zeller has led HZA has involved accountability systems and data analysis. Examples include projects in which Dr. Zeller:

designed the quality assurance process and reports for the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services;
designed the outcome measures and reports for the Pennsylvania Office of Children Youth and Families and the county agencies serving the child welfare and juvenile justice programs;
assisted the Connecticut Division of Children Youth and Families in establishing a needs assessment methodology and calculating the actual need for services;
designed and carried out the data analysis for an extensive needs assessment across the entire state of Ohio to provide quantified results showing how many services were needed, how many services existed and what the difference between the two was; and
evaluated the performance of the State Central Registry, which accepts reports of child abuse and neglect, at the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services.

Minimum Qualifications

Experience in Appropriate Field

As shown in his resume, Dr. Zeller has worked in social services for thirty years. Upon graduation with his social work degree he began working as a planner for the Texas Department of Human Services, working with income maintenance programs and services for the elderly. In 1980 he moved to the New York State Department of Social Services where two years later he became Director of Policy for Family and Children Services, with approximately 20 staff reporting to him or the supervisors under him. In 1988 he started his consulting work and, as the paragraphs above indicate, has worked on child welfare, criminal justice and mental health projects. Continuing work he began in the public agency in New York, much of the focus of the work he does involves designing and implementing performance measurement and other accountability systems.

Master’s Degree

Dr. Zeller received a Masters of Science in Social Work in 1977 from the University of Texas at Austin. A year and a half prior to that, in December of 1975, he had received a doctorate in philosophy with a concentration in political philosophy from the same university.

Research Based Criminal Justice Programming

This was the focus of the literature review HZA conducted for CSSD towards the end of 2006. Dr. Zeller served as the principal investigator for that project, providing general oversight of all components. In addition, he wrote most of the final report, which described the research based programming, and made the presentations to the Juvenile Jurisdiction Planning and Implementation Committee.

SPSS

Dr. Zeller first did SPSS programming in the 1970s when the only version available was for mainframe computers, and he has ensured that data analysis staff throughout the company are competent in that program. His most recent use of SPSS involved calculations for a workload study the firm conducted in Alaska in 2006. He generally does his file manipulations with Access then exports the file to SPSS for analysis. He has also worked in SAS.

Internal/External Stakeholders

Dr. Zeller has demonstrated his ability to interact with internal and external stakeholders in numerous settings. In the early 1980s, as a representative of state government, he worked with a group of advocates, county officials and private service providers to develop a new accountability system related to child welfare cases. As a consultant he has worked with steering or advisory groups in such states and on such topics as Pennsylvania (accountability and planning for child welfare and juvenile justice), California (accountability for child care), Alabama (residential care rate setting) and Virginia (workload measurement). He has also had several projects where a key component of his role was simply to provide periodic, ad hoc advice and counsel. The quality assurance project in Arkansas still, fourteen years after he began work there, involves that role for Dr. Zeller.

Team Environment

Perhaps the best evidence of Dr. Zeller’s ability to work in a team environment is his equal partnership with Ms. Hornby. To have made the company work successfully for the past 12 years, the partners have had to identify ways to share some decision-making and labor and to divide other decision-making and labor. That has occurred with remarkably little conflict or even disagreement.

Travel

Dr. Zeller works in Troy, New York and lives in Albany. Hartford is a two-hour drive from his house or a 45-minute ride in the company plane. Travel to and from and in and around the state is not an issue.

CFSR/PIP/QSR Support

From Arkansas Quality Service Reviews Proposal – August 2016

Dennis E. Zeller, Ph.D., M.S.S.W, Co-Principal Investigator

Along with Ms. Hornby, Dennis Zeller will provide oversight and guidance to staff responsible for carrying out the Quality Service Reviews and managing the Title IV-E Waiver and CFSRs. Dr. Zeller’s primary areas of focus will be on ensuring the rigor of the measurement processes and that reports are tightly focused on the issues with the greatest impact on the agency’s performance.

Dr. Zeller is President and founder of HZA. His major areas of expertise include policy analysis, research design and data analysis.Prior to founding the consulting firm, Dr. Zeller was Director of the Bureau of Policy Planning of the Division of Family and Children’s Services at the New York State Department of Social Services. In that role he was responsible for all child welfare and child care regulations, for proposing and negotiating Department sponsored legislation and for negotiating litigation settlements. He was instrumental in implementing the State’s preventive services program, the uniform case record for foster care and preventive services, utilization review procedures for foster care cases and other aspects of New York’s Child Welfare Reform Act of 1979. He also negotiated litigation regarding kinship care and foster children preparing for independence. Prior to his work in New York, he was a planner for the Texas Department of Human Services, performing research and policy analysis for the agency.

Dr. Zeller serves as the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for nearly all of HZA’s evaluations of child welfare programs. Dr. Zeller has taken the lead not only on evaluations of specific programs but also on the establishment of performance and outcome monitoring systems for entire state child welfare systems. Focusing on state and federal outcome measures, he has produced management reports for statewide and local consumption by legislators, agency directors and program managers, primarily by analyzing statewide case management data. He has worked closely with states to meet their reporting requirements for federal programs.

Ongoing performance measurement systems have been a primary focus for Dr. Zeller since he authored the monograph, Model Child Welfare Management Indicators, published by the National Child Welfare Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine in 1991. Dr. Zeller was the person who initiated turning AFCARS data into longitudinal files, so that states could assess their own performance on the achievement of permanency more accurately than the original federal outcome measures permitted, especially for those without SACWIS or historical management information systems. The Child Welfare League of America disseminated nationally the methodology that he developed. Many of the concepts are now incorporated in the prospective cohort measures adopted by the Administration for Children and Families. Dr. Zeller co-authored “Kinship Care in America: What Outcomes Should Policy Seek” published in Child Welfare. He received a master’s degree in social work and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.

From Pennsylvania Data Gathering, Analysis, and Reporting; Technical Assistance and Training Proposal – December 2015

Dennis E. Zeller, Principal

Dennis E. Zeller is President and founder of Hornby Zeller Associates, starting the firm as a sole proprietorship in 1988. Dr. Zeller’s major areas of expertise include policy analysis, research design, data analysis and computer application development. He will provide oversight and guidance to the team throughout the engagement, and assist Pennsylvania as it prepares for the third round of the Child and Family Services Reviews.

Prior to founding the consulting firm, Dr. Zeller was Director of the Bureau of Policy Planning of the Division of Family and Children’s Services at the New York State Department of Social Services. In that role he was responsible for all child welfare and child care regulations, for proposing and negotiating Department sponsored legislation and for negotiating litigation settlements. He was instrumental in implementing the State’s preventive services program, the uniform case record for foster care and preventive services, utilization review procedures for foster care cases and other aspects of New York’s Child Welfare Reform Act of 1979. He also negotiated litigation regarding kinship care and foster children preparing for independence. Prior to his work in New York, he was a planner for the Texas Department of Human Services, performing research and policy analysis for the agency.

Ongoing performance measurement systems have been a primary focus of Dr. Zeller’s work since he authored the monograph, Model Child Welfare Management Indicators, published by the National Child Welfare Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine in 1991. Dr. Zeller was the person who initiated turning AFCARS data into longitudinal files so that states could assess their own performance on the achievement of permanency more accurately than the federal outcome measures permitted, especially for those without SACWIS or historical management information systems. The Child Welfare League of America disseminated the methodology he developed nationally. His most recent publication in Child Welfare is on the subject of performance measures and critiques the federal measures used in the original CFSR. The publication, titled Improving Child Welfare Performance: Retrospective and Prospective Approaches, was co-authored by Dr. Tom Gamble.

Dr. Zeller also co-authored “Kinship Care in America: What Outcomes Should Policy Seek” published in Child Welfare. He has spoken broadly at state, regional and national conferences in the areas of child welfare, research and statistics. He received a master’s degree in social work and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.