I am a Research Assistant Professor in the Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas. My research examines how early care and education (ECE) policies shape access to care, program quality, and the early educator workforce.

I use quantitative methods and partnerships with state agencies and nonprofit organizations to produce evidence that is useful for policy. My current work focuses on Arkansas’s ECE system, including funding, access, quality measurement, and workforce stability. I have also studied child care teacher onboarding and compensation, pre-K policy, and children’s early schooling experiences.

Before earning my Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder, I was an elementary school teacher. That experience continues to shape the questions I ask and my interest in research that connects policy decisions to the experiences of educators, children, and families.

Selected work

• Supporting newly hired child care teachers: The role of onboarding, Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Connecting early childhood quality measures to later outcomes, Office for Education Policy
• Arkansas Early Childhood Key Program Indicator Baseline Report, Office for Education Policy

Research in the news

• Morano, Miceala. “Arkansas daycare providers reducing services, shutting doors 8 months after state funding cuts.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 11, 2026.

View all research and policy work or download my CV.

I welcome conversations with researchers, agencies, and organizations working on early childhood policy and implementation. You can reach me at hdenker@uark.edu.