Research & Policy Work

My work examines how early childhood policies shape access to care, program quality, and the educator workforce. I conduct quantitative research and work with state and local partners to produce evidence that can inform policy and implementation.

Early childhood research

Supporting newly hired child care teachers: The role of onboarding

New child care teachers receive widely varying levels of onboarding support. In this study with Anna Markowitz and Daphna Bassok, we examine how those experiences relate to teachers’ preparation, job satisfaction, professional well-being, and risk of turnover. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2026. View article

Where has all the time gone? Describing time use in full- vs. half-day pre-kindergarten

Using repeated observations of pre-K classrooms, Allison Atteberry and I examine how full- and half-day programs allocate time across instructional content, classroom activities, and non-instructional routines. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2024. View article

Arkansas policy work

Connecting early childhood quality measures to later outcomes

An examination of how Arkansas’s early childhood quality measures connect to later student outcomes, with implications for quality improvement and accountability. Office for Education Policy, 2026. Read report · Read overview

Arkansas Early Childhood Key Program Indicator Baseline Report

A statewide baseline of indicators related to early childhood access, participation, funding, quality, and the workforce. Office for Education Policy, 2025. Read report

Early care and education funding in Arkansas

An analysis of Arkansas’s early childhood funding landscape, including changes in federal, state, and local investment. Office for Education Policy, 2025. Read report

Teacher attendance in Arkansas public schools

A statewide analysis of teacher attendance patterns in Arkansas public schools. Office for Education Policy, 2026. Read report

Public writing

• What’s behind Arkansas’s School Readiness Assistance child care subsidies?
• What the new School Readiness Assistance rules mean for children, families, and providers
• What’s at stake with proposed Head Start cuts
• Supporting Arkansas’s early childhood workforce

Current projects

• Wages and staffing outcomes in Virginia child care centers, with Justin Doromal and Daphna Bassok
• Choosing Early: Patterns of school choice and stability in the first years of schooling, with Kyle Butts
• A Degree of Change: How credentialing policies affect wages and employment in pre-K education

Additional scholarship

• Effectiveness of the Botvin High School LifeSkills Training intervention on adolescent substance use, Journal of Adolescent Health, 2026
• Context of Arkansas, with Denise Airola and Sarah McKenzie, in The State of Education in Arkansas, 2026
• Curricula in early childhood education preschool settings, with Mimi Engel and D. Shaw Attaway, in Handbook of Education Policy Research, 2nd edition, 2025

For complete citations, presentations, and professional service, download my CV.