Research & Policy Work

My work examines how early care and education (ECE) 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 ECE policy.

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 school-based 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 used in the state’s QRIS connect to later student outcomes as documented in the literature. I also include implications of using these measures for quality improvement and accountability. Office for Education Policy, 2026. Read report · Read policy brief

Arkansas early childhood key program indicator baseline report

A statewide baseline of indicators related to early childhood access, program quality, and the ECE workforce. Office for Education Policy, 2025. Read report · Read policy brief

Early care and education funding in Arkansas

An analysis of Arkansas’s ECE funding landscape, including changes to federal and state investment over the 2018 through 2023 period. Office for Education Policy, 2025. Read report · Read policy brief

Arkansas School Readiness Assistance (SRA) program: Fall 2025 policy change impact assessment

Examination of the financial effects of Arkansas’s Fall 2025 changes to the School Readiness Assistance program. Office for Education Policy, 2025. Read policy brief

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 Chen-Doromal and Daphna Bassok
• Arkansas Early Childhood Key Program Indicator 2026 Report
• 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 Danielle Shaw Attaway, in Handbook of Education Policy Research, 2nd edition, 2025

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