We are a diverse team of teachers, students, and scientists united in our mission to advocate for
​Black children and their communities through policy informing research. 

The research team

STEPHANIE M. CURENTON, PH.D.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Stephanie M. Curenton, Ph.D. is a tenured associate professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research focuses on positive child growth and development and dismantling health and education inequities for racially marginalized children and families.

Stephanie studies the social, cognitive, and language development of children within various ecological contexts, such as parent-child interactions, early childhood education programs, early childhood workforce programs, and related state and federal policies. Her topical areas of expertise are language and literacy development, particularly among African American children and dual language learners, and measurement development. She has created two measures, the Conversation Compass Communication Screener-Revised measure of children’s classroom conversation skills, and the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale, a measure of classroom quality for racially marginalized students.

​She has authored numerous empirical manuscripts as well as books and edited volumes targeted toward practitioners or policy makers. She is a leader in the field of early childhood policy and child development. She has served as past associate editor for the two top journals in early childhood, Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Early Education and Development. She has also been awarded two research policy fellowships, one from the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD)/American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) where she worked in Office of Child Care and the other from National Child Development Institute (NBCDI). She has served on education non-profit boards for National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC) and local Head Start programs.

Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Program Research and Evaluation (OPRE), the National Academy of Science Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, American Education Research Association (AERA), Foundation for Child Development, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Stephanie earned her Ph.D. in Developmental and Community Psychology from the University of Virginia. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys yoga, reading, spending time with her family, and playing with her new dog.
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NNEKA IBEKWE-OKAFOR, PH.D.

POST-DOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
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Nneka Ibekwe-Okafor, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development and a graduate Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Her research sits at the intersection of developmental science, early childhood education and social policy.

Nneka investigates the social determinants of children’s academic development by examining how racial discrimination, structural inequalities and education inequities influence access to quality early education and the developmental outcomes of racially marginalized children from birth to kindergarten. Specifically, her research focuses on identifying protective factors across various ecological levels in efforts to promote the optimal developmental outcomes of Black children from low-income families. The goal of her research is to inform social policies and practitioner-led interventions.

As a former SRCD Predoctoral State Policy Fellow, Nneka evaluated state level early learning initiatives, developed policy briefs and worked with legislators to improve policies affecting children from low-income families. In the Ecology of School Readiness Lab, she serves as a researcher for the RISER Network, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

She holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Quantitative Methods from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, an Ed.M. from Harvard University in Prevention Science Research and a M.S.W. from Columbia University. In her undergraduate studies, Nneka majored in Sociology and African American Studies and was a NCAA Division I volleyball player at the University of California, Davis.
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JACQUELINE SIMS, PH.D.

RESEARCH SCIENTIST
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Jacqueline Sims, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist in the Center on the Ecology of Early Development. Her work focuses on identifying and understanding contexts and practices that support the optimal development of minoritized youth, with a particular focus on how these supports can disrupt the health and educational impacts of racism and poverty.  

Jacqueline’s dissertation work on the intersection of youth achievement and health, particularly among minoritized youth, was supported by a NAED/Spender Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Jacqueline earned her Ph.D. with distinction in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from the Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development. In her undergraduate studies at Duke University, Jacqueline was a Scholar with the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program. 
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SHANA E. ROCHESTER, PH.D.

RESEARCH AFFILIATE
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Shana E. Rochester, Ph.D. is a research affiliate with the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED). In this role, she works on the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale project, which is a classroom observational tool designed to assess equitable teacher-child and peer interactions in early childhood classrooms.  She is also leading a content analysis of CEED’s Racially Affirming Children’s Books.

Dr. Rochester is a newly appointed research associate with the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Shana recently completed the inaugural AACTE/Holmes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Boston University’s Wheelock College. 

Shana’s research explores children’s academic and social development in the context of 1) early childhood classrooms, 2) family-based educational programs, and 3) informal learning spaces. A former Ford Foundation Predoctoral fellow, she earned her Ph.D. in education and psychology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. in psychology from Spelman College. She received the Dimond Best Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan School of Education for her dissertation, which focused on the design, implementation, and evaluation of culturally responsive family engagement programs targeting families from racially/ethnically minoritized backgrounds.

In 2019, Dr. Rochester was also selected for the prestigious American Educational Research Association/Society for Research in Child Development Early Career Fellowship in Middle Childhood Education and Development to expand research in the middle childhood field.
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KESHIA HARRIS, PH.D.

RESEARCH SCIENTIST
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Keshia L. Harris, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED) at Boston University, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development.  She currently oversees the home strand of the Pittsburgh 3R (Reading, Racial Equity, and Relationships) Project.

Prior to this position, she was a Researcher in the Youth Development and Supportive Learning practice area at the American Institutes for Research.  She is a developmental and cultural psychologist who studies colorism, mental health supports for marginalized children, and how the distribution of educational resources impacts academic outcomes for youth in the U.S. and Latin America.  

Dr. Harris has published in leading scientific journals and books such as American Behavioral Scientist, the Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning, and the Handbook of Culturally Responsive School Mental Health: Advancing Research, Training, Practice, and Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago, is the recipient of the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship, and has 10 plus years of experience teaching, counseling, and conducting research in public schools in the U.S., South Africa, and multiple Latin American countries. 

​Prior to doctoral studies, she obtained a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, Teachers College and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Spelman College.  In July 2020, Dr. Harris delivered a Keynote address on how racial and environmental trauma impact the workplace and academia for the California Counseling Association’s Conference “Blurred Lines: Refocusing for 20/20 Vision.”
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SARAH SURRAIN, PH.D.

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE
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Sarah Surrain recently completed her Ph.D. in Human Development, Learning and Teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with support from the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. Her research focuses on the contextual factors that support and inhibit the bilingual development of dual language learners in early childhood. Since 2019, she has been working with the ESR Lab on a project focused on how preschool teachers support DLLs’ participation in classroom conversations.

​Prior to her doctoral studies, Sarah was a curriculum developer and literacy coach in Spanish-English bilingual classrooms in Chicago. She received an Ed.M. in Language and Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Kalamazoo College. In her free time, she enjoys dancing flamenco.
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Ana schcolnik

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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With the ESR Lab since January of 2020, Ana is a graduate student from Chicago, Illinois, currently pursuing her MA in Educational Policy Studies at Boston University.

She comes to us after a year teaching at a bilingual school in Buenos Aires, Argentina and, before that, as a 4th grade Dual Language classroom teacher in Illinois. 

She is particularly interested in the power of dialogue to engage multiple perspectives in the classroom, Montessori education, and the language development of young bilingual learners. 

In her free time, she enjoys swimming and dancing.
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gullnar syed

RESEARCH FELLOW
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With the ESR Lab since May of 2020, Gullnar is a research fellow at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development. She received her Masters in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA in May of 2020, where she received a designation as Outstanding Masters student.

At CEED, she primarily works with the development and validation of the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES), an observational tool assessing equitable teacher-child interactions in early childhood classrooms. Her research interests include social-emotional wellbeing in early childhood and equity focused health practices, with a particular focus in quantitative methodology and assessment. In her free time, you can find her outdoors hiking or practicing yoga.
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BEVERLY BRUNO

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Beverly is a junior at Boston University, studying Health Science with a minor in Biology.

In the future, she plans to pursue a Master’s of Public Health and hopes to work in healthcare policy and research. Her research interests include structural inequalities that disproportionately compromise minority communities’ access to healthcare, the consequent health outcomes, and how public health measures can work to better serve such populations.

In her free time, she enjoys calligraphy and weightlifting!
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CHRISTINE HUANG

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Christine is a freshman from New York City. She is currently pursuing a major in Health Science.

In the future, she hopes to start her own business. She is particularly interested in studying the impacts various teaching methods have on children’s psychological and educational development.

​In her free time, she enjoys exercising and learning new languages!
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CECILIA JARQUIN TAPIA

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Cecilia Jarquin Tapia was born in Nicaragua and raised in Hyattsville, Maryland. She is currently a junior in Sargent College majoring in Health Science.

Cecilia hopes to get her master's degree in Public Health and focus on environmental health and the health disparities among minority and low-income communities.

In her free time, you can find her exploring the beautiful city of Boston or drinking coffee and reading a good book.
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Alexi man

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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With the CEED lab since September 2018, Alexi is a junior at Boston University pursuing a B.A. in General Sciences Education.
 
In the future, she plans to pursue a Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. She is particularly interested in adolescent health and development of secondary school students and its impact on education. She is interested in further studying the socioeconomic and cultural development of children of color in the education system, while dissecting the educational systems globally in comparison to the American schooling system.
 
In her free time, she enjoys dancing and watching cooking videos!
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MAYA ROSE

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Maya Rose is a sophomore from West Hartford, Connecticut studying Early Childhood Education on a licensure track at the Boston University Wheelock College. She is a Dean’s Host for the Wheelock College of Education and represents the college in the Academic Affairs department of BU Student Government. She also works in operations for Camp Kesem Boston University, a non-profit providing support and free summer camp programming for children impacted by a parent’s cancer. Maya loves working with children and families and hopes her career will allow her to contribute positively to the lives of students and be an active member in the communities she will teach in. In her free time, she loves to explore new parts of Boston and give endless cuddles to her rescue puppy, Moose.

KYLIE TANG

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Kylie is a freshman from New Jersey and currently majoring in Neuroscience on the Pre-med track.

​In the future, she wants to participate in more research and get involved with the BU and Boston community in general. She is very interested in children's neuronal development and outside factors impacting development, and in her free time, she likes to read and take care of her plants.
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Aisha Ray is a Professor Emerita of Child Development at Erikson Institute and a Distinguished Fellow in the BUILD Initiative. 

Dr. Ray has participated in the fields of child development and early education for 48 years.  Beginning as a Head Start teacher, she has taught learners from preschool to graduate school; supported the development of community-based programs serving culturally, racially and linguistically diverse children, families and practitioners; and led professional development efforts for the early childhood workforce serving infants through elementary school learners. Her areas of research, speaking and writing include racial equity, policy, and professional development systems in early childhood; multigenerational Black family child rearing; and the role of fathers in child rearing in low-income Black communities. At BUILD she helps to lead the Equity Leaders Action Network.  

Dr. Ray stepped down in 2015 from the position of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Erikson Institute. Dr. Ray also serves as a senior advisor to the president of the National Black Child Development Institute and the NBCDI Policy Leadership Fellowship program.  In addition, she has a long history of community activism and is currently working with others on issues related to the relationship of the Black community to early education, police violence, and racial justice. 
 
Dr. Ray has a Doctor of Philosophy degree and Master’s degree in developmental psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; a Master’s in Early Childhood Education, Loyola University of Chicago/Erikson Institute; and a Bachelor’s degree in history, Grinnell College, Iowa.
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Amy O’Leary is director of Early Education for All: A Campaign of Strategies for Children, an advocacy and policy organization that works to ensure that Massachusetts invests the resources needed for all children, from birth to age five, to access high-quality early education programs. Amy joined SFC in 2002 as the early childhood field director and has also served as the Campaign’s deputy director.

Prior to joining SFC, Amy worked as a preschool teacher and program director at Ellis Memorial in the South End of Boston.

In March 2017 Amy was elected President-elect of the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her four-year term started in June of 2017 serving as President from June 2018-2020. She serves on the adjunct faculty at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development and Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester.

In July 2020, Amy was appointed an Alumna Trustee for a four year team to serve on both the Skidmore College Board of Trustees and Alumni Board of Directors.

​Amy is a member of the Massachusetts Kids Count Advisory Council and the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care Advisory Committee. Amy also serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Investment Fund in Boston. In addition, Amy presents at national, state and local conferences and provides technical assistance to advocates and elected officials in other states.
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Dr. Mary Churchill is the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development.

Before joining Wheelock Dr. Churchill was a part of the leadership team at Salem State University.

Born in Flint, Michigan, Dr. Churchill was the first in her family to attend college, graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Sociology at Northeastern.

Dr. Churchill has worked with faculty to develop graduate programs in Nonprofit Management, Human Services, TESOL, Criminal Justice, and Global Studies. 

Dr. Churchill is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in higher education working specifically to promote women and people of color. ​
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Over the past 48years, Joan has made significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy as an innovative leader and policy advisor to national and international organizations and foundations and as a public servant.

Joan directs Early Opportunities LLC,a strategic advisement service focused on the development of young children, families and the communities that support them. In this role she serves as an advisor to the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, among others, and is a strategic partner with the Center for the Study of Social Policy. In addition she is a Senior Scholar at the Center for Child and Human Development at Georgetown University where she focuses on global early childhood initaitives.

Joan served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development (2009-2011) and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs in Administration for Children and Families and the first Commissioner of the Child CareBureau among other positions (l993-1998).

​She is the author of numerous publications including Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities and Co-Author of Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children.
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Walter S. Gilliam is the Elizabeth Mears & House Jameson Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center and the Director of Yale’s Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

He is the current board president of Child Care Aware of America; a member of the board of directors for ZERO TO THREE, the Irving Harris Foundation, First Children’s Finance, and All Our Kin; a research fellow of the National Institute for Early Education Research; and former Senior Advisor to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Dr. Gilliam is co-recipient of the prestigious 2008 Grawemeyer Award in Education for the coauthored book, A Vision for Universal Preschool Education. His scholarly writing addresses early childhood care and education programs, school readiness, and developmental assessment of young children.

​His work has frequently been covered in major national and international news outlets, and he actively provides consultation to state and federal decision-makers in the U.S. and other countries.
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Gigliana Melzi is Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology, Affiliated Faculty of Latinx Studies and of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.

Dr. Melzi's scholarship focuses on the intersection of cultural and linguistic practices and their relation to children’s early development and learning, in particular that of dual-language learners from immigrant Latine/x communities. Using mixed-methodology and emic approaches, she investigates how Latine/x immigrant parents nurture their children, what role language plays in that process, and how the educational system can leverage these practices to support children’s school-based learning. Her work adopts a collaborative research stance, working in partnership with Latine/x communities and educational centers serving Latino families.

In addition, as part of a cross-university effort to enhance the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME network), Dr. Melzi is investigating the everyday math-related activities and math talk in Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual immigrant homes of preschool aged children.

​Dr. Melzi’s research has been funded by National Institute of Child Health & Development (NICHD), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; The Spencer Foundation, Brooke Astor Foundation, Brady Education Foundation, and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
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Dr. Pryce is currently the Executive Director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare at Florida State University. For over 10 years, she has been involved at multiple angles of child welfare (direct practice; teaching, training & policy; and research). She has published on child welfare related topics, such as training and education, racial disparity, and anti-poverty practices.

Dr. Pryce has presented her research at 30+ conferences both nationally and internationally. She is the author of several op-eds focused on racial disparity and effective strategies to impact racial disproportionality within child welfare. Her TED Talk on Implicit Racial Bias in Decision Making has since been viewed over 1.2 million times.

Dr. Pryce has worked on the frontlines of child welfare, conducted primary research, been a policy advisor to Florida’s legislature, and taught graduate level courses in child welfare. Previously holding the positions of Child Protective Caseworker with the Department of Children and Families, and the Deputy Director of the University at Albany's New York State Education Consortium.

In 2019, she received a 5-year appointment to the Advisory Board of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, where she consults and advises on leadership and workforce interventions around the country.

She currently sits on the Florida Dependency Court Improvement Panel, alongside judges and advocates who are working towards a more trauma informed approach within the judicial system. She has maintained and cultivated a commitment to the wellbeing of vulnerable children and families, the sustainability of the child welfare workforce, and effectively addressing inequity.

​Dr. Pryce's paramount goal includes rebuilding and leading a child welfare system that focuses on strengthening families instead of pulling them apart.
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Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D.,is a Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka is also a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and the Director of the Early Childhood Health and Racial Equity Program at FPG.

Dr. Iruka is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of children from low-income and ethnic minority households, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. She has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, examination of non-traditional pedagogical approaches, public policies, and publications geared towards early education practitioners and policymakers.

Dr. Iruka has served or serves on numerous national boards and committee, including the Brady Education Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees on Supporting Parents of Young Children, and Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach.

Dr. Iruka has a B.A. in psychology from Temple University, M.A. in psychology from Boston University, and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, Florida.
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​Dr. Jason Sachs is the Executive Director of Early Childhood Education, Boston Public Schools (BPS). Dr. Sachs joined Boston Public Schools as Director of Early Childhood in 2005 to oversee the expansion of Kindergarten 1 (K1) classes and coordinate kindergarten and pre-school programs for three, four, and five-year-olds. In 2017 he was promoted to Executive Director of the Preschool to 2nd grade office. Since the inception of Early Childhood Department, Dr. Sachs has led an effort to deliver a universal high-quality system of early childhood programs for BPS including the successful implementation of the PreK-2nd grade curriculum, professional development system for teachers and principals, expansion of NAEYC accredited classrooms in Boston which all helps prepares students for successful transition into the elementary grades, and a comprehensive evaluation system of both classroom quality and child outcomes.
 
Previously, Dr. Sachs has worked in the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Early Learning Services division for six years as a research and policy consultant and was a former board member of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). He graduated from the Los Angeles Unified School District and received his Master’s in Applied Child Development from Tufts University and obtained his doctorate from the Harvard School of Education. Dr. Sachs currently lives in Somerville with his wife Elif and co-owns Moe Fencing in Somerville, where they have successful coached national and High State Champions.
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Dr. Sanchez earned her B.A., M.Ed. and Ed.D. at Boston College. She began her career as a founding Math and Science teacher at Epiphany School in 1998. Epiphany is an independent, tuition free school for children from economically disadvantaged families.

In 2010, Dr. Sanchez completed her doctorate at Boston College in Educational Administration with a focus on strengthening the family and school partnership; this sparked her interest in serving children as early as possible. To make a greater impact on the community at large, she spearheaded the opening of the Early Learning and Family Support Center. This center begins working with families prenatally and will serve the children and their families until the age of 5 in the center. It will continue to support the students and families throughout their schooling.

Dr. Sanchez has developed many successful partnerships such as with Boston College where teaching fellows committed to a future in urban education earn their Masters’ Degree, and with Neighborhood villages and Bunker Hill to offer free courses to become certified early education teachers.

Outside of Epiphany, Michelle has served as an adjunct professor at Boston College, and for the Urban Catholic Teacher Corp. She partnered with a team of educators and community leaders to write the successful charter for the Bridge Boston Charter School, a school based on the Epiphany model that serves Pre-K to 8th graders. She is a board member at Fessenden School, Bridge Boston, ABCD, The Possible Project, and the Boston College AHANA Alumni Council, and she served as part of the 2020 The Partnership’s NGE Program.

Dr. Sanchez is married and lives with her husband, Lino Sanchez, and two sons.
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Jeanne R. Paratore, Ed.D, is a Professor Emerita with the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Prior to Emerita status, Dr. Paratore served as Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Reading Education and Literacy Education programs at Boston University. She also directed the university-based reading and writing clinic that provides year-round academic support to school-aged children who are experiencing learning difficulties and she served as advisor to the Intergenerational Literacy Program, a family literacy program she founded in 1989 to support the English literacy learning of immigrant parents and their children. She is a former classroom teacher, reading specialist, and Title I director. She has conducted research and written widely on issues related to family literacy, classroom grouping practices, and interventions for struggling readers, and she is currently studying preparing teachers to use educational media and technology in ways that substantially advance children’s opportunities to learn. She served as co-curriculum director of the award-winning children’s television series, Between the Lions.

Dr. Paratore is the recipient of the International Reading Association’s Celebrate Literacy Award and of the New England Reading Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a former member of the International Reading Association’s Board of Directors, and she is active in professional associations, presently as a member of the International Reading Association’s Response to Intervention Commission. She is a frequent speaker on literacy instruction and has presented at local, national, and international conferences as well as in school districts throughout the United States.
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Stephanie J. Rowley, PhD, is the Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a professor of Psychology and Education. Dr. Rowley received a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Virginia in 1997 and joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina that year. In 2000 she moved to the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychology. In 2008 she added an appointment in the School of Education.

​Dr. Rowley’s research focuses on the influence of race- and gender-related attitudes and beliefs on the development of children’s academic self-concept with a strong emphasis on parents’ roles in the development of these attitudes. 
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Kristie Kauerz, Ed.D. is director of the National P-3 Center and associate clinical professor at University of Colorado Denver’s School of Education and Human Development. Kristie specializes in education reform efforts that address the continuum of learning from birth through 3rd grade, integrating birth-to-five system building and K-12 reforms.
 
Kristie’s expertise spans policy, research, and practice. Her P-3 work is anchored in collaborations with school districts, state agencies, and early learning stakeholders. Her research interests straddle the paradigmatic, pedagogical, and policy divides that exist between birth-to-five and K-12 systems. Kristie focuses on both the organizational reforms and the cognitive sensemaking necessary to build learning continua that support children’s development, learning, and lifelong success.
 
An important aspect of Kristie’s work is designing and delivering professional learning opportunities that strengthen the relationships and organizational strategies necessary to implement P-3 alignment efforts in districts, states, and communities. Kristie designed and directed the Washington P-3 Executive Leadership Certificate Program, a credit-bearing course of study that co-enrolled administrators from early learning and K-12. She has also led the National P-3 Institute since 2008.
 
Kristie’s authorship includes numerous articles, book chapters, and reports on topics ranging from state kindergarten policies to early childhood governance to P-3 policy alignment. Kauerz was lead author on the Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches, a tool used around the country to guide school, district, and community alignment efforts. She co-authored the original Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks and a book on improving the early care and education teaching workforce. She is co-editor of the book Early Childhood Systems: Transforming Early Learning.

​Kristie holds a B.A. in political science from Colorado College, an M.A. in international development from American University, and a doctorate in early childhood policy from Teachers College at Columbia University.
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Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD is a pediatrician and social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network (www.vitalvillage.org). Her work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. She has a specific concentration on psychosocial stress and neuroendocrine and reproductive health outcomes, including obesity and early puberty. She is interested in social ecology and the role of neighborhood attributes in influencing health trajectory. Specifically, she has studied the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns. Her current work is developing community-based strategies to promote child well-being and reduce child maltreatment using a collective impact approach in three Boston neighborhoods.
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