Amanda Stein is a Senior Research Associate at Start Early. Her research interests include studying the short- and long-term outcomes of children and families participating in both formal and informal early education settings and advancing the definition, measurement, and implementation of “high-quality” practices and organizational conditions in the early childhood field. At Start Early, Amanda directs the Educare Chicago Implementation and Follow-Up Studies and provides research leadership on various Start Early initiatives. She also co-leads the Research-Program Partnership at Educare Chicago focused on supporting program leadership, staff, and families in effective data interpretation and use to drive continuous quality improvement. She has considerable experience partnering with external organizations, participating in a network of over 20 early childhood researchers conducting secondary data analyses within Educare schools; collaborating with Erikson Institute on an early math evaluation; and co-leading the evaluation and dissemination for the Birth-To-College Collaborative with the UChicago Urban Education Institute. She has published in both peer-reviewed scientific journals and practitioner-focused journals and authored content about data utilization and birth through college alignment. Prior to Start Early, she was a post-doctoral fellow in Early Childhood Special Education Policy & Leadership at the University of Colorado emphasizing systems, policies, and collaborative leadership.
