Phoebe Harris, MA, is a senior policy analyst in the early childhood program area at Child Trends. Ms. Harris’ policy research focuses on the intersections between state and federal policy and practice, in the context of licensing, quality improvement initiatives, systems-building work, and workforce support. Her work has explored how policy can play a role in overcoming historical and systemic inequities in the early care and education (ECE) field; and has sought to understand how change has been fueled by shifting perceptions of ECE access and quality over time. Ms. Harris primarily uses qualitative methods to analyze policy development, implementation, and progression, and has served as project director and task/activity lead on several projects.

Ms. Harris’ perspective comes from years of experience working as an ECE educator and her educational foundation in psychology, human development, and family studies. Additionally, she previously worked with Let’s Grow Kids, a state-wide campaign in Vermont, to gather information about how other states have leveraged policy to improve access to high quality ECE. She also worked with other researchers in Vermont to examine the state funding model for K-12 schools operating in small or sparse areas of the state. The work is published in the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Open Journal and can be used as a model to inform state school finance policy.