Zoelene Hill is a research scientist in early childhood development at Child Trends.  Her areas of expertise include early childhood education policies, workforce development, and family engagement.  Her work examines disparities in educational opportunities and contexts that limit access to public services and social support.

As a mixed methods researcher, Zoelene works with administrative data and has led the design, development, and analysis of data collection protocols for surveys, interviews, and focus groups.  She has collaborated extensively with ECE programs, community groups, parents, and local governments in the design and implementation of studies.

At Child Trends, Zoelene has been the co-principal investigator on national studies using 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education administrative data to answer questions about parents’ use of child care and the demographic comparison between providers and the children in their care.

She earned her PhD in public policy studies, with a concentration in sociology from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.