Jennifer Marcella-Burdett is a Research Director in WestEd’s Early Childhood Learning and Development area with over 15 years of experience working in the field of early care and education (ECE) as a teacher, creator of professional development resources, and researcher/evaluator. Over the past five years, Dr. Marcella-Burdett has led a range of evaluation projects in the early childhood field. These evaluations span various contexts, such as a county-level Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), a statewide early math initiative, and multi-state early childhood policy advocacy efforts. She typically relies on the integration of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to conduct complex, mixed-methods evaluation projects that meet our clients’ needs and center the voices of our evaluation participants. Her work has been published in prominent academic journals including Early Education and Development and Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
Dr. Marcella-Burdett received her MA and PhD in Human Development and Psychology from UCLA.
- Early Childhood (Birth–Pre-K)
- Grades K–2
- Early Childhood Education
- Educator Workforce
- Social Emotional learning
- Family Engagement and Community Outreach
- Infant-Toddler Services
- Children and youth with disabilities
- Children experiencing poverty, homelessness, or foster care
- Multilingual learners
- Culturally responsive evaluation
- Literature review
- Logic model development
- Qualitative research
- School Districts/LEAs
- State Educational Agencies