About MDRC

Maier’s research focuses on impact and implementation evaluations of childcare and early education programs that support the cognitive and social-emotional development of children from families with low incomes. She has extensive experience in design, start-up, impact, implementation/field research, and measurement activities for a variety of research projects. Currently, Maier is the principal investigator and project director of Head Start Connects, a descriptive study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that examines the coordination of family support services in Head Start programs. She is the principal investigator and project director of the HHS-funded Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions project and the deputy project director of the Expanding Children’s Early Learning (ExCEL) Network project, both of which are three-group, random assignment studies that examine the effect of classroom quality on child outcomes. She also leads measurement and implementation-related tasks for Building and Sustaining the Early Care and Education Workforce, a project that aims to inform the recruitment, support, and retention of a qualified, healthy, and stable workforce that reflects the linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the families and children it serves.
Previously, Maier led the measurement team on the ExCEL P-3: Promoting Sustained Gains from Preschool to Third Grade study, where she developed an aligned curriculum-fidelity tool for use in preschool through third-grade classrooms in Boston. She led the implementation and measurement teams on Making Pre-K Count, which examined the effects of a preschool mathematics program in New York City. She received a grant from the Foundation for Child Development’s Young Scholars Program to conduct What Matters Most for Teachers and Young Children, a secondary analysis of Making Pre-K Count data in which she examined associations among teacher professional development, specific teacher practices, and child outcomes, and described patterns of teacher practice as they naturally occur. She also coauthored a literature review examining the effect of family involvement on children’s learning. Maier received her PhD in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, where she was an Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral fellow. Before joining MDRC, Maier was a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia.
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MDRC Publications
BriefFindings from Teacher Interviews on Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion in Early Care and Education Curricula and Professional Development
August, 2023Communities of color and those with high poverty rates have disproportionately few high-quality options for early education. In this study, preschool teachers were interviewed about equity and inclusion in their classrooms. The findings suggest that curricula and professional development could provide more guidance on incorporating children’s lived experience in classroom learning.
BriefThe Timing of Rating Matters
February, 2023Quality improvement in early care and education often relies on annual classroom observations. This study examined biweekly ratings of classroom quality by teachers’ coaches over six months and found that quality varied over time. The findings suggest that the timing and number of quality ratings should inform program improvement decisions.
BriefA Conceptual Framework for Evaluating the Impact of Classroom Quality on Child Outcomes
August, 2022The Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions project is a large-scale, rigorous study that aims to build substantial new evidence to inform policies and practices in Head Start and community-based child care centers. This brief describes the project, its key research questions, and the conceptual framework underlying it.
CommentaryJune, 2022In this commentary originally published in Route Fifty, JoAnn Hsueh, Cynthia Miller, and Michelle Maier discuss how states are supplementing the wages of childcare workers to retain them during widespread staffing shortages. Ensuring eligible workers enroll to receive the benefit can be challenging, but research suggests three strategies to help.
CommentarySeptember, 2021In this commentary, originally published in District Administration, MDRC’s Michelle Maier and Shira Mattera offer evidenced-backed advice for policymakers and practitioners about how to invest new federal funds to enhance the quality of preschool programs.
Issue FocusNovember, 2020Even before the COVID-19 crisis, early care and education providers faced challenges attracting and retaining qualified, well-trained, and diverse early educators — and staff turnover can affect children’s early progress. Three approaches may help improve these workers’ access to professional education, their overall economic well-being, and their sometimes difficult working conditions.
BriefWhat We Know and What We Are Learning
September, 2020MDRC is leading several studies that measure the quality of early childhood education classrooms in innovative ways. This policy brief focuses on instructional quality, highlighting promising practices that seek to promote school readiness and sustained academic success among low-income children.
MethodologyDecember, 2018Observation tools allow researchers to rate practitioners’ use of a program or curriculum according to the time spent on its components and how they were implemented. Reflections on Methodology explains how researchers and model developers can collaborate to develop useful assessment tools and the benefits and challenges involved.
Issue FocusMarch, 2018The Implementation Research Incubator discusses an innovative approach to pre-K math, in which the researchers used qualitative methods to put the critical elements of a program’s theory of change under a microscope. Their insights may help future adopters of the model better understand these key components.
ReportImproving Math Instruction in New York City
October, 2016An evidence-based preschool math curriculum called Building Blocks, combined with ongoing professional development, was compared with “business as usual” pre-K programs across 69 public schools and community-based organizations. This report contains interim findings on the implementation of the model, the amount and quality of its math instruction, and children’s learning outcomes.
MethodologyDesign Options for an Evaluation of Head Start Coaching
July, 2014Using a study of coaching in Head Start as an example, this report reviews potential experimental design options that get inside the “black box” of social interventions by estimating the effects of individual components. It concludes that factorial designs are usually most appropriate.
ReportA Focus on Literacy and Math Achievement Outcomes and Social-Emotional Skills
October, 2013This report reviews 95 studies on how families’ involvement in children’s learning and development through activities at home and at school affects the literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional skills of children. The review also offers recommendations for additional lines of inquiry and discusses next steps in research and practice.
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Other Publications
Bohlmann, Natalie, Michelle F. Maier, and Natalia Palacios. 2015. “Bidirectionality in Self-Regulation and Expressive Vocabulary: Comparisons Between Monolingual and Dual Language Learners in Preschool.” Child Development 86, 4: 1,094-1,111.
Williford, Amanda, Michelle F. Maier, Jason Downer, Robert C. Pianta, and Carolee Howes. 2013. “Understanding How Children’s Engagement and Teachers’ Interactions Combine to Predict School Readiness.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 34: 299-309.
Downer, Jason, Faiza Jamil, Michelle F. Maier, and Robert C. Pianta. 2012. “Implications of Information Processing Theory for Professional Development of Early Educators.” In Carolee Howes, Bridget K. Hamre, and Robert C. Pianta (eds.), Effective Early Childhood Professional Development: Improving Teacher Practice and Child Outcomes. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Co.
Maier, Michelle F., Virginia E Vitiello, and Daryl B. Greenfield. 2012. “A Multilevel Model of Child- and Classroom-Level Psychosocial Factors that Support Language and Literacy Resilience of Children in Head Start.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 27: 104-114.
Maier, Michelle F., Daryl B. Greenfield, and Rebecca J. Bulotsky-Shearer. 2012. Development and Validation of a Preschool Teacher Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Science Teaching Questionnaire.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 28: 366-378.
Dominguez, Ximena, Virginia E. Vitiello, Michelle F. Maier, and Daryl B. Greenfield. 2010. “A Longitudinal Examination of Young Children’s Learning Behavior: Child-Level and Classroom-Level Predictors of Change Throughout the Preschool Year.” School Psychology Review 39: 29-47.
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Projects
Cynthia Miller, JoAnn Hsueh, Michelle Maier, Alexandra Bernardi, Kelsey Schaberg, Frieda Molina, Kara HelznerQuality early care and education can have lasting positive effects on young children, especially those growing up in low-income families. However, there are ongoing challenges in recruiting, supporting, and retaining a qualified, healthy, and stable early care and education ( ECE ) workforce that reflects the linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the families...
JoAnn Hsueh, Michelle Maier, Frieda Molina, Samantha Wulfsohn, Marie-Andrée Somers, Electra Small, Sharon Huang, Amena Sengal, Alexandra Bernardi, Marissa Strassberger, Noemi Altman, Ilana Blum, Ebony Scott, Margaret Hennessy, Mervett Hefyan, Mallory Undestad, Sharon Rowser, Amy Taub, Isabel AcostaThe Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions ( VIQI ): Examining the Quality-Child Outcomes Relationship in Child Care and Early Education project is a large-scale, rigorous study with several important aims and implications for current child care and early education policy and practices, including:
Determining the effectiveness of interventions for...Michelle Maier, Carolyn Hill, Marissa Strassberger, Nina Castells, JoAnn Hsueh, Kara Helzner, Emily KowallOne of the hallmarks of Head Start is its whole-family approach to the services it provides. This approach is informed by evidence that low-income parents face challenges related to health, safety, and financial stability that can affect their well-being and economic mobility and their children’s school readiness. The Head Start Program Performance Standards ( HSPPS )...
At the forefront of debates about early childhood education policy is a focus on raising the quality of learning environments in community-based centers and schools as a means of promoting child development, particularly for low-income children and children of color. Central to this discussion is how policymakers and practitioners can promote the quality of teachers’...
JoAnn Hsueh, Sharon Huang, Meghan McCormick, Michelle Maier, Rebecca Unterman, Desiree Principe Alderson, Barbara Condliffe, Amena Sengal, Sonia Drohojowska, Ilana Blum, Marissa Strassberger, Marie-Andrée Somers, Noemi Altman, Alexandra Bernardi, Mirjana Pralica, Mervett Hefyan, Jálynn Castleman-Smith, Mallory Undestad, Samantha Xia, Emily Davies, Sharon Rowser, Amy Taub, Samuel MavesWith broad support across the political spectrum, states and localities throughout the country are expanding preschool programs for low-income children. While the public will is strong and the experience to date is encouraging, there is a need for firmer evidence on the most cost-effective ways to produce lasting impacts for children, especially when programs operate...
Barbara S. Goldman, Sharon Huang, Shira Kolnik Mattera, Michelle Maier, Seth Muzzy, Electra Small, Samantha Wulfsohn, Marissa Strassberger, Amena Sengal, Mirjana Pralica, Samantha Xia, Cullen MacDowellMaking Pre-K Count is the result of a partnership between MDRC and the Robin Hood Foundation whose goal is to build evidence about ways to improve the life trajectories of children living in poverty in New York City. The partnership’s first project focuses on improving preschool children’s math skills.
Why math? Recent research suggests that early math skills...