Over the past 15 years Sarah Daily, PhD, has built strong connections with early childhood leaders through providing technical assistance and leading mixed methods research and evaluation studies in over 30 states and communities. Her work focuses on the design, implementation, and performance of equitable early childhood programs, systems, and quality improvement initiatives, centering the engagement of families and providers in these efforts.

Daily’s research portfolio includes formative evaluations, program implementation evaluations, and child outcomes studies. She is currently the principal investigator of the New Orleans City Seats Infant Toddler Program and previously led the North Carolina Infant and Toddler Program Design and Cost Feasibility Study, supporting the development of high-quality child care programs for infants and toddlers in marginalized communities. Her expertise also extends to conducting evaluation and validation studies of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in seven states. Other studies she has led have included, for example, evaluating New Mexico’s pre-K curriculum and evaluating the implementation of Delaware’s kindergarten entry assessment.  Daily’s technical assistance work includes building capacity for state and community teams to address inequitable access to early childhood programs using the Access Framework. She has also served as a subject matter expert and technical assistance provider for the National Center for Early Childhood Quality Assurance for the past seven years. These experiences have given her a comprehensive understanding of the research, policy, and implementation needs of state child care administrators and early childhood program leaders.