Brittany Alexander

Brittany Alexander, PhD
Research Assistant Professor for Early Childhood
Children's Equity Project, Arizona State University

Dr. Brittany Alexander is an early childhood equity and policy researcher at the CEP. Her research broadly focuses on intersectional educational equity, teacher-child interactions, social and emotional learning, and the impact of racism on children’s educational experiences. Her dissertation focused on applying Anti-Racist Early Childhood Theory to Head Start classroom quality and children's school readiness. The first study investigated the extent to which the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), an observational measure of classroom quality that is used in Head Start decision making, captured the same construct across teachers from various racial/ethnic groups (i.e., measurement invariance). The second study explored patterns of Head Start classroom interactional quality, the distribution of these patterns, and their relation to children's school readiness. Beyond her academic work, Brittany has experience in program and policy evaluation, applied and translational research, and critical/intersectional theoretical approaches. She has published research related to the development of hope in adolescence, authored policy briefs with the CEP, and worked with state agencies on evaluation projects.