Heather Quick, Ph.D., is a Managing Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and serves as the study’s principal investigator. Dr. Quick has more than 20 years of experience leading research and evaluation studies of early care and education program quality, school readiness, family engagement, and teacher professional development. Throughout her career, her research has focused on programs, policies, and practices to support dual language learners and diverse families. Dr. Quick is currently co-PI of the AIR Early Math Study, a randomized controlled trial of a bilingual mathematics intervention program for parents and children ages 2–3. The study uses direct assessments of children and observations of parent-child interactions to evaluate the impact of the interactive learning program on children and their parents. Dr. Quick also leads a study evaluating the impacts of a light-touch home visiting program for primarily Spanish-speaking families on maternal well-being and developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers. In addition to these projects, Dr. Quick recently completed a 5-year study of the implementation and impacts of California’s transitional kindergarten program, which used a quasi-experimental design to assess the program’s impacts on children and identify program quality elements that best support children’s learning and development. Study results received local and national attention and have influenced early learning policy decisions at the state and local levels. Dr. Quick also has expertise in family literacy and family engagement and has conducted evaluations of programs designed to serve the early learning needs of children and enhance the language, literacy, and parenting skills of their parents. Dr. Quick received her Ph.D. in human development from Cornell University.
