Daphna Bassok

Daphna Bassok

  • Professor of Education and Public Policy
  • Associate Director, EdPolicyWorks

Office Location

Ridley Hall 258
PO Box 400265
405 Emmet Street S
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Biography

In addition to her school appointments, Daphna Bassok directs the Study of Early Education through Partnerships (SEE-Partnerships). She works closely with early childhood policy makers at both the Virginia and Louisiana Departments of Education on research aimed to inform efforts to build more cohesive, higher quality, early childhood education systems.

Bassok's research addresses early childhood education policy, with a focus on efforts to improve early childhood systems at scale. She is particularly interested in policies aimed at supporting the early childhood workforce. Currently, she is leading the multi-year evaluation of Virginia’s Federal Preschool Development Grant Birth-5 initiative which aims to expand access to stable, affordable, and quality early education for Virginia’s families and children, particularly those who are most vulnerable. As part of that evaluation, her team is conducting the first randomized controlled trial measuring the impacts of financial support for early educators on reducing turnover.

Through a long-standing research policy partnership in Louisiana, Bassok and colleagues are studying the states’ efforts to foster systemwide change including their unique quality rating and improvement system, their novel approach to credentialing childcare teachers, and their child care COVID recovery efforts. 

Bassok’s work has been generously funded by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Spencer Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, and the Foundation for Child Development.

Education

Ph.D., Stanford University, 2009
M.A., Stanford University , 2007
M.A., Stanford University, 2003
B.A., University of Michigan, 2000

Curriculum Vitae

Featured Research

Professionalizing the Child Care Workforce: Understanding the Low Rates of Credential Completion among Early Educators

This report uses administrative data to track the experiences of over 1000 child care teachers who began working towards the ECAC between 2016 and 2018.

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The Effects of Financial Incentives on Teacher Turnover in Early Childhood Settings: Experimental Evidence from Virginia

As part of a research-policy partnership, we conducted the first randomized controlled trial testing the impacts of financial incentives on teacher turnover in ECE settings.

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The Importance of Financial Supports for Child Care Teachers during the Pandemic: New Findings from Virginia

Since 2019, Virginia has been piloting the Teacher Recognition Program (TRP), a financial incentive program aimed at supporting early educators and reducing turnover.

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Teacher Turnover in Child Care: Pre-Pandemic Evidence from Virginia

This report describes teacher turnover over an eight-month period in a sample of over 1,000 Virginia child care teachers.

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Child Care Staffing Challenges during the Pandemic: Lessons from Child Care Leaders in Virginia

This report describes child care leaders’ staffing challenges during the COVID pandemic using data from a Fall 2020 survey of 262 Virginia child care leaders.

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The Unique Experiences of Families of Young Children with Disabilities During the Pandemic: Evidence from Virginia

This report describes findings from a survey of nearly 3,000 Virginia parents and caregivers of children ages 3-5 enrolled in early care and education programs in winter of 2020-21.

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