Paola Guerrero-Rosada

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, and a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy. 

I examine two assumptions that underlie early childhood education (ECE) quality improvement policy: that widely used classroom observation tools identify what actually drives children's learning, and that voluntary quality improvement programs reach the providers who need them most. In my measurement studies, I find that CLASS scores show null relations with children's learning gains, that within-classroom variation in learning experiences does not consistently predict developmental outcomes, and that the instructional profiles and quality ratings derived from observation shift depending on which time-use instrument is used — suggesting that the active ingredients of effective early childhood instruction remain unidentified. In my equity-focused work, I use administrative, geospatial, and experimental methods to study who participates in quality improvement, drawing on data from Boston's Universal Pre-K program and Puerto Rico's public elementary schools.

I received my Ph.D. in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2023. 

Learn more about the Multisectoral Coalition ¡Todos a Leer! in Puerto Rico.