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Daphna Bassock

Daphna Bassok

Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy
Education & Training
PhD, Economics of Education, Stanford University
MA, Economics, Stanford University
MA, Policy Analysis, Stanford University
BA, Economics and History, University of Michigan
Courses taught
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Innovations
Data Management for Analysis
Causal Inference in Education Research
Areas of focus
Education
UVA partners
EdPolicyWorks: Center for Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness
School of Education and Human Development

Daphna Bassok is an Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and is also the Associate Director of EdPolicyWorks a joint collaboration between the Curry School of Education and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.  Her research addresses early childhood education policy, with a particular focus on the impacts of policy interventions on the well-being of low-income children. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator on a project supported by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to examine Louisiana’s efforts to overhaul their early childhood education system.  She recently received a National Academy of Education/ Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral  Fellowship for her work examining changes in parenting practices over time and their impact on the early emergence of achievement gaps.   Other recent projects have explored changes in the early childhood teacher labor force over time and the impacts of Florida’s Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program. Bassok holds a Ph.D. in the Economics of Education, a M.A. in Economics and a M.A. in Policy Analysis and Evaluation, all from Stanford University.

Related Content

Understanding COVID-19-Era Enrollment Drops among Early-Grade Public School Students

News

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted schooling nationwide, raising serious concerns about the impact of the pandemic on children’s learning. But, as Batten’s Daphna Bassok and co-author Anna Shapiro write in Brooking’s “Brown Center Chalkboard” blog, relatively less has been written about the experiences of the “missing children”—those who have not enrolled in public school at all.

Are Parents’ Ratings and Satisfaction with Preschools related to Program Features?

Research

This study examines whether parents’ overall satisfaction with their child’s early childhood education (ECE) program is correlated with a broad set of program characteristics, including (a) observational assessments of teacher-child interactions; (b) structural features of the program, such as teacher education and class size; (c) practical and convenience factors (e.g., hours, cost); and (d) a measure of average classroom learning gains. It then describes associations between parents’ evaluation of specific program characteristics and externally collected measures of those features.

Within-and Between-Sector Quality Differences in Early Childhood Education and Care

Research

This study leverages nationally representative data (N ≈ 6,000) to examine the magnitude of quality differences between (a) formal and informal early childhood education and care providers; (b) Head Start, prekindergarten, and other center-based care; and (c) programs serving toddlers and those serving preschoolers. It then documents differences in children’s reading and math skills at age 5 between those who had enrolled in formal and informal settings. 
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