Stacy Ehrlich

Stacy Ehrlich is a senior research analyst at the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Ehrlich’s research interests include using quantitative and qualitative methods to measure student learning and growth for the improvement of education, with a specific focus on early childhood education. She is trained as a developmental psychologist, with expertise in the areas of children’s early conceptual development within the domains of mathematics and science. Ehrlich has experience in designing, conducting, and analyzing data from experimental research studies; performing analyses on large-scale state- and district-wide datasets; and managing primary data collection efforts. She is also involved in outreach with other research organizations across the nation, working with other organizations that are doing place-based research with their local districts, and works with the Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory to help researchers cooperate with practitioners to make their research and findings relevant and useful in schools.

Her current research at CCSR focuses on a range of topics affecting students in Chicago, including exploring reasons for and impacts of absenteeism in preschool and the early grades; conducting a developmental evaluation of YOUmedia, a digital media and learning space for high-school aged children in Chicago; and examining the applicability of the 9^th grade on-track indicator for predicting high school graduation for English Language Learners in the Chicago Public Schools.

Prior to joining CCSR, Ehrlich worked at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) as a research associate with the IES-funded Regional Education Laboratory – Northeast and Islands, where she conducted analyses of several large datasets, examining questions that responded to states’ educational policy concerns. Ehrlich was also involved in designing, implementing, and managing several IES- and NSF-funded studies. During her schooling, Ehrlich was an assistant preschool teacher, and taught elementary students as part of NCLB’s supplemental education services in the Chicago Public Schools. Ehrlich earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in developmental psychology, and a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has presented her work at several national psychology and education conferences, and has published in scholarly journals such as Developmental Psychology and Child Development Perspectives, as well as for the Institute for Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education.