Dionne Dobbins, Ph.D., leads the Research and Evaluation division and oversees research efforts under Start Early’s expanded Head Start Grant, Educare Chicago, the Illinois office, Professional Learning, and other divisions across the organization.

Her team’s work is guided by research practice partnerships in which researchers and practitioners work together to understand an issue, decide on a possible solution, implement the solutions, and collect data to measure its success. The goal is to help programs understand the data they collect, see where there are gaps or strengths in the data, and improve practice over time. In addition, she supervises researchers who have been funded to do independent research related to Start Early’s vision.

Previously, she was the senior director of research at Child Care Aware of America, where she supervised a team of researchers and set the research agenda for the organization focused on accessible, affordable, child care. Dionne has led research projects for Head Start, child care, family literacy, military child mental health and early childhood financing. She is also a former Head Start Fellow who supported  the leadership team at the Office of Head Start.

Dionne holds a doctorate in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami and did her postdoctoral work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dionne lives in Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. She has three children and dabbles in arts and crafts with her family.