Maia C. Connors

Maia C. Connors is the founding Executive Director of EC*REACH and Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. In this role, she works to unite Chicago’s early childhood community to conduct action-oriented research and translate findings into policy and practice. A former toddler teacher, Maia has spent her career working at the intersection of research, practice, and policy. Most recently, she was director of research and policy initiatives at Start Early. Maia’s own research focuses on understanding how policy works as an “intervention” to advance equity and improve quality within early childhood programs and systems. She has extensive experience at the federal, state, and local levels partnering with early childhood policymakers and practitioners on projects such as exploring sources of variation in the impacts of Head Start; identifying promising policy levers for improving preschool quality at scale; and informing the decisions of city and state departments of education regarding early childhood quality, access, expansion, and improvement. Maia holds an AB in education studies and sociology from Brown University and a PhD in applied psychology from New York University. She is thrilled to be raising her toddler and preschooler in her adopted home city of Chicago.