Tracy Gebhart, MPP, is a research scientist who uses quantitative methodologies to better understand the quality and accessibility of child care and early education (CCEE) in the United States.

Ms. Gebhart has collaborated with federal, state, and foundation partners throughout her time at Child Trends. Most recently, she served as co-principal investigator of a study examining Asian American families’ experiences with CCEE prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her portfolio encompasses evaluations of local and state-based CCEE quality initiatives and unique analyses of the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) to investigate national CCEE policy priorities. Her diverse research interests include understanding families’ CCEE preferences, examining the relationship between price and quality in center-based CCEE settings, investigating the provision of CCEE for children with disabilities, and exploring CCEE workforce well-being.

In addition to her expertise in traditional quantitative modeling, Ms. Gebhart is proficient in data science and data visualization techniques. Her work in this area spans diverse datasets, ranging from geospatial analysis and visual mapping of regional CCEE workforce supports to complex analysis of CCEE licensing data scraped directly from published licensing reports.

Ms. Gebhart has contributed to several publications, including Early Childhood Research Quarterly. She has also shared her research findings at national conferences, including the Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium and the National Research Conference on Early Childhood.

Ms. Gebhart is a proud alumna of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned dual undergraduate degrees in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and in Civic Engagement, in addition to her Master of Public Policy degree.