Eboni Howard

Eboni Howard is a managing researcher and the early childhood portfolio lead in the Learning Supports Program. Dr. Howard has over 32 years of experience in the areas of early childhood and family support, as well as program administration and management. She has served as a senior advisor, principal investigator, or project director for dozens of projects. She is nationally recognized for her expertise in early childhood development and mixed-method program evaluation approaches, including ethnography, focus groups, quasi-experimental designs, and random-controlled trials. She also serves as a consultant and technical assistant on early childhood program and policy initiatives. 

Dr. Howard currently leads projects related to improving early childhood education quality, racial equity, access, and governance at the state and local levels, including system-building and improving the early childhood workforce. She is currently supporting the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care on several of their program quality and workforce development initiatives, including the development of a new educator credential system. She is also the principal investigator and project director for the evaluation of the Birth through Eight Strategy for Tulsa (BEST), a nine-year process and outcome evaluation to learn how a community-level, system change approach can improve the lives of young children and their families. She has vast experience providing strategic planning, technical assistance, consulting, and research services to public and private local, state, and national organizations.

Before joining AIR, Dr. Howard was the Frances Stott Chair in Early Childhood Policy and founding director of the Herr Research Center for Children and Social Policy at Erikson Institute. Prior to her work at Erikson, she was a senior researcher at Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Howard has presented extensively on early childhood topics and has served on a number of state and federal advisory committees and review boards. She is well known for her eloquent, engaging, and informative presentations, having provided more than 60 presentations in her career to various audiences.