Karen Manship

Managing Director

Karen Manship focuses on early childhood and K-12 education policy and finance. She currently serves as principal investigator (PI) for the evaluation of the Duke Endowment’s Summer Literacy Initiative and a leader in AIR’s early childhood cost modeling work. She recently led the national study of the Montessori preschool model funded by the Institute for Education Sciences and served as PI for two projects for the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education to recommend alternative cost-based rate models for child care subsidies and new approaches to the NC PreK funding formula. 

Read our Q&A with Karen Manship about transitional kindergarten.

Over her career at AIR, Manship has served as the director of the Study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program and led the case studies task for a U.S. Department of Education study of programs successful at sustaining the effects of preschool.

Before joining AIR, Manship was an analyst for the School Finance Redesign Project at the University of Washington and a statistician and Presidential Management Fellow at the National Center for Education Statistics.

 

Related Work
Preschool teacher playing blocks with young students
2026-02-18

Early Childhood Cost and Finance

18 Feb 2026
AIR's early childhood cost and finance team supports states in making decisions about the true cost of high-quality early care and education, the systems that support it, and the revenue strategies needed to sustain it.
2026-01-30

Early Childhood Cost Study Best Practices

30 Jan 2026
AIR developed the Best Practices for Estimating the Cost of Early Childhood Education guide to help state and local governments make informed decisions about childcare and other early childhood education programs and policies. 
Montessori teacher and preschool student
2025-10-20

A National Randomized Controlled Trial of the Impact of Public Montessori Preschool

20 Oct 2025
In this study, AIR explores existing admissions lotteries to public Montessori programs for three- to six-year-olds to understand the impact of Montessori through a rigorous randomized controlled trial framework.
Preschool children seated in a circle raising hands
2023-05-01

Michigan Resource Center Cost Study

The state of Michigan has 10 Great Start to Quality Resource Centers (RCs) across 11 regions. AIR designed and completed a cost study with the Michigan Department of Education to estimate the overall costs for each of its 10 RCs to perform the activities and goals outlined in each RC's ...
preschool girl stacking blocks
2023-03-01

North Carolina Pre-K: Study of Local Funding Sources and Administrative Costs

The North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education contracted with AIR in spring 2023 to help identify funding challenges in the NC Pre-K funding formula, uncover more detail about how counties blend and braid funds to support NC Pre-K, and make recommendations about what the state might do ...
Early childhood teacher and students
2022-10-19

How Expanding Transitional Kindergarten in California Can Benefit Dual Language Learners

19 Oct 2022
The start of the 2022-23 school year marked the beginning of the expansion of California’s transitional kindergarten (TK) program, which provides an additional year of early education prior to traditional kindergarten. Research has shown that transitional kindergarten improves learning for children overall, with especially pronounced benefits for dual language learners. ...
Three kids reading
2022-08-15

How Early Learning and Care Programs Can Support Dual Language Learners

15 Aug 2022
To understand better how educators and systems can support dual language learners and their families, AIR conducted interviews, surveys, and direct assessments on their experiences and outcomes in California from 2018-2022. The findings from this multifaceted study could inform policy and practice nationwide.  ...
Diverse preschoolers in a classroom
2022-05-02

North Carolina Alternative Market Rate Study and Cost Model Development

Researchers from AIR's Center for Economic Evaluation supported North Carolina with an alternative market rate model study as well as creating the North Carolina Child Care Cost Estimation Tool to inform state decisions around child care policies.
2020-01-01

Cost Analysis of the Duke Endowment Summer Literacy Initiative

AIR partnered with the Duke Endowment Foundation to understand the impact and associated costs of a summer literacy program housed in rural North Carolina churches.
2018-10-01

What Does It Cost to Educate California’s Students? A Professional Judgment Approach

01 Oct 2018
What is the cost of providing all California public school students with access to the California content standards and achieving appropriate levels of proficiency in accordance with standards established by the California Department of Education? This report presents the results of the professional judgment component undertaken by AIR to answer ...
2018-04-18

Transitional Kindergarten Q&A with Karen Manship

18 Apr 2018
Created in 2010 by the Kindergarten Readiness Act, transitional kindergarten (TK) offers younger children in California additional time to prepare for school. AIR undertook a five-year evaluation study of the TK program in 2012. In light of conversations across the country about increasing access to high-quality early childhood education, AIR’s ...
2018-04-01

Study of Title I Schoolwide and Targeted Assistance Programs: Final Report

01 Apr 2018
The schoolwide program and the targeted assistance program are two approaches related to the ideas established in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that focused on funding being provided to assist low-achieving students in high-poverty schools. This study compares services and resources provided by each approach and the ways these ...
Image of teacher and young students
2017-10-01

First 5 California Dual Language Learner Pilot Study

Over 60% of children from birth to age 5 in the state of California are dual language learners (DLLs). The First 5 California-funded Dual Language Learner Pilot Study seeks to identify the range and distribution of learning experiences for DLLs in California and to better understand how these experiences are ...
Happy young students
2017-03-01

Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program

California's Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is intended to provide an additional year of early education for younger children, with the goal of promoting their success in school. The Heising-Simons Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation are partnering with AIR to study the impact of TK on children’s academic and ...
2016-04-30

Analysis of Options for Funding Universal Preschool in Sonoma County - Updated Report

30 Apr 2016
Critical gaps currently exist in the availability of high-quality preschool, particularly in low-income areas of Sonoma County, California. Building on the county's interest in universal preschool, and the body of work already conducted in the county supporting it, this report provides a plan to expand access to preschool and to ...
2016-03-31

Unmet Need for Preschool Services in California: Statewide and Local Analysis

31 Mar 2016
California is home to more than one million three- and four-year-old children, but is ranked among the 15 states producing the worst outcomes for youth. This brief presents an analysis of the unmet need for preschool services in California at the state and local levels and concludes with a more ...
2016-03-22

Case Studies of Schools Receiving School Improvement Grants: First Year Findings

22 Mar 2016
Our nation’s lowest performing schools have traditionally struggled to offer students the instruction and supports they deeply need. The first phase of the federal School Improvement Grant Program targeted the goal of turning around these schools and improving learning for students. This report examines the first year of SIG implementation ...
Karen Manship and Heather Quick
2015-11-30

Transitional Kindergarten: A Unique Approach to Pre-Kindergarten in California, but Is it Effective?

30 Nov 2015
A December 2015 AIR study finds that Transitional Kindergarten, the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for young five-year-olds in California, appears to improve children’s school readiness in critical areas of academic learning and development. Researchers Karen Manship and Heather Quick explain how and suggest next steps. ...
Two kindergarten girls
2015-03-11

Transitional Kindergarten in California: Early Outreach, Enrollment, and Parent Perspectives

11 Mar 2015
With the 2012-2013 school year, California established a new grade level—Transitional Kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten experience for students who turn five between September 2 and December 2. When TK began, there were many questions from parents and other stakeholders. This is the third in a ...
2014-01-29

How Does the Quality of Your Preschool Compare to Other Providers in Your State?

29 Jan 2014
Systems to rate the quality of child care and preschool programs are in place or under development in 49 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In this blog post, Laura Hawkinson and Karen Manship explain that, until validation and evaluation studies are complete, states' varying systems make ...
2013-06-10

Early Learning Needs Assessment Tool

10 Jun 2013
The Early Learning Needs Assessment Tool can create custom or provide prepared reports using data AIR has collected on the supply and demand for early learning and care for young children, including estimates of those eligible for Title V state programs.
2013-01-30

Evaluation of the Stretch to Kindergarten Program: 2012 Findings, Final Report

30 Jan 2013
The Stretch to Kindergarten program is a six-week school readiness program that serves children with limited prior preschool experience during the summer prior to their kindergarten entry. AIR continued an evaluation of the Stretch to Kindergarten program in Mountain View, California in 2012, the program’s fourth year. ...
African American kindergartner drawing at school table
2012-08-01

Condition of Children Birth to Age Five and Status of Early Childhood Services in California

01 Aug 2012
Supported by federal funds, California is developing a comprehensive statewide plan for an integrated early learning system, the California Comprehensive Early Learning Plan (CCELP). In support of the development of this plan, AIR compiled a report describing statistics on the condition of children in California, and ...
2011-01-12

Evaluation of the First 5 LA Family Literacy Initiative: Final Evaluation Report

12 Jan 2011
The First 5 LA Family Literacy Initiative, which began in 2002, is a comprehensive program to promote language and literacy development for children and their parents, and to promote parenting knowledge and skills, with a goal of greater economic self-sufficiency among low-income families in Los Angeles County. ...
2010-06-16

California Infant/Toddler Early Learning and Care Needs Assessment: A Policy Brief

16 Jun 2010
There are several challenges to assessing the quality and adequacy of early learning services for children in California. The purpose of this policy brief is to improve the knowledge base on the utilization, quality, and access to early learning and care services for infants and toddlers in California. ...
2009-09-01

The Preschool Research and Technical Assistance Project for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

The purpose of the five-year Preschool Research and Technical Assistance Project for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has been to offer research-based technical assistance to state and local entities on how to phase in access to high-quality preschool to all children in California, beginning in the neighborhoods with the ...
2009-05-10

Preschool Supply and Demand in the State of California

10 May 2009
Unlike the K-12 school system, the preschool system does not maintain unique child identifiers, making it difficult to impossible to track children’s enrollment in child care. This needs assessment of preschool supply and demand in the state of California uses existing public data sources to estimate, by county and zip ...
2006-11-01

Early Learning Needs Assessment Tool

Assessing access to early care and education is a key first step in any policy improvement initiative. In part because of the diverse delivery system for early childhood programs in the U.S., there is no single source of data on the availability of programs much less on the enrollment in ...
Karen Manship
Expertise
Human Services
Early Childhood and Child Development

M.A., Urban Affairs and Public Policy
University of Delaware

+1.202.403.5000

AIR in the News

UVA Today

UVA-led National Study Finds Montessori Preschool Boosts Learning, Cuts Costs

New America

Supporting Our Youngest Dual Language Learners

Business Wire

First 5 California Dual Language Learner Pilot Study Reveals Significant Challenges

Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom

Governor Newsom Announces Early Childhood Policy Council and a Team to Develop Master Plan for Early Learning and Care

Los Angeles Times

Gavin Newsom’s $1.8 Billion Early Education Plan Deserves Credit, But It Isn’t Enough

Inside IES Research

IES Funds First Large-Scale Evaluation Study of Public Preschool Montessori

Berkeley News

Child Care, Preschool Remain Hard to Find, and Stark Gaps Exist in California

LAist

Lots Of LA 4-Year-Olds Are Going to Preschool — But It Depends On Where You Live