Madeline Carter is a policy analyst in the early childhood development program area. She completed a BA in public policy with the highest honors from University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Madeline is most passionate addressing socioeconomic disparities in education and the workforce through social policy research and analysis. Amidst her coursework, community involvement, and research at University of Michigan, she found early childhood to be the most critical point at which researchers and policy-makers can level the playing field for society’s most vulnerable.

During her senior year, Madeline worked as a research assistant in Dr. Christina Weiland’s Equity in Early Learning Lab at the University of Michigan. She completed a state-level descriptive analysis of Young Fives – a developmental kindergarten initiative in Michigan – that is being used to causally evaluate the program’s impact on students’ long-term educational outcomes. Her current research interests include accessibility to affordable child care, universal preschool policies, and the transition from preschool to kindergarten.