Cristina Carrazza is a research scientist in The Bridge at NORC. A developmental psychologist by training, she has an extensive research background exploring how differences in children’s formal (school-based) and informal (home-based) learning environments impact their development and future academic achievement. Cristina has conducted mixed-methods research at the intersection of child development and education through experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental studies and secondary data analysis. Her expertise is in evaluation, research-practice partnerships, study and measurement design, data analysis, and dissemination.  

Cristina is the principal investigator of several evaluation studies in early care and education. In this role, she partners with community organizations and education agencies to co-design projects, understand and measure a program’s intended effects, and support continuous improvement. She also leads tasks on instrument development and data analysis for projects funded by the Administration of Children and Families (ACF).

A native Spanish speaker, Cristina has extensive experience co-designing data collection instruments in English and Spanish and has led qualitative data collection with English- and Spanish-speaking teachers and families.