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NORC at the University Chicago

Sarah Kabourek

Senior Research Scientist
The Bridge at NORC
Sarah is a quantitative research expert studying policy impacts on children and families.

Sarah is a senior research scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago. She has extensive experience in quantitative and mixed-methods research design and analysis. She uses rigorous analytic approaches to study the experiences of children and families in early care and education and K-12 education systems. The goals of this work are to increase access to high-quality early childhood and educational opportunities. 

Sarah is the principal investigator of a secondary data analysis studying the use of grandparent-based early care and education and its impact on child and grandparent outcomes, funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). She also leads tasks such as environmental scans, secondary data analysis, and survey design and analytic work on other ACF-funded NORC projects.

Sarah is the co-principal investigator of NORC’s independent evaluation of the Oakland Promise Brilliant Baby evaluation. This evaluation is a longitudinal, randomized controlled trial (RCT) examining the impact of Brilliant Baby, a college savings account (CSA) and financial coaching intervention for Medicaid-eligible families with infants, on children and parents.

Project Contributions

Consumer Education and Parent Choice in Early Care & Education

Understanding how parents find and use information to make early child care decisions

Client:

Administration for Children and Families, Health & Human Services Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation

Financing Early Care and Education Study

Exploring Head Start financing strategies and the landscape of state-level early care and education (ECE) financing policy

Client:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at the Administration for Children & Families (ACF)

Evaluating the Tempe Preschool Resource Expansion

Assessing whether Tempe PRE improves kindergarten readiness and future achievement for low-income children

Funder:

Helios Education Foundation

Head Start to Kindergarten Transitions: Foundational Research

A rigorous, system-level study of the factors that drive successful kindergarten transitions

Client:

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families

Head Start to Kindergarten Transitions: Descriptive Study

A national survey of the policies, practices, and system-level supports for kindergarten transitions

Client:

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families

All In For Kids

Assessing the impact of layered early learning supports in Chicago schools

Client:

Viewing Our Children as Emerging Leaders (VOCEL)

Publications

Research Library & Findings