As Senior Research and Policy Associate, Elena’s current work focuses on the California Early Care & Education Workforce Study, early childhood workforce data, transitional kindergarten, monitoring California state policy related to the early childhood workforce, and providing technical assistance and advisement on workforce issues to working groups and external organizations. She has over 15 years of experience in early care and education, including stakeholder and community engagement and conducting research on early childhood teacher preparation programs. Prior to joining CSCCE in 2015, she conducted research on child care availability, need, and costs at the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network, led research projects on California early education and children’s well-being at Children Now, and served as the California state coordinator for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT project. Elena earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Texas and holds a California multiple subject teaching credential. She enjoys baking projects, reading cookbooks, and discovering new music.
Publications by Elena Montoya
February 8, 2023 • Brief • By Anna Powell, Elena Montoya, Lea J.E. Austin, Yoonjeon Kim, Wanzi Muruvi and Abby Copeman Petig
Drawing on findings from the 2020 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study, this brief provides statewide data on teachers of preschool-age children. This brief explores the experiences of early…
Teaching Transitional Kindergarten: A Snapshot of the Teacher Experience Before UTK Expansion
December 6, 2022 • Report • By Elena Montoya, Anna Powell, Lea J.E. Austin, Yoonjeon Kim, Wanzi Muruvi and Abby Copeman Petig
In the fall of 2020, CSCCE surveyed almost 300 TK teachers in classrooms throughout California as part of the California Early Care and Education Workforce Study. This brief provides…
August 23, 2022 • Report • By Elena Montoya, Lea J.E. Austin, Anna Powell, Yoonjeon Kim, Abby Copeman Petig and Wanzi Muruvi
Drawing on findings from the 2020 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study, this report provides statewide and regional wage and benefits data for home- and center- based early…
Early Care and Education Programs During COVID-19: Persistent Inequities and Emerging Challenges
June 1, 2022 • Report • By Yoonjeon Kim, Elena Montoya, Lea J.E. Austin, Anna Powell and Wanzi Muruvi
This report takes a closer look at the impact of COVID-19 on early care and education (ECE) programs, staffing and disparities using data collected by the Center by the Center…
Double or Nothing? Potential TK Wages for California’s Early Educators
June 1, 2022 • Data Snapshot • By Anna Powell, Elena Montoya, Lea J.E. Austin and Yoonjeon Kim
California has proposed a broad expansion of transitional kindergarten (TK), a school-based early learning program serving four-year-olds. This improvement will make TK universally available to all four-year-olds by 2025, framed…
Still Nothing for California’s Child Care Workforce
June 1, 2022 • Blog • By Lea J.E. Austin and Elena Montoya
With the May budget revision, Governor Newsom failed once again to support the early education workforce that is the backbone of California’s economy. Despite a record budget, the people who…