Annie Li

Annie Li specializes in mixed-methods studies focused on young children, families, and the quality of early care and education programs, including Head Start, home-based child care, and other child care settings. Her expertise includes developing professional development supports for the early care and education workforce and translating research to practice for practitioners and families.

Li led development of a new quality self-assessment toolkit for home-based child care educators and caregivers and currently leads efforts to test measures for the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Li also develops training content, trains, and provides technical assistance to early care and education practitioners on the Quality of Care for Infants and Toddlers (QCIT) measure. Li incorporates community-based participatory research methods on several projects.

Li holds an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and a B.A. in sociology with a focus on race and inequality from Harvard University. Li’s research is informed by her lived experiences working with marginalized young people, advocating for immigrant and non-English–speaking communities, and as a former student activist.