Ashley Hirilall, MPP, is an early childhood education research scientist at Child Trends. Her work focuses on expanding access to affordable and stable early childhood programs and services that meets families’ unique needs and supports the development of young children.

Ashley provides research, evaluation, and technical assistance to state and community teams working to support families’ access to early childhood education (ECE) programs and services. Her work centers on the Access Framework, a research framework co-developed by Child Trends and national partners. This family-centered definition of ECE access aims to capture the multiple factors families consider when seeking and using early childhood programs and services. Through her research and technical assistance, Ashley works with state and community ECE leaders to elevate family voices and identify and address barriers to access. Ashley co-developed the Misalignment Index, a measure that compares families’ child care preferences to their actual experiences finding and using child care. The Misalignment Index examines key factors that influence families’ search and selection of ECE, such as cost, availability, hours of operation, and the extent to which the care arrangement meets their needs and supports their child’s development.

Ashley also leads research, evaluation, and technical assistance related to cross-system collaboration between housing and ECE systems. Her work has explored the barriers and facilitators that families experiencing homelessness face when seeking ECE as well as how data can be leveraged to identify and better serve families. Her work also examines the availability and accessibility of ECE among families living in publicly owned housing, investigating families' needs and preferences to inform policies that can better support them in obtaining ECE.

As a qualitative researcher, Ashley is dedicated to centering families' voices to ensure their perspectives shape decisions that affect their lives. Ashley holds an MPP from the University of Minnesota.