Danielle Ewen has served in numerous leadership positions in child care and early education policy. She previously served as the Director of the Office of Early Childhood Education in the District of Columbia Public Schools, where she oversaw the operations of programs serving three- and four-year old children in high quality, comprehensive classrooms. Prior to her work in DCPS, Ms. Ewen served as the Director of the Child Care and Early Education team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). At CLASP, she worked on federal and state issues around child care and early education, particularly the reauthorizations of the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Head Start. Ms. Ewen also worked at the Children’s Defense Fund as a Senior Program Associate in the Child Care and Development Division and was the Assistant Director for the National Child Care Information Center. Early in her career, she worked as a Policy Analyst at the US Department of Education in the Office of Migrant Education, where she was involved in issues related to implementation of Chapter 1 programs, family literacy, bilingual education, and evaluation. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University.

Jana Martella, CEELO Co-Project Director at the Education Development Center. Jana Martella co-leads and supports all operations of the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes, including the development and execution of strategic and responsive technical assistance (TA), analysis and review of all products and publications, tailoring TA activities and materials for use by SEAs and RCs, and providing direct TA to multiple states. She brings more than thirty years of experience in education, including as a teacher and assistant school administrator, SEA legislative liaison and coordinator for federal programs. A central part of her focus has been on education system and program improvement through standards-based reform, including her work in promoting improved opportunities in early childhood education. She has worked on multiple initiatives designed to advance high quality in early childhood education and in child and adult care in the states. She has worked on all re-authorizations of the ESEA since 1987.