About
Our Story
The DIAL EE design process began in April 2019 and brought together a design team of four early learning leaders from districts across California. The team discussed the challenges and opportunities of operating early learning programs within a school district; the challenges, barriers, and successes they experienced; the conditions that helped drive innovation and success; and their needs as leaders to be effective. DIAL EE also engaged a diverse set of national, state, and local early education experts, research, and innovative leaders and organizations as partners to support the design and development of DIAL EE’s work.
To understand the context the early education leaders were operating in, during the design process, DIAL EE also collected and reviewed data in the form of reports on early education in California, CSPP funding data, and a survey of the design team members’ districts. The design process informed the development of a three-year professional development curriculum for DIAL EE fellows. The plan detailed annual themes and quarterly activities and topics, including community summits, professional learning, personalized coaching, and district implementation activities. The focus themes identified for year one were policy and budget, workforce, and continuous improvement/program quality.
However, within the last few years, DIAL EE’s work has expanded rapidly to respond to the unprecedented needs of families, children, early learning district leaders, and school districts due to the pandemic and new policy developments in California, including universal TK.
Team
![Carla Bryant](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Carla-Bryant_headshot.png)
Carla Bryant
Executive Director
![Karen Vang](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/3-About-Us-Our-Team-Karen_s-picture-1.jpg)
Karen Vang
Project and Communications Manager
![Alyssa Kirkpatrick](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Alyssa-Kirkpatrick.png)
Alyssa Kirkpatrick
Program Coordinator
Advisory Committee
Our dedicated advisory committee consists of leaders in the field of early childhood and education. Their insights and expertise helps DIAL EE strengthen its work and public education system for young children and their families.
![Karling Aguilera-Fort](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Karling-Aguilera-Fort-1.jpg)
Karling Aguilera-Fort
Associate Superintendent of Education Services
San Francisco Unified School District
San Francisco County
![Susan Kagehiro](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Susan-Kagehiro-1.jpeg)
Susan Kagehiro
Director of Programs
Stuart Foundation
![Elliot Regenstein](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Elliot.png)
Elliot Regenstein
Partner
Foresight Law+Policy
![Tamitrice Rice-Mitchell](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Tamitrice-Rice-Mitchell_headshot.png)
Tamitrice Rice-Mitchell
Director of Principal Leadership and Support
San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco County
![Georgenne Weisenfeld](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Georgenne-Weisenfeld_headshot.png)
Georgenne Weisenfeld
Assistant Research Professor
National Institute for
Early Education Research
![Ashley Williams](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/A.Williams_Headshot-2018-1.jpg)
Ashley Williams
Vice President of Programs
Jumpstart
Research Fellows
![Abigail Slovick](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Abby-Slovick.jpeg)
Abigail Slovick
Research Fellow
![Ja'Nya Banks](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/JaNya-Banks_headshot-1x1-web.png)
Ja'Nya Banks
Research Fellow
![Xuequin Lin](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Xueqin-Lin_headshot-1x1-web.png)
Xuequin Lin
Research Fellow
Collaborators
Our work is rooted in the belief that we can effect change and increase our impact when collaborating with others whose work is complementary to our goals. Our collaborators are supporters and advocates of our work.
![Catalyst California logo Catalyst California logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Catalyst-California-logo.png)
![CDEF Logo small for website](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CDEF-Logo-small-for-website.png)
![Central-USD-Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Central-USD-Logo.png)
![The Children's Equity Project](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/The-Childrens-Equity-Project.png)
![El Rancho USD logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/El-Rancho-USD-logo-1.png)
![Heising-Simons Foundation Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Heising-Simons-Foundation-Logo.png)
![Lemon Grove School District logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Lemon-Grove-School-District-logo.png)
![OUSD logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/OUSD-logo.png)
![Oxnard School District Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Oxnard-School-District-Logo.png)
![2020 PUSD logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2020-PUSD-logo.png)
![Pittsburg USD Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Pittsburg-USD-Logo.png)
![Silver Giving Foundation Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Silver-Giving-Foundation-Logo.png)
![The Children's Partnership logo mod-01](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/The-Childrens-Partnership-logo-mod-01.png)
![Ed Trust West logo 1](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ed-Trust-West-logo-1.png)
![Weaver Union SD Logo](https://dialee.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Weaver-Union-SD-Logo.jpeg)