Elena Montoya

As a Senior Analyst, Elena serves as the Research to Practice Lead for the National ECE Workforce Center. In this role, Elena is a member of the National Center’s leadership team, ensuring that research and technical assistance activities are coordinated and inform each other. She also leads a consortium of partner organizations and co-leads an educator board to ensure educators’ voices and perspectives are centered in National ECE Workforce Center activities.  

Elena contributes across CSCCE’s projects, having led studies of the workforce and degree preparation programs, and brings over 15 years of experience in early care and education. 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 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 at Austin and holds a California multiple subject teaching credential. She enjoys cooking and baking, hanging out with her husband and children, and discovering new music.