Meg Caven
About
Meg Caven, a senior research associate at EDC, co-leads the New Hampshire Partnership to Increase Early Learning Outcomes through Play. Caven examines the intersection of education, policy, and inequality. Drawing on mixed-methods and participatory inquiry, she advances knowledge of how policy reforms alter educational opportunity, practices, environments, and outcomes. She is particularly interested in leveraging research-practice partnerships to advance racial equity at the intersection of the educational, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems.
Caven has led several REL Northeast & Islands studies, including one on teacher turnover in early childhood education centers, and one on mentoring and retaining a diverse educator workforce. She also contributed to a study of chronic absenteeism. Outside the REL, she leads an evaluation of educational services provided to youth in juvenile justice custody across Massachusetts.
Caven holds a PhD in Sociology from Brown University.
Email: mcaven@edc.org
Associated IES Content
About REL Northeast and Islands
About REL Northeast and Islands
Blog
Prioritizing Play: The Importance of Play-based Learning in Early Education
This blog explores the learning benefits of both free and guided classroom play for young children and describes how REL Northeast & Islands is partnering with New Hampshire to advance the state's play-based learning initiative...
Date published:
Jul 06, 2022
report
Descriptive Study
Variation in Mentoring Practices and Retention across New Teacher Demographic Characteristics under a Large Urban District's New Teacher Mentoring Program
A large urban school district wanted to understand how its first-year teacher mentoring program might better support the district goals of increasing retention and maintaining a diverse workforce. This study investigated new teachers' participation in that program; how participation varied across teacher characteristics, especially how participation varied by the racial/ethnic makeup of new teacher-mentor pairs; and how participation in various aspects of the program was related to new teache...
Sep 01, 2021
report
Descriptive Study
Exploring Implementation of Attendance Supports to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in the Providence Public School District
In recent years Rhode Island's Providence Public School District (PPSD) has put initiatives in place to reduce high chronic absenteeism. This study explored attendance supports aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism that PPSD schools implemented in the 2018/19 school year. Although some schools had attendance supports in place before 2018/19, in 2018 the district added new requirements for schools to address chronic absenteeism. The study investigated what attendance supports were most commonl...
Sep 01, 2021
Blog
Understanding Teacher Turnover in Early Childhood Education
Before my first child was even born, my wife and I visited nearly every childcare center within a five-mile radius. The choices were overwhelming. Centers had different philosophies, schedules, and spaces--and we didn't have the first idea how to choose between them, or even what to ask of the directors who showed us around during our visits. "Ask about staff retention," one friend offered. "Find out how long their teachers have been there." It seems obvious now, but at the time it had never ...
Date published:
Jun 21, 2021
report
Descriptive Study
Center- and Program-Level Factors Associated with Turnover in the Early Childhood Education Workforce
Staff turnover is a pressing problem in early childhood education. High turnover can create organizational instability and distract from the care and education mandate of early childhood education centers. The Early Childhood Workforce Development Research Alliance of the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands wants to better understand the factors associated with turnover in the early childhood educator workforce. Using data from the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Educat...
Mar 01, 2021
Blog
Innovative Data Analysis Helps Boston Learn from Teachers' Early Pandemic Experiences
This past summer REL Northeast & Islands had the opportunity to apply an innovative data analysis method--natural language processing--to inform remote teaching at Boston Public Schools in the fall. REL staff used the method to analyze teacher survey responses about the transition to remote learning in the spring. The approach reduced the amount of time needed for data analysis and could prove a promising method for examining open-ended survey data in the field of education when speed is esse...
Date published:
Feb 25, 2021
Blog
Leveraging the Benefits of Collaboration for Collective Impact
REL Northeast & Islands and the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC) are seeing exciting early benefits of collaborating to provide coordinated support to states and districts in our region. While REL Northeast & Islands and the R2CC both provide technical assistance, we have different but complementary areas of focus. REL Northeast & Islands conducts applied research and supports states' and districts' use of data, research, and evidence-based practices. The Comprehensive Center Network supp...
Date published:
Jan 01, 2021
View More