Ellen Frede
Co-Director, National Institute for Early Education Research

Ellen Frede is Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research. A developmental psychologist specializing in early childhood education, Dr. Frede is a widely published researcher and a former teacher with extensive experience in early childhood program implementation and administration. Prior to joining NIEER as co-director, she served as Assistant to the Commissioner for Early Childhood Education at the New Jersey Department of Education. Her office oversaw the implementation of high-quality preschool in more than 150 school districts, serving 50,000 children and their families. As an Associate Professor at The College of New Jersey for over 16 years, she taught applied child development and early childhood teaching methods courses to prospective and practicing teachers.

Dr. Frede began her career teaching in a wide variety of early childhood classrooms including Head Start, employer-sponsored child care and a federally funded model inclusion program. She later served as a professional development specialist at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation where she assisted teachers and program development specialists throughout the U.S. and abroad. After earning her doctorate, she served as project director and principal investigator on a number of federal, state and foundation-funded research projects. Her work has primarily investigated the relationship of program quality to child outcomes and inclusion practices in early childhood. Dr. Frede's work has appeared in various national research journals. She has served as an editor on the review boards of national journals and as a consultant to local agencies, state governments and the World Bank.