Karen Hill-Scott, Ed.D., is a nationally recognized expert in childcare and development, who began her career as a Head Start teacher. She has an unusual breadth and depth of experience in the field, from being a professor at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, consulting to business on work-family life, performing public policy analysis and providing direct service to families through a non-profit agency she co-founded, Crystal Stairs, Inc. For several years, she taught Evaluation Research at UCLA and has published articles on child care quality and program management. Recent book chapters can be found in Managing Quality in Child Development Programs (Teacher’s College Press, 1999) and The Handbook of Children’s Television (Sage Publications, 2000). Hill-Scott also co-chaired the California Task Force on Universal Pre-school, which produced the report Ready to Learn: Universal Pre-school in California (California Department of Education, 1999).

Currently Hill-Scott is president of her own consulting firm, Karen Hill-Scott & Company, in Los Angeles, which specializes in children’s television programming. Dr. Hill-Scott’s clients for children’s media have included Nickelodeon, NBC, KCET, SONY Wonder, the Disney Channel, and Lancit Media. Her body of work includes the review and analysis on over 1000 episodes of aired commercial and public broadcasting. Several of these series have won awards from Action for Children’s Television, and the Council for Better Broadcasting. Specific episodes of programming have won the Humanitas, Prism, Gracie, Apple, and the EMMY Awards.

Outside the world of television, Dr. Hill-Scott currently participates in several child and family policy initiatives and boards. She was appointed by the State Senate to serve as Chair of the School Readiness Work Group for the California Education Master Plan. She previously was appointed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin to Co-Chair the California Task Force for Universal Preschool. Hill-Scott is a State Commissioner for the California Children and Families Commission, chaired by Rob Reiner. She serves on the Boards of Crystal Stairs, the Foundation for Child Development, and the Commission to Reinvent Accreditation for the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Dr. Hill-Scott frequently gives lectures and keynote addresses on a wide range of family, parenting, education and public policy issues. Her audiences have ranged from welfare mothers making the transition back to the workforce to national leaders and legislators setting policy for the country. Hill-Scott earned her doctorate at UCLA where she has been on the faculty since 1972. She is married, has four children, and resides in Los Angeles.

Agenda Pages
Background	Student Learning	Emerging Modes
Personnel Development	Workforce Preparation	School Readiness
Facilities & Finance	Governance	Wrap-up