Dr. Gibbs is an assistant professor at the Batten School with a joint appointment in the Curry School of Education. She is an affiliated researcher with UVA’s Center on Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness and with the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.

Her research focuses on education policy and specifically the effects of early childhood interventions and programming. Her dissertation work, which explores the impact of full-day kindergarten using innovative experimental and quasi-experimental methods, has received attention from scholars and policymakers interested in cost-effective ways to intervene early in children’s lives. Dr. Gibbs is also investigating patterns of fade out across studies of Head Start program impact to better understand short- and long-term effects of early childhood interventions. Prior to completing her Ph.D., she worked as a researcher at the American Institutes for Research and the Academy for Educational Development.