Sandy Petersen works as a private consultant with infant-toddler programs. Since 1999 until her retirement in 2016, she held a variety of positions at ZERO TO THREE, mostly with the Early Head Start National Resource Center.
Prior to joining ZERO TO THREE, Petersen was a coordinator of training and technical assistance for early childhood at the Colorado Department of Education, involved in policy work and directing the training project When Children Soar with the Wind.
Petersen's earlier work includes teaching college, doing infant-parent psychotherapy at the Infant-Parent Program in San Francisco, doing home-based early intervention, and teaching in and directing child care programs.
Sandy is the author of ZERO TO THREE’S Caring for Infants and Toddlers in Groups (2nd edition). She is co-author of three textbooks Infant and Toddler Development and Responsive Program Planning: A Relationship-based Approach, Endless Opportunities for Infant and Toddler Curriculum: A Relationship-based Approach, and The Young Child: Prenatal to Age 8.
Petersen received a BA in early childhood education from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, an MA in educational psychology from California State University, Northridge, and completed coursework for a joint doctoral program in early childhood education from University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University.