Violent Crimes, Classroom Quality, and Child Development: Effects of Community Violence on Education Outcomes (Poster 14)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Friday 11:45am
  In Invited Poster Session: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research Poster Session

Abstract

This dissertation examines how exposure to community violence shapes young children’s development and learning environments. The first study is a meta-analysis of quasi-experimental evidence linking objectively measured exposure to violence in children to their cognitive and emotional outcomes, synthesizing over 2,400 estimates from 22 studies. Results reveal predominantly negative effects, substantial heterogeneity by timing and outcome domain, and widespread underpowered designs. The second study uses administrative and geocoded data from Colombia to estimate the effects of recent homicides near early childhood education providers. Findings indicate that classroom quality, particularly pedagogical interactions, is highly sensitive to recent violence exposure and may exhibit more persistent effects than child-level outcomes. Together, these studies clarify mechanisms linking violence to early development and inform policy-relevant interventions.

Author

• Juan Camilo Cristancho, University of California - Irvine