Biography

Deborah Lowe Vandell is a Professor of Education and Psychology at the University of California, Irvine, where she was the Founding Dean of the School of Education. The author of more than 140 articles and four books, Professor Vandell has studied the short-term and long-term effects of early care and education on children’s academic, social, and behavioral development. Other research has focused on the roles of out-of-school contexts in children’s development. Vandell was elected to the National Academy of Education and serves on the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development. Her testimony before the U.S. Congress and other federal, state, and local governmental bodies has been used to inform policy decisions in early childhood and afterschool programming.

Vivian L. Gadsden is the William T. Carter Professor of Child Development, Professor of Education, and Director of the National Center on Fathers and Families at the University of Pennsylvania. She is President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her research and scholarly interests and writing focus on learning, literacy, and the elimination of risk to children, parents, and families across the life-course, from early childhood through the aging process, particularly academic and social vulnerability associated with race, gender, ethnicity, poverty, and immigrant status. Her collaborative research projects draw upon interdisciplinary frameworks that examine early childhood development, parenting, and, families; father engagement in urban settings; social determinants of health and education; children of incarcerated parents; and intergenerational learning within African American and Latino families. Most recently, Gadsden chaired The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Supporting Parents of Young Children. The Committee’s report, Parenting Matters, was released in July 2016. Gadsden is a Fellow of AERA, and earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Margaret R. Burchinal, Ph.D., Senior Scientist and Director of the Data Management and Analysis Core at the FPG Child Development Institute and Research Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Burchinal has extensive experience in managing the data management and statistical analyses for large multi-site studies, serving as the lead statistician for project such as the NIH Family Life Project, NICHD Study of Early Care and Youth Development, the IES National Center for Early Development and Learning, and for center grants and program projects funded by NIA, NIDA, NICHD, and IES. Her research interests include growth curve methodology and the short- and long-term impacts of early care and education, especially for children at risk due to poverty. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed papers and several chapters, including the most recent chapter on early care and education in the Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science She has served as: an associate editor for Child Development and Early Childhood Research Quarterly; a panel member of grant review committees for MCH, IES, and NICHD; a member for several National Research Council committees and several Head Start research and evaluation committees; and is currently a trustee for the W.T. Grant Foundation.

Natasha J. Cabrera, Ph.D, is Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland and was an SRCD policy fellow. Dr. Cabrera’s research focuses on parenting and children’s social and cognitive development; family processes and ethnic and cultural variations in fathering and mothering behaviors; and, the mechanisms that link early experiences to children’s school readiness. Dr. Cabrera is the co-editor of the Handbook of Father Involvement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Second Edition (Taylor & Francis, 2013) and Latina/o Child Psychology and Mental Health: Volumes 1 and 2 (Praeger, 2011). Dr. Cabrera is the Associate Editor of Child Development and the recipient of the National Council and Family Relations award for Best Research Article regarding men in families in 2009. In 2015, The National Academy of Sciences appointed her to its committee supporting the parents of young children and she was a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in 2016.

Greg Duncan holds the title of Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. Duncan received his PhD in economics from the University of Michigan and spent the first 35 years of his career at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. Duncan’s recent work has focused on estimating the role of school-entry skills and behaviors on later school achievement and attainment and the effects of increasing income inequality on schools and children’s life chances. Duncan was President of the Population Association of America in 2008 and the Society for Research in Child Development between 2009 and 2011. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010 and was awarded the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize in 2013. In 2015, he received SRCD's Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy and Practice in Child Development.

Iheoma Iruka, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the University of Nebraska Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Dr. Iruka’s research focuses on determining how early experiences impact poor and ethnic minority children’s learning and development, and the role of the family and education environments and systems. She is engaged in projects/initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of low-income and ethnic minority children. In particular, she has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young Black children, such as through classroom measure development, public policy, and publications geared towards early education practitioners working with diverse populations. She has served on numerous national boards and committee, including National Academies of Sciences Study on Parenting and National Research Conference on Early Childhood.

Hirokazu Yoshikawa is the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education, and a University Professor at New York University. He conducts research on the effects of programs and policies related to early childhood development, immigration and poverty on child and youth development. He co-directs (with Larry Aber) the Global TIES for Children Center at New York University. He is aso Co-Chair of the Thematic Network on Early Childhood Development and Education (i.e., for the area of Sustainable Development Goal, or SDG 4) of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), the research network advising the Secretary-General on the development and implementation of the global SDGs. He serves on the boards of trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation and the Foundation for Child Development, and the advisory boards of the Early Childhood Program of the Open Society Foundations and the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report.

Martha Zaslow, Ph.D., is Director of the Office for Policy and Communications of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) and a Senior Scholar at Child Trends. As Director of the SRCD Office for Policy and Communications, Dr. Zaslow directs the SRCD Policy Fellowship program, facilitates the dissemination of research to decision- makers and the broader public, and keeps the SRCD membership apprised of social policy and science policy developments related to children and families. As a Senior Scholar at Child Trends, Dr. Zaslow conducts research focusing on professional development of the early childhood workforce, and approaches to improving the quality of early care and education.

1-053 - Joint SRCD/AERA Session: Creating Opportunity and Educational Pathways for Young Children: An Ongoing Conversation

Session Type: Invited Roundtable Symposium

Integrative Statement

This invited roundtable and interactive session brings together researchers across disciplines to address critical issues in the developmental science of early care and education. Participants will provide short commentaries, drawing upon emergent and longstanding issues from research, practice, and policy, and to address three broad questions: under what conditions do care and education support children’s early social and cognitive development? When and why do the effects of early care persist or endure? How do we draw effectively upon our knowledge about children’s early learning and development to ensure pathways that lead to educational opportunity and wellbeing across the life-course? Following the roundtable discussion, members of the audience will interact with roundtable participants around the focal questions, the perspectives presented, and the additional issues raised.

Joint SRCD/AERA session

Sub Unit

• Special Events

Moderators

• Deborah Vandell, University of California, Irvine

• Vivian L. Gadsden, University of Pennsylvania

Panelists

• Margaret Burchinal, UNC Chapel Hill

• Natasha Cabrera, University of Maryland

• Greg J. Duncan, University of California - Irvine

• Iheoma U. Iruka, University of Nebraska Buffett Early Childhood Institute

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University

• Martha Zaslow, Society for Research in Child Development