The Research Team
We are a diverse team of teachers, students, and scientists united in our mission to advocate for Black children and their communities through policy-informing research.
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Stephanie M. Curenton, Ph.D. is a tenured associate professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research focuses on positive child growth and development and dismantling health and education inequities for racially marginalized children and families.
Stephanie studies the social, cognitive, and language development of children within various ecological contexts, such as parent-child interactions, early childhood education programs, early childhood workforce programs, and related state and federal policies. Her topical areas of expertise are language and literacy development, particularly among African American children and dual language learners, and measurement development. She has created two measures, the Conversation Compass Communication Screener-Revised measure of children’s classroom conversation skills, and the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale, a measure of classroom quality for racially marginalized students.
She has authored numerous empirical manuscripts as well as books and edited volumes targeted toward practitioners or policy makers. She is a leader in the field of early childhood policy and child development. She has served as past associate editor for the two top journals in early childhood, Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Early Education and Development. She has also been awarded two research policy fellowships, one from the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD)/American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) where she worked in Office of Child Care and the other from National Child Development Institute (NBCDI). She has served on education non-profit boards for National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC) and local Head Start programs.
Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Program Research and Evaluation (OPRE), the National Academy of Science Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, American Education Research Association (AERA), Foundation for Child Development, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Stephanie earned her Ph.D. in Developmental and Community Psychology from the University of Virginia. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys yoga, reading, spending time with her family, and playing with her new dog.
Associate Director of Finance and Operations
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Executive Director
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Adekunle Dada is the Associate Director for Finance and Operations for CEED. He previously served in the Division of Student Affairs, Illinois State University as the Associate Director for Business Operations.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Adekunle graduated from University of Ado-Ekiti with a Bachelor of Science in Economics before proceeding to Illinois State University for his Master of Science in Applied Economics.
Adekunle is an avid Arsenal FC fan and loves playing chess in his spare time.
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As an educational researcher, Dr. Addy primarily studies early childhood education, language acquisition, and literacy learning, with particular interest in issues of identity and equity. With over a decade of research experience, her training and expertise span the fields of education, linguistics, speech-language pathology, developmental psychology, and sociology.
Dr. Addy began her career as a laboratory manager, coordinating projects on language acquisition, brain development, and spatial and numerical skills at Emory University and the University of Delaware. Subsequently, she went on to pursue advanced degrees in education, focusing on early language and literacy development among Black children. Dr. Addy has also taught literacy-related courses in preschool, primary, and university settings, and spent several years teaching individual and group classes in music. Prior to joining the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED), she provided early childhood educators, parents, and other community members with information and training in early language and literacy development, both in the United States and in Ghana.
Dr. Addy holds master’s and doctoral degrees in education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and French from Duke University.
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Kyle DeMeo Cook, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development at Boston University. She is currently the project director for the Multnomah County Preschool for All Evaluation. Her research focuses on examining early education topics, such as: access to early education, the transition to kindergarten, and collaborations between early education and K–12.
Dr. Cook has worked in both academic and non-profit research settings. She has extensive experience working with state agencies, school districts, early education programs and other local leaders to design, conduct and disseminate education research that is requested and relevant to policymakers and practitioners. Her research has been funded by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE). From 2016-2018, Dr. Cook was awarded a Head Start Research Scholar grant from OPRE for her research on coordination efforts between Head Start programs and elementary schools during the transition to kindergarten. In 2020 she was named an Early Career Scholar for the New York City Early Childhood Research Network.
She also has also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in research methods and child development. Kyle holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Development, master’s degree in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation, and a PhD in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College.
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Emily is a Research Scientist at CEED and has over a decade of social welfare practice, research, and policy experience. Emily's work focuses on the impact of social drivers on mental health, with particular attention to how potentially traumatic experiences intersect with relational health to affect well-being for marginalized communities, families, and individuals. As part of her work, Emily provides consulting and research services that focus on trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches for community organizations, agencies, and institutions. Emily received her Doctorate in Social Welfare and Master of Social Work from Case Western Reserve University and is a licensed social worker (LSW). She is certified in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and Healing Centered Engagement.
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Dr. Natasha Thornton currently serves as a Research Scientist at CEED supporting the National Head Start Fellowship Program and RISER Network. Natasha is an educational consultant with over 20 years in education. Her work centers around cultivating affirming and just learning experiences for Black children.
As a consultant, Natasha has developed culturally responsive programming, curriculum, and professional learning experiences for various organizations. As the founder of Thornton Educational Consulting, Natasha has developed "Stories of Excellence" and the “L.I.F.E. Framework”. These curricular resources highlight Black history and excellence and support educators with bridging the gap between culturally responsive theory and practice.
Prior to joining CEED, Natasha served as a tenure-track assistant professor at Kennesaw State University in the Bagwell College of Education where her research focused on culturally responsive literacy instruction and teacher development. She served as the Professional Liaison of Diversity, co-founder of the Black Teachers Matters student group, and co-director of the KSU Conference on Literature on Children and Young Adult. As a member of the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) Professional Dyads of Culturally Relevant Teaching, Natasha co-constructed literacy engagements with elementary school teachers who worked to center the heritage and cultural knowledge of their students.
Natasha has presented her research at national conferences and authored and co-authored articles and book chapters in various academic journals. She is also the co-author of Revolutionary Love: Creating a Culturally Inclusive Literacy Classroom, a book that brings together beliefs, knowledge, and practices necessary for educators to leverage the rich cultural resources and strengths of Black and Latine children during literacy instruction. Currently, she serves on NCTE's Public Language Award and Elementary Section Nominating committees. Natasha earned her Ph.D. from Georgia State University in Language and Literacy Education.
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Sheniqua Jeffrey is a third-year doctoral student in the Applied Developmental Psychology program in the Department of Psychology at Fordham University. She works in her mentor, Dr. Joshua Brown’s lab, studying the implementation and impacts of school-based social-emotional learning interventions. Her research interests include understanding protective contextual factors for children in educational settings, the promotion of racially marginalized children’s social and emotional development and overall well-being, and bridging research with actionable policy. Currently, her work focuses on the impact of the race-ethnic match between children and their teachers on children’s social-emotional competencies and academic skills. In addition, she is interested in understanding teachers’ implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices to create developmentally challenging and supportive educational environments that are optimal for children’s social-emotional development, particularly for minoritized children. Prior to attending Fordham, she worked as the primary program evaluator for an innovative new college readiness program at the Harlem Children’s Zone where her interest in social-emotional learning was ignited.
Sheniqua earned her B.S. in Human Development with a minor in Design and Environmental Analysis from Cornell University.
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Sara Moran is a research fellow at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED) at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her work with CEED focuses on identifying barriers and improving outcomes for marginalized children and families through early childhood initiatives.
Prior to joining CEED, Ms. Moran served as the associate director of the Center for Social Measurement and Evaluation for a statewide research and advocacy organization in Texas and before that as a data analyst with the University of Houston’s Measurement and Evaluation Center. Ms. Moran holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy with a focus in Quantitative Research from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston.
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Dr. Danielle Johnson-Offei or Dr. DJO as she is affectionately called is an advocate for high quality, accessible, and inclusive early childhood education that honors the diversity of families’ experiences and parents’ visions of success for their children. Bringing more than 25 years of increasingly responsible program- and systems-level early childhood leadership experience in New York City and now in North Carolina’s Triangle and Triad regions. Dr. Johnson-Offei has taught and trained educators and administrators seeking to make a lasting impact on the families and communities they serve through a culturally responsive and sustaining approach.
Following successful tenures in roles as the NC Pre-K Manager and Director of Early Childhood Systems, In August of 2019, Dr. Johnson-Offei was named Executive Director at Durham’s Partnership for Children. She is the first Black leader in the history of the organization. Her responsibilities include providing leadership and oversight for programs within the organization representing annual investments of over $11M. Programs include Smart Start, Early Head Start, NC Pre-K, Transition to Kindergarten, and other collective impact community initiatives that help the Partnership achieve its mission that every child enters school healthy and ready to learn.
Dr. Johnson-Offei is an author, award-winning adjunct instructor at Durham Technical Community College, a mentor and a sought-after presenter and facilitator at national and international conferences, with special connections to the early childhood movement in Ghana, West Africa and Rwanda, East Africa. Her rich lived experiences and opportunities working with diverse families and educators, serves as a backdrop for all she does. Her work also centers on women leadership development within BIPOC communities. Danielle holds a Doctorate in Education and a Master’s in Education from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She also received a Master’s in Public Health from Hunter College, City University of New York as well as a Bachelors in Science. Dr. Johnson-Offei is a Bank Street College of Education Learning Starts at Birth Fellow.
Dr. Johnson-Offei research focusses on collaborative action research, culturally responsive and sustaining instruction, and program design within the early childhood sector.
Her service includes serving on various boards and advisory committees such as, TEACH Rwanda Board, Durham Technical Community College Early Childhood Associate Advisory Committee, North Carolina Partnership for Children LPAC Committee, and the Durham PreK Governance Committee. In her spare time Danielle enjoys experiencing various cultures through international travel.
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Graduate Research Fellow
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Ruchi is a doctoral student in special education at Boston University in the Wheelock School of Education and Human Development. As part of the TEAMS project at BU, she is involved in interdisciplinary work to identify, support and advance equity in student mental health and well-being in schools. Before this, Ruchi was a special education teacher and Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) for over a decade in public schools in Massachusetts. Her research interest is building positive school environments through teacher preparation and home-school partnership. Ruchi grew up in India and moved to the US with a young family. Her education, training, and experience as an immigrant parent influenced her interest in education equity. In her free time, Ruchi likes to cook, go for walks and spend time with her family.
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Eloise is a senior at Boston University pursing a B.S. in Media Science. She hopes to pursue higher education to become a media researcher and study how media is affecting society.
Eloise joined CEED January of 2024 and creatively shares the team’s work and initiatives. As social media strategist, Eloise works as the contributor to the website and LinkedIn, analyzing monthly performance on both platforms.
In her free time, Eloise likes to try different restaurants around the Boston area, and travel as much as she can.
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Bethiel is currently a junior at BU Academy where she enjoys studying Latin and a variety of other subjects within the humanities. To explore future career paths, she joined CEED in June of 2024 and now works as a Research Assistant in the Reimagining Childcare Research Study. In her free time, Bethiel can likely be found working her way through a novel or watching a movie with her parents and sister.
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Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD, is an advanced research scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Early Childhood Portfolio Lead at the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN). She has more than 15 years of experience in life-span developmental psychology and applied research, primarily with ethnically diverse children and families within clinic, school, and community settings. Her work integrates children's socio-emotional development and educational and family environments and is aimed at developing culturally robust assessment and intervention strategies for early care and education teachers working with Dual Language Learners (DLLs).
Franco-Jenkins currently serves as Co-PI on an IES-funded study examining associations between language of instruction and academic outcomes in Spanish-English dual-language academic settings. Within NIRN, Franco-Jenkins primarily serves as Co-PI in a study focus on evaluating the effective implementation of seven high-quality middle-years math curricula across 19 school districts in the US targeting Latino/a and Black, students living in poverty, students designated as English Learners and students with disabilities.
Franco-Jenkins served as Co-PI on the study of Nuestros Niños Program: Promoting School Readiness for English Language Learners funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). It was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of a professional development intervention for teachers of DLLs in preschool programs in three states.
Franco-Jenkins’s work also involves policies and practices related to state quality rating and improvement systems for early childhood. She served as PI on the North Carolina Statewide Birth-5 Needs Assessment project and Co-PI on the evaluation of North Carolina's Quality Rating Improvement System.
Franco-Jenkins currently serves as a member of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD).
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Dr. Babrow has more than 25 years leading and working in the field of early childhood systems. She is currently a Research Scientist at Boston University, Wheelock College of Education & Human Development: Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED). In this position she leads project teams, facilitates professional development, conducts qualitative and quantitative research, and designs research studies and evaluations. Prior to joining CEED, Daphne worked as the Senior Director for Development and Programs at Black Child Development Institute (BCDI)-Atlanta, and she also was employed as the National Head Start Director for Save the Children. Additionally, Dr. Babrow has worked for the Georgia Department of Public Health/Maternal and Child Health Program and has held several positions such as the Unit Director for Comprehensive Child Health Services, and the Georgia Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Program Manager. Daphne also has taught public school, as well as, infants and toddlers. Dr. Babrow holds a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University in Psychology/Early Childhood Education; a Master of Education in Early Childhood Education from the University of Montevallo; a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development and Family Studies from Auburn University.
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Dr. Melissa Speight Vaughn currently serves as a Research Scientist at CEED focused on Growing and Thriving Services in the RISER Network. Melissa is an international scholar with over 20 years of experience in U.S., Central American and African educational research contexts. Melissa has dedicated her career to recovering and preserving heritage knowledge of African descended people globally through programming that centers African epistemologies and wisdoms for human freedom.
As founder of the African Research Collaborative non-profit organization, Melissa developed international cultural exchange programming and professional learning experiences for scholars, schools, and communities. The organization’s signature event is the SheSTEAM Summit exclusively for Black girls and teachers to learn STEAM skills and build confidence to pursue science courses of study and careers in innovation. The Summit engages over 200 Black girls and 40 teachers in rural areas of each South African province. Research projects Melissa designed and implemented focus on how educational policies are implemented in classrooms and experienced by students. Melissa’s research projects include integrating indigenous knowledge into school STEM curricula in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and investigating citizenship conceptions in Belize, Central America. Melissa also developed a youth human subjects ethical research leadership training module to certify youth as co-researchers.
Prior to joining CEED, Melissa served as the Project Director for the Guardians of Heritage International African-centered Youth United Leadership Collaborative. The project engaged 25 youth located in 12 US and 3 Brazilian cities in a yearlong STEM experience focused on civic leadership, intergenerational data collection, and collective social problem solving. She was also Vice President of Public Discourse and Engagement at the Africa Center for Strategy and Policy, a policy think tank dedicated to researching African policy and African solutions. Melissa has presented her research at international conferences, academic articles, book chapters and podcasts. Melissa earned her Ph.D. from Georgia State University in Educational Policy Studies.
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Jacqueline Sims, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development. Her work focuses on identifying and understanding contexts and practices that support the optimal development of marginalized youth, with a particular focus on how strengths and supports can disrupt the health and educational impacts of racism and poverty.
Jacqueline’s research has been supported by the Annie E. Casey and Conrad N. Hilton Foundations, the American Educational Research Association, and the NAED/Spender Foundation. Jacqueline earned her Ph.D. with distinction in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from the Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development. In her undergraduate studies at Duke University, Jacqueline was a Scholar with the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program.
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Trained as an applied developmental and educational psychologist, Dr. Lucas is a mixed-methods researcher, focused on creating culturally and linguistically affirming and emotionally supportive spaces in schools and communities. She is particularly committed to amplifying the assets and voices of Latinx and multilingual students, their families, and educators. As an equity-oriented educational researcher, Dr. Lucas uses a critical and assets-based lens to take a within-group approach to explore how various aspects of schooling (e.g., policies, practices, relationships, cultural representations) influence children’s development.
Through her roles at academic institutions and research agencies, Dr. Lucas has supported culturally responsive intervention, evaluation, and assessment development and implementation, as well as provided technical assistance (in both Spanish and English) for educators around data literacy and utilization in service of social and emotional learning and equity.
Melissa Lucas, Ph.D. is currently a research scientist at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development at Boston University, working on the Multnomah County Preschool for All Evaluation project. She is also a consultant for WestEd. Previously she was a postdoctoral associate at the Education Collaboratory at Yale and an Institute of Mixture Modeling for Equity-Oriented Researchers, Scholars, and Educators (IMMERSE) Fellow through the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Lucas earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology-Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia School of Education, where she was an Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral fellow. She received her bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University and her associate's in Social Sciences from Northern Virginia Community College, where she was the 2023 commencement speaker. Dr. Lucas has received various mentored/travel awards through the Society for Prevention Research, Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, National Science Foundation, Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, Yale Alumni Service Corps, and Yale Child Study Center. She has also appeared in multiple interviews through Univision Contigo.
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Sara received her bachelor’s degree with distinction in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 2022, and she was awarded her master's degree in research methods from the same university in 2023. Recently, she published a paper on the effects of maternal growth mindset on child outcomes. Her primary research interests include identifying effective ways to foster mental well-being and resilience among at-risk youth. She plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, Sara enjoys cooking and practicing yoga.
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Taylor is a Research Fellow at CEED working on the ACSES Project and Racial Literacy Project. She grew up in Toronto and moved to Boston to pursue a M.Ed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before joining CEED, she worked in New York City at a language research lab at NYU then in public schools supporting the implementation of measures for student social-emotional learning. She is excited to continue collaborating with researchers and practitioners to promote equitable learning experiences and outcomes for all students. In her spare time, she loves trying new bakeries and spending time in the nearest park.
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Destiny Ho, MPH, is a research fellow at the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED) at Boston University. Destiny’s research interests center on childhood trauma, especially the trauma of systemic racism and injustices, and the ways in which resilience prevents trauma from impeding on child development.
Destiny received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in the Maternal, Child and Family Health from Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her time at Gillings, Destiny served as a Graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Iheoma Iruka at the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Destiny worked on a range of projects, conducting data analyses, literature reviews, and creating reports for various audiences.
Additionally, Destiny serves as the Media Strategist for SEEDS of Healing, Inc. to promote HIV education, stigma reduction, and create spaces for Black and African American women living positively with HIV. In her free time, you can find Destiny at hot yoga, reading a good book, or exploring new places.
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Sabrina Huang is a Research Fellow at CEED and is so excited to be back! She was previously an Undergraduate Research Assistant at CEED from September 2017 to May 2020. Sabrina’s research interests are in language education, child development, and international and cultural exchange programs. She holds a M.A. in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as a B.A. in History and B.S. in Social Studies Education from Boston University. As an undergraduate student at Boston University, she taught students of various ages ranging from preschoolers to high schoolers in the Boston and Brookline area and received a Massachusetts teaching license in History for Grades 5-12. Sabrina was previously a Fulbright Scholar, teaching English in Taiwan for two years as an English Teaching Assistant. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants and learning languages!
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Postdoctoral Associate
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Johana Chaparro-Moreno, PhD., is a Postdoctoral Associate and part-time instructor in the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development at Boston University. Her research integrates theories, advanced statistical methods, and technological advances from the fields of child development, literacy, and engineering to design culturally- and linguistically-sensitive methodologies to analyze linguistic experiences in early childhood education settings and investigate how individual differences in these experiences lead to differences in listening comprehension growth among children from marginalized groups.
As a Graduate Research Associate in the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CRANE) at the Ohio State University, she was the coordinator of the IES-funded project Speech-Therapy Experiences in the Public Schools-2 (STEPS-2), which uses the Interaction Detection in Early Childhood Settings to automatically transcribe and process videos of school-based speech-language therapy sessions. Besides collaborating in STEPS-2 at CRANE, her current research focuses on the learning experiences that boost the development of listening comprehension among dual language learners and the translation of this knowledge into pedagogical practices.
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Previously the center’s Research Coordinator, Nicole Kingdon is a Graduate Research Assistant and attends a Ph.D. in Educational Studies with a concentration in Language and Literacy Education at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. At CEED, she supports the Reimagining Childcare Research Study and the Language & Literacy for Liberation Initiative.
Nicole is a certified 200-hour, trauma-informed yoga teacher and Social-Emotional Learning Facilitator through Breathe for Change. Her research interests are in examining how yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and social-emotional can impact the language, literacy, and social-emotional development of economically marginalized preschool-aged children. Additionally, she aims to use cultural and ecological lenses in research, so the interventions are accurately designed with and for the students and teachers in the classroom.
Nicole graduated summa cum laude from Suffolk University in May 2023 with a B.A. in Psychology with Honors and a minor in Political Science. While at Suffolk, Nicole was a member of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program (a research preparatory program for first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students), a Jumpstart AmeriCorps Member, and a certified childcare teacher at Bright Horizons.
Bilingual Data Collector
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Gigi Medina is a graduate from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Communication Science and Disorders. She worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant for 5 years in Miami, FL.
In the summer of 2007 Gigi and her family moved to North Carolina to start a new chapter. Gigi has been working as a bilingual data collector for 5 years with UNC Chapel Hill at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). She has collected data for the Bilingualism, Education & Excellence (BEE) Project at FPG and is currently collecting data with the Meck Pre-K Evaluation Study.
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Malcolm Mayfield is the Assistant Director with Center on the Ecology of Early Development and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Valdosta State University and a Master of Science in Emergency Management from Purdue University's online campus.
Malcolm enjoys implementing strategic process innovations and training to foster positive workplace environments. He leverages his analytical and technical skills, along with a collaborative spirit, to promote training initiatives that encourage continuous improvement. His teaching philosophy incorporates technology, collaborative reflection, and gamification to transform challenges into growth opportunities. Emphasizing asset-based pedagogy and accountability, he designs impactful learning experiences for professional development.
Malcolm began his career as an Emergency Preparedness Associate with the Georgia Department of Public Health, where he developed technological solutions that enhanced the state's ability to deploy the Strategic National Stockpile and improved communications, benefiting over 250,000 Georgia residents during the COVID-19 response. He also played a key role in managing state-level mass casualty situations, focusing on Mass Care and Public Health services. At Badcock Corporation, as the Associate Manager for Centralized Operations, Malcolm centralized operations across three stores, elevating them to Top 10 status.
At MIT's Office of Innovation, as a Facilities and Operations Administrator, he collaborated with stakeholders to improve space utilization, center operations, and emergency preparedness. While teaching for the MITES program, he created a learner-guided pedagogy that enhanced student engagement and mental health resilience for high-achieving, underserved, and underrepresented students in the Boston area.
Malcolm is passionate about mentoring, algorithm chasing, and cooking. He recently embarked on a quest to find “THE” pound cake, supported through iterations by his cat, Lelouch (le-loosh). As an avid community servant, Malcolm holds office hours to coach small businesses and NGOs, particularly women of color, on enhancing their online operations, empowering them to become agents of information and develop communities of practice within their communities.
Social Media Strategist
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Ariel is an international scholar from Kingston, Jamaica, working at CEED as a Research Coordinator. Having graduated from Grinnell College in May 2024, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an Education Studies concentration. Her research interests include understanding the role of oral communication, including storytelling and dialogue, in supporting early literacy development and building strong educational relationships for Black children. With a strong interest in education, she is passionate about the creation and refining of anti-racist training programs for educators to enhance their effectiveness and sensitivity in supporting Black students.
In her free time, Ariel enjoys reading, baking, trivia nights, supporting her favorite sports team Manchester United, and spending quality time with family and friends, including her beloved dog Ollie.
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Ron is an international scholar from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and graduated from Bates College in May 2024 with a B.A. degree in Psychology. Most of his research experience aims to promote equity for minority communities. With an interest in education, he is dedicated to developing culturally responsive approaches to teaching children from diverse cultural backgrounds, focusing on identity growth and cultural resilience.
Outside of work, Ron enjoys taking hip-hop, vogue, and waacking classes. He also plans to participate in the drag scene in Boston. Maybe one day, he will be a researcher by day and a drag queen by night. Who knows?!
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Ziyi is an undergraduate at Boston University, pursuing a B.A. in Media Science with a minor in Education.
Ziyi joined CEED in September 2024 as a Research Assistant and is excited to contribute to the team’s efforts in early childhood development research. She has a strong background in education and media, having volunteered extensively in educational settings and worked on digital media projects aimed at promoting inclusive learning.
In her free time, Ziyi enjoys exploring new cultures through language learning, volunteering in her community, and engaging with creative media projects.
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Taylor is a sophomore from New York City. She is currently pursuing a major in Psychology on a pre-health track. As for her future career aspirations, she is choosing between psychiatry, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. At CEED, she is interested in investigating the effects of generational trauma and how different education styles impact a child's psychological and emotional development. In her free time, she enjoys reading psychological thrillers and suspense novels and spending time with friends.
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CEED Advisory Board
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Renée Boynton-Jarrett, M.D., Sc.D. is a pediatrician and social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network (www.vitalvillage.org). Her work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. She has a specific concentration on psychosocial stress and neuroendocrine and reproductive health outcomes, including obesity and early puberty. She is interested in social ecology and the role of neighborhood attributes in influencing health trajectory. Specifically, she has studied the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns. Her current work is developing community-based strategies to promote child well-being and reduce child maltreatment using a collective impact approach in three Boston neighborhoods.
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Dr. Mary Churchill is the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development.
Before joining Wheelock Dr. Churchill was a part of the leadership team at Salem State University.
Born in Flint, Michigan, Dr. Churchill was the first in her family to attend college, graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Sociology at Northeastern.
Dr. Churchill has worked with faculty to develop graduate programs in Nonprofit Management, Human Services, TESOL, Criminal Justice, and Global Studies.
Dr. Churchill is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in higher education working specifically to promote women and people of color.
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Gigliana Melzi is Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology, Affiliated Faculty of Latinx Studies and of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.
Dr. Melzi's scholarship focuses on the intersection of cultural and linguistic practices and their relation to children’s early development and learning, in particular that of dual-language learners from immigrant Latine/x communities. Using mixed-methodology and emic approaches, she investigates how Latine/x immigrant parents nurture their children, what role language plays in that process, and how the educational system can leverage these practices to support children’s school-based learning. Her work adopts a collaborative research stance, working in partnership with Latine/x communities and educational centers serving Latino families.
In addition, as part of a cross-university effort to enhance the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME network), Dr. Melzi is investigating the everyday math-related activities and math talk in Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual immigrant homes of preschool aged children.
Dr. Melzi’s research has been funded by National Institute of Child Health & Development (NICHD), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; The Spencer Foundation, Brooke Astor Foundation, Brady Education Foundation, and the Heising-Simons Foundation.
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Amy O’Leary is director of Early Education for All: A Campaign of Strategies for Children, an advocacy and policy organization that works to ensure that Massachusetts invests the resources needed for all children, from birth to age five, to access high-quality early education programs. Amy joined SFC in 2002 as the early childhood field director and has also served as the Campaign’s deputy director.
Prior to joining SFC, Amy worked as a preschool teacher and program director at Ellis Memorial in the South End of Boston.
In March 2017 Amy was elected President-elect of the governing board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her four-year term started in June of 2017 serving as President from June 2018-2020. She serves on the adjunct faculty at Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development and Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester.
In July 2020, Amy was appointed an Alumna Trustee for a four year team to serve on both the Skidmore College Board of Trustees and Alumni Board of Directors.
Amy is a member of the Massachusetts Kids Count Advisory Council and the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care Advisory Committee. Amy also serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Investment Fund in Boston. In addition, Amy presents at national, state and local conferences and provides technical assistance to advocates and elected officials in other states.
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Jeanne R. Paratore, Ed.D, is a Professor Emerita with the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
Prior to Emerita status, Dr. Paratore served as Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Reading Education and Literacy Education programs at Boston University. She also directed the university-based reading and writing clinic that provides year-round academic support to school-aged children who are experiencing learning difficulties and she served as advisor to the Intergenerational Literacy Program, a family literacy program she founded in 1989 to support the English literacy learning of immigrant parents and their children. She is a former classroom teacher, reading specialist, and Title I director.
Dr. Paratore has conducted research and written widely on issues related to family literacy, classroom grouping practices, and interventions for struggling readers, and she is currently studying preparing teachers to use educational media and technology in ways that substantially advance children’s opportunities to learn. She served as co-curriculum director of the award-winning children’s television series, Between the Lions.
Dr. Paratore is the recipient of the International Reading Association’s Celebrate Literacy Award and of the New England Reading Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a former member of the International Reading Association’s Board of Directors, and she is active in professional associations, presently as a member of the International Reading Association’s Response to Intervention Commission. She is a frequent speaker on literacy instruction and has presented at local, national, and international conferences as well as in school districts throughout the United States.
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Dr. Pryce is currently the Executive Director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare at Florida State University. For over 10 years, she has been involved at multiple angles of child welfare (direct practice; teaching, training & policy; and research). She has published on child welfare related topics, such as training and education, racial disparity, and anti-poverty practices.
Dr. Pryce has presented her research at 30+ conferences both nationally and internationally. She is the author of several op-eds focused on racial disparity and effective strategies to impact racial disproportionality within child welfare. Her TED Talk on Implicit Racial Bias in Decision Making has since been viewed over 1.2 million times.
Dr. Pryce has worked on the frontlines of child welfare, conducted primary research, been a policy advisor to Florida’s legislature, and taught graduate level courses in child welfare. Previously holding the positions of Child Protective Caseworker with the Department of Children and Families, and the Deputy Director of the University at Albany's New York State Education Consortium.
In 2019, she received a 5-year appointment to the Advisory Board of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, where she consults and advises on leadership and workforce interventions around the country.
She currently sits on the Florida Dependency Court Improvement Panel, alongside judges and advocates who are working towards a more trauma informed approach within the judicial system. She has maintained and cultivated a commitment to the wellbeing of vulnerable children and families, the sustainability of the child welfare workforce, and effectively addressing inequity.
Dr. Pryce's paramount goal includes rebuilding and leading a child welfare system that focuses on strengthening families instead of pulling them apart.
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Dr. Jason Sachs is the Executive Director of Early Childhood Education, Boston Public Schools (BPS). Dr. Sachs joined Boston Public Schools as Director of Early Childhood in 2005 to oversee the expansion of Kindergarten 1 (K1) classes and coordinate kindergarten and pre-school programs for three, four, and five-year-olds. In 2017 he was promoted to Executive Director of the Preschool to 2nd grade office. Since the inception of Early Childhood Department, Dr. Sachs has led an effort to deliver a universal high-quality system of early childhood programs for BPS including the successful implementation of the PreK-2nd grade curriculum, professional development system for teachers and principals, expansion of NAEYC accredited classrooms in Boston which all helps prepares students for successful transition into the elementary grades, and a comprehensive evaluation system of both classroom quality and child outcomes.
Previously, Dr. Sachs has worked in the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Early Learning Services division for six years as a research and policy consultant and was a former board member of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). He graduated from the Los Angeles Unified School District and received his Master’s in Applied Child Development from Tufts University and obtained his doctorate from the Harvard School of Education. Dr. Sachs currently lives in Somerville with his wife Elif and co-owns Moe Fencing in Somerville, where they have successful coached national and High State Champions.
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Dr. Sanchez earned her B.A., M.Ed. and Ed.D. at Boston College. She began her career as a founding Math and Science teacher at Epiphany School in 1998. Epiphany is an independent, tuition free school for children from economically disadvantaged families.
In 2010, Dr. Sanchez completed her doctorate at Boston College in Educational Administration with a focus on strengthening the family and school partnership; this sparked her interest in serving children as early as possible. To make a greater impact on the community at large, she spearheaded the opening of the Early Learning and Family Support Center. This center begins working with families prenatally and will serve the children and their families until the age of 5 in the center. It will continue to support the students and families throughout their schooling.
Dr. Sanchez has developed many successful partnerships such as with Boston College where teaching fellows committed to a future in urban education earn their Masters’ Degree, and with Neighborhood villages and Bunker Hill to offer free courses to become certified early education teachers.
Outside of Epiphany, Michelle has served as an adjunct professor at Boston College, and for the Urban Catholic Teacher Corp. She partnered with a team of educators and community leaders to write the successful charter for the Bridge Boston Charter School, a school based on the Epiphany model that serves Pre-K to 8th graders. She is a board member at Fessenden School, Bridge Boston, ABCD, The Possible Project, and the Boston College AHANA Alumni Council, and she served as part of the 2020 The Partnership’s NGE Program.
Dr. Sanchez is married and lives with her husband, Lino Sanchez, and two sons.
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Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka is also a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and the Director of the Early Childhood Health and Racial Equity Program at FPG.
Dr. Iruka is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of children from low-income and ethnic minority households, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. She has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, examination of non-traditional pedagogical approaches, public policies, and publications geared towards early education practitioners and policymakers.
Dr. Iruka has served or serves on numerous national boards and committee, including the Brady Education Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees on Supporting Parents of Young Children, and Applying Neurobiological and Socio-behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach.
Dr. Iruka has a B.A. in psychology from Temple University, M.A. in psychology from Boston University, and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, Florida.
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Walter S. Gilliam is the Elizabeth Mears & House Jameson Professor of Child Psychiatry and Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center and the Director of Yale’s Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy.
He is the current board president of Child Care Aware of America; a member of the board of directors for ZERO TO THREE, the Irving Harris Foundation, First Children’s Finance, and All Our Kin; a research fellow of the National Institute for Early Education Research; and former Senior Advisor to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Dr. Gilliam is co-recipient of the prestigious 2008 Grawemeyer Award in Education for the coauthored book, A Vision for Universal Preschool Education. His scholarly writing addresses early childhood care and education programs, school readiness, and developmental assessment of young children.
His work has frequently been covered in major national and international news outlets, and he actively provides consultation to state and federal decision-makers in the U.S. and other countries.
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Over the past 48 years, Dr. Lombardi has made significant contributions in the areas of child and family policy as an innovative leader and policy advisor to national and international organizations and foundations and as a public servant.
Joan directs Early Opportunities LLC,a strategic advisement service focused on the development of young children, families and the communities that support them. In this role she serves as an advisor to the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, among others, and is a strategic partner with the Center for the Study of Social Policy. In addition she is a Senior Scholar at the Center for Child and Human Development at Georgetown University where she focuses on global early childhood initaitives.
Joan served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development (2009-2011) and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Affairs in Administration for Children and Families and the first Commissioner of the Child CareBureau among other positions (l993-1998).
She is the author of numerous publications including Time to Care: Redesigning Child Care to Promote Education, Support Families and Build Communities and Co-Author of Beacon of Hope: The Promise of Early Head Start for America’s Youngest Children.
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Kristie Kauerz, Ed.D. is director of the National P-3 Center and associate clinical professor at University of Colorado Denver’s School of Education and Human Development. Kristie specializes in education reform efforts that address the continuum of learning from birth through 3rd grade, integrating birth-to-five system building and K-12 reforms.
Kristie’s expertise spans policy, research, and practice. Her P-3 work is anchored in collaborations with school districts, state agencies, and early learning stakeholders. Her research interests straddle the paradigmatic, pedagogical, and policy divides that exist between birth-to-five and K-12 systems. Kristie focuses on both the organizational reforms and the cognitive sensemaking necessary to build learning continua that support children’s development, learning, and lifelong success.
An important aspect of Kristie’s work is designing and delivering professional learning opportunities that strengthen the relationships and organizational strategies necessary to implement P-3 alignment efforts in districts, states, and communities. Kristie designed and directed the Washington P-3 Executive Leadership Certificate Program, a credit-bearing course of study that co-enrolled administrators from early learning and K-12. She has also led the National P-3 Institute since 2008.
Kristie’s authorship includes numerous articles, book chapters, and reports on topics ranging from state kindergarten policies to early childhood governance to P-3 policy alignment. Kauerz was lead author on the Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches, a tool used around the country to guide school, district, and community alignment efforts. She co-authored the original Washington State Early Learning and Development Benchmarks and a book on improving the early care and education teaching workforce. She is co-editor of the book Early Childhood Systems: Transforming Early Learning.
Kristie holds a B.A. in political science from Colorado College, an M.A. in international development from American University, and a doctorate in early childhood policy from Teachers College at Columbia University.
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Stephanie J. Rowley, PhD, is the Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a professor of Psychology and Education. Dr. Rowley received a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Virginia in 1997 and joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina that year. In 2000 she moved to the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychology. In 2008 she added an appointment in the School of Education.
Dr. Rowley’s research focuses on the influence of race- and gender-related attitudes and beliefs on the development of children’s academic self-concept with a strong emphasis on parents’ roles in the development of these attitudes.
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Aisha Ray is a Professor Emerita of Child Development at Erikson Institute and a Distinguished Fellow in the BUILD Initiative.
Dr. Ray has participated in the fields of child development and early education for 48 years. Beginning as a Head Start teacher, she has taught learners from preschool to graduate school; supported the development of community-based programs serving culturally, racially and linguistically diverse children, families and practitioners; and led professional development efforts for the early childhood workforce serving infants through elementary school learners. Her areas of research, speaking and writing include racial equity, policy, and professional development systems in early childhood; multigenerational Black family child rearing; and the role of fathers in child rearing in low-income Black communities. At BUILD she helps to lead the Equity Leaders Action Network.
Dr. Ray stepped down in 2015 from the position of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Erikson Institute. Dr. Ray also serves as a senior advisor to the president of the National Black Child Development Institute and the NBCDI Policy Leadership Fellowship program. In addition, she has a long history of community activism and is currently working with others on issues related to the relationship of the Black community to early education, police violence, and racial justice.
Dr. Ray has a Doctor of Philosophy degree and Master’s degree in developmental psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; a Master’s in Early Childhood Education, Loyola University of Chicago/Erikson Institute; and a Bachelor’s degree in history, Grinnell College, Iowa.
BU Faculty Affiliates
Detris Adelabu
Andrew Bacher-Hicks
Megina Baker
Elizabeth Bettini
Olivia Chi
Ellie Friedland
Yoonsook Ha
Davena Jackson
Karen Murphy
Ruth Paris
Joshua Goodman
Jennifer Green
Judith Scott
Amanda Tarullo
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers
CEED Research Team Alumni
Niya Aldersberg
Mimi (Soibiffa) Briggs
Beverly Bruno
Mariah Contreras
Arlene Garcia-Miranda
Wallace Grace
Cristina Granda
Keisha Harris
Sheryl Hicklen House
Cata Hopkins
Christine Huang
Sabrina Huang
Euri Kim
Alexi Man
Divine Mupenda
Kyla McSweeney
Maya Rose
Ana Scholnik
Sara Surrain
Gullnar Syed
Kylie Tang
Sonam Varaiya
Emily Weiss
Nicole Xie
Cecilia Jarquin Tapia
Jasmin Norford
Kaeleigh Hernandez
Desiree’ J. Duboise
Shana E. Rochester
Anu Rayamajhi
Olivia Nazaire
Leanne Villareal
Ebony McQueen
Morgan Anderson
Amber Sansbury
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