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Check out the Fall 2024 issue of CEHD For the Record, featuring accomplishments of the College of Education and Human Development from May to November 2024. Published each semester, CEHD For the Record is an internal newsletter highlighting the diverse and inspiring work taking place across our School of Education, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and centers for research, education and service.

A call for CEHD For the Record submissions is made at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, with a content deadline of November 15 and April 15, respectively. To make a submission anytime, visit the CEHD For the Record submission form. For questions, contact the CEHD Communications Team.

Associate Professor Christina Areizaga Barbieri published with alum Kelly-Ann Gesuelli:

  • Heterogeneity in Middle-School Students’ Encoding of Algebraic Equations, Journal of Educational Psychology (in press)
  • Variability in Math Achievement Growth for Students With Early Math Learning Difficulties and the Role of School Supports, Journal of Educational Psychology (in press)

Associate Professor Tia Barnes published with Assistant Professor Anamarie Whitaker, doctoral student Lauren Strickland, and alumni Melissa Stoffers and Cara Kelly: 

Associate Professor Lauren P. Bailes published two articles, including one with doctoral student Yubin Jang:

  • Gender Discrimination in the Education Workplace, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Education and Gender
  • There and Back Again: Analyzing the Characteristics of Demoted Principals, Journal of Educational Administration

Professor David Blacker published Deeper Learning with Psychedelics: Philosophical Pathways through Altered States with SUNY Press.

Assistant Professor James Bridgeforth published a book chapter and a policy brief, respectively: 

Assistant Professor Christina Budde published with Professor Steve Amendum and doctoral student Jon Kittle: What Does Research Say About the Science of Reading for K-5 Multilingual Learners? A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews, Educational Psychology Review.

Assistant Professor Stephanie Smith Budhai, published Humanizing Online Learning Through Asset-Based Approaches: Responsive Practices To Support All Learners, Information Age Publishing. 

Associate Professor Roderick L. Carey published several articles, including one with doctoral students Sophia Sunshine Vilceus, Camila Polanco, Mark X. Miller, Latrice Marianno and William Woelki:

Assistant Professor Sarah Curtiss published:

Assistant Professor Stephanie Del Tufo published with doctoral student Ariel Chavers: A Systematic Literature Review on the Link Between Peer Victimization and Literacy During Adolescence, Frontiers in Education.

Associate Professor Valerie Earnshaw published:

Assistant Professor Heather Farmer published several articles, including some with Mental Health Content Specialist Alexis Ambroise; doctoral students Jesse Eze and Elizabeth Wroten; and undergraduate student Hava Goldman:

Associate Professor Lynsey Gibbons published Learning Together: Organizing Schools for Teacher and Student Learning, Harvard Education Press. 

Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair and Professor Roberta Michnick Golinkoff published several articles, including some with alumni Caroline Gaudreau and Alexus Ramirez, and doctoral student Amanda Delgado: 

Professor Myae Han published several articles with doctoral students Stephanie Kuntz and Rosa Mykyta-Chomsky, and Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC) Researcher Annette Pic:

Professor Amanda Jansen published with doctoral student Elena Silla and alum Crystal Collier: Salience and Feasibility of Enacting Rough Draft Math: Teachers’ Voices About Productive and Powerful Variations, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.  

Assistant Professor Eric K. Layland published:

Associate Professor Erica Litke published Unraveling High-Quality Mathematics Teaching in Algebra: Insights From Overlaying Domain-Specific and Content-Specific Observation Instruments, ZDM–Mathematics Education.

Professor Henry May published with Lauren P. Bailes and alum Danielle M. Riser: Absenteeism and Achievement in Early Elementary Grades: A Multilevel Organizational Analysis, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. 

Assistant Professor Ohiro Oni-Eseleh published Wading Through Crises: The Lived Experiences of Social Work Students Through the COVID-19 Pandemic, Discovery Education.

Annette Pic published with doctoral student McKenna M. Halverson: Child Care Usage Among Families With Young Children Staying in Homeless Shelters, Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  

Associate Professor Teomara Rutherford published: Models of Growth: Longitudinal Expectancy–Value in Elementary Mathematics, Elementary School Journal (in press).

Associate Professor Kenneth Shores published Measuring Preferences for Income Equality and Income Mobility, Review of Economics and Statistics. 

Professor Elizabeth Soslau published When You’re the New Teacher: 28 Strategies To Align Your Good Intentions With Your Teaching Practices, Free Spirit Publishing. 

Assistant Professor Sanford Student published:

Data Scientist Sam Van Horne and the team at the Center for Research Use in Education (CRUE) completed the Survey of Evidence in Education for Researchers Descriptive and Technical Report, the last of the reports from the data collected during an Institute of Education Sciences (IES)-funded project.

Anamarie Whitaker published:

Associate Professor Joshua Wilson published several articles, including one with Amanda Delgado and CEHD alumni Tania Cruz Cordero, Matthew Myers and Saimou Zhang:

Assistant Professor Brittany Zakszeski published:

  • Informant Discrepancies in Universal Behavioral Screening at the High School Level, School Psychology (in press)
  • Examining the Stability of SAEBRS Scores, Classifications, and Latent Profiles, Journal of School Psychology (in press)

Roderick L. Carey (PI) was awarded funding from the Engagement Scholarship Consortium for a project entitled Collaborating, Imagining, and Building a Curriculum Intervention on Youth Mattering with Racially and Ethnically Diverse High School Students. ($5,000; 2024-2025)

Associate Professor Jennifer Gallo-Fox (Co-PI) and Professor Zoubedia Dagher (Co-PI) were awarded a STTR Phase OO grant through the SOS/Navy for a project entitled SHARK – Aquatic Soft Robotic STEM Education Kit. ($650,000, 2024-2027)

Lynsey Gibbons (PI) and Associate Policy Scientist Anastasia Purinton (Co-PI) were awarded funding for Establishing a Partnership Among a State Department of Education, Educators, School District Leaders and Researchers To Enhance Early Childhood Educators? Mathematics Teaching.

Amanda Jansen (PI) and Co-PIs Christina Barbieri and Associate Research Professor Leigh McLean were awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project entitled Motivating Mathematics in the Middle Grades by Learning Through Rough Drafts and Revising. ($1,759,814, 2024-2028) 

Leigh McLean (PI), Teomara Rutherford (Co-PI) and Henry May (Co-PI) were awarded funding from the NSF for a project entitled Development of the Orienting Positive Emotions in New Teachers Professional Learning Program. ($3 million; 2024-2028)

Assistant Professor Florence Ran (PI) and Kenneth Shores (Co-PI) were awarded funding from the Dual Enrollment Research Fund for a project entitled Equitable Access and Distributional Effects: Dual Enrollment Career and Technical Education in Delaware. ($116,870; 2024-2026)

Teomara Rutherford (Co-PI) was awarded funding from the NSF for multiple projects:

Kenneth Shores (Co-PI) was awarded funding from the IES for a project entitled Career Development Opportunities in Delaware: Implementation, Impact, and Cost. ($3,199,996; 2024–2028)

Sanford Student (PI) received an IES Early Career Research and Mentorship Grant for a project entitled Validating Vertical Scales as Measures of Growth Using Moderated Nonlinear Factor Analysis. ($80,000; 2024-2025)

Anamarie Whitaker (PI), Professor Martha Buell (Co-PI) and Annette Pic (Co-PI) were awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families, for a project entitled Supporting Access, Retention, and Quality (SPARQ) for Children with Special Needs. ($1,982,894; 2024-2029)

Anamarie Whitaker (PI) and Cara Kelly (Co-PI) were awarded funding from the HHS Administration for Children and Families for a project entitled A Systematic Examination of Historical Changes in Head Starts Population and Developmental Trajectories: A Secondary Data Analysis of the Family and Child Experiences Survey Data Sets. ($99,979; 2024-2026)

In partnership with the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE), CEHD’s Partnership for Public Education and Collaborative for Data-Driven Action secured a new institutional change grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and other organizations to improve K-3 literacy outcomes and promote equitable learning statewide.

Alexis Ambroise presented:

  • Family Social Support and Mental Health Among Afro-Caribbean Adolescents: Moderation by Sex, Age, and Household Income?, Caribbean Studies Association Annual Conference, St. Lucia, June 2024
  • Social Support & Social Strain: What Matters More for Afro-Caribbean Teen Mental Health?, UD Spark! Symposium, Newark, Delaware, October 2024

Lauren P. Bailes presented:

  • Seeing Through the Glass Cliff, The Heads Network’s Webinar, October 2024
  • Glass Cliffs: An Analysis of Gender and Racial Change in School Headships During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using a National Dataset for School Leadership, National Association of Independent Schools Executive Team 

Tia Barnes presented one paper and two posters with Lauren Strickland and Rosa Mykyta-Chomsky entitled Collaborative Skills, Special Educator Well-Being, and Inclusive Learning Environments, at the Social & Emotional Learning Exchange Conference in Chicago, Illinois, November 2024.

James Bridgeforth presented:

  • Global Lessons on How Families Can Advance Student Engagement, Success, and Well-Being, Keynote Speaker at National Assembly for Family Engagement, Denver, Colorado, October 2024
  • Building Deeper Relationships With Families, Brookings Institution, virtual webinar, October 2024

Christina Budde presented:

  • with Professor William Lewis, Leveraging the Science of Reading for Adolescent Multilingual Learners, Delaware Equity Summit, Wilmington, Delaware, September 2024
  • Leveraging Multilingualism Within the Science of Reading, Ed.D. Cohort Colloquium, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, November 2024 

Roderick L. Carey presented:

  • Exploring How Mattering Matters for Adolescent Black Boys and Us All: Insights For Educational Stakeholders and Researchers From A Unique School Partnership Study, Keynote for the UD Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration’s Social Policy and Inequality Workshop Series, Newark, Delaware, September 2024
  • Exploring How Mattering Matters for Adolescent Black Boys and Us All: Insights For Educational Stakeholders and Researchers From A Unique School Partnership Study, Coalition of Black Men Speaker Series, Portland, Oregon, June 2024
  • Exploring How Mattering Matters for Adolescent Black Boys and Us All: Insights For Educational Stakeholders and Researchers From A Unique School Partnership Study, BIPOC Youth Summit at Stuyvesant High School, New York, May 2024 

Sarah Curtiss was invited to speak at Children & Families First Delaware in October 2024 and wrote a report summarizing their work together on considering effective puberty education from multiple dimensions.

Heather Farmer presented a virtual workshop entitled Discrimination and Trajectories of Blood Pressure in Older Adults at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities in June 2024.

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff presented:

  • Stories With Clever Hedgehog: Evaluating a Web Platform for Ukrainian Children, American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Seattle, Washington, August 2024
  • Media Use by Young Children: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Association for Psychological Science Webinar, August 2024
  • Making Schools Work: Bringing the Science of Learning to Joyful Classroom Practice, EDUHK International Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education and Development, Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, June 2024
  • Active Playful Learning: Joyful Teaching, Deeper Learning in and out of School, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 2024

Associate Professors Mellissa Gordon and Ann M. Aviles presented Factors Influencing the Psychological Wellbeing of Street-Identified Black Youth and Adults: A Hierarchical Modeling Approach at the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) annual conference in Bellevue, Washington, November 2024. 

Myae Han presented:

  • Reflecting on 50 Years of Play Research TASP Past President’s Panel, The Association for the Study of Play, Rochester, New York, March 2024
  • Foundations of Early Literacy: Oral Language, Seoul Theological University, South Korea, October 2024
  • with Assistant Professor Jin Yao Kwan, Examining the Relationship Between Single-Mother Social Supports and Young Children’s Social-Emotional Outcomes, NCFR annual conference, Bellevue, Washington, November 2024 

Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) Data Scientist Marcia Gail Headley presented Near-Peer Mentors’ Discussions with a Student Avatar Experiencing Logistical Issues on a First-Year Design Team at the Annual Conference and Exposition of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in Portland, Oregon, in June 2024. This paper was selected as the Best Paper from the First-Year Programs Division, the Best Professional Interest Council IV paper, and the Best Conference Paper overall. 

Amanda Jansen presented:

  • Using Rough Drafts and Revising to Engage Students in Mathematical Practices, ​Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey Fall Conference, Lincroft, New Jersey, October 2024
  • Leaders’ Strategies for Encouraging Rough Draft Math, How Can I Teach With Rough Draft Math and Use a Textbook?, 65th California Mathematics Council – South Annual Conference, Palm Springs, California, November 2024
  • Integrating Rough Draft Math With Curriculum Materials: How Can Leaders Support Teachers?, National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, Chicago, Illinois, September 2024
  • How Mathematics Teachers Enacted Rough Draft Math While Using Their Curriculum Materials, Delaware Math Equity conference, Dover, Delaware, November 2024

CRESP Education Researcher Shameeka Jelenewicz presented Work in Progress: Development of a Medical Devices Course for Sophomore Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Students at the ASEE Conference in Portland, Oregon, June 2024.

Dean Family Endowed Professor Nancy Jordan presented Foundational at the Education Writers Association Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, October 2024. 

Eric K. Layland presented The Who and How of LGBTQIA+ Socialization: Queering Conceptual Understanding of Family Socialization by Including Chosen Family and Family of Origin at the NCFR annual conference in Bellevue, Washington, November 2024.

Leigh McLean presented Identifying Notable Barriers and Supports in the Transition to Teaching at the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform Lecture Series in Fayetteville, Arkansas, October 2024.

Spectrum Scholars Research Manager Jess Monahan presented about college students and faculty mental health at the TEDxUniversityofDelaware event in Newark, Delaware, September 2024.   

Ohiro Oni-Eseleh presented Decolonizing and Indigenizing Nigeria’s Pension System at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Annual Program Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, October 2024.

CRESP Data Scientist Samuel Van Horne presented Promoting the Transfer of Math Skills to Engineering Statics at the ASEE Conference in Portland, Oregon, June 2024.

Assistant Professors Rosalyn Washington and Jessica Slade presented A Blueprint: Foundations for Building Communities of Practice Among Your Staff & Teachers at the NAEYC annual conference in Anaheim, California, November 2024. 

Anamarie Whitaker presented Why Are Early Childhood Education Programs Becoming Less Effective? at the Harvard Kennedy School Program on Education Policy and Governance Colloquium Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 2024.   

Joshua Wilson presented:

  • Large-Language Models as Evaluators in Educational Measurement, 9th International Conference on Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology, Eskisehir, Turkey, September 2024
  • Examining Automated Writing Evaluation Tools, Special Interest Group on Artificial Intelligence in Measurement and Education with the National Council of Measurement in Education, virtual presentation, July 2024
  • Adopting AI in Management Education: Ethical and Responsible Practices to Enhance Human Skills, United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education Global Forum, virtual presentation, June 2024

Human Services Coordinator Rebecca Wilson and Joshua Wilson presented Is There a Role for AI in Human Services? for the National Organization of Human Services virtually in October 2024. 

Associate Professor Dominique Baker was appointed to the Board on Higher Education and Workforce within the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in September 2024.

In August 2024, James Bridgeforth was elected to the Board of Directors of Families In Schools, a capacity-building, leadership and advocacy organization that works throughout the U.S., with their largest footprint in Los Angeles, California, to ensure families are involved at every level of educational change and opportunity for their children.

Roderick L. Carey interviewed and moderated a community webinar with bestselling author Richard Reeves entitled Young Male Syndrome: Fact or Fiction for the Society for Research on Adolescence and the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood in September 2024.

Practicum Education Coordinator LeAnn DiBenedetto began engaging with social service providers in the local community to establish relationships and develop opportunities for field education placements this fall. The community agencies are looking forward to partnering with UD, hosting master of social work (MSW) students and expanding the population of master’s-level social workers in Delaware and surrounding communities. 

In collaboration with the UD Center for Hybrid, Active and Responsive Materials (CHARM), Jennifer Gallo-Fox has supported the developing, revising and dissemination of engineering lending library kits. These Next Generation Science Standards-aligned curricular kits provide resources that local educators, including early childhood cooperating teachers and undergraduate majors can borrow to use in their classrooms. This summer she worked closely with early childhood education major and Summer Scholar Grace Newman on developing lending library kits for early childhood educators. 

Mellissa Gordon was appointed as co-chair Faculty Fellow by UD’s Anti-Racism Initiative.

Interim Dean Rena Hallam was named research co-director of the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center.

Ohiro Oni-Eseleh was appointed to serve on the Council’s Service User Guide Curriculum Committee by the CSWE to develop the next Service User Guide for social work education. His team will develop the policy practice competency. Ohiro has also established a Community Advisory Board for the MSW program. The Advisory Board includes members of the social work practice community, other service providers, community members and a social work student. 

As part of the Gates Foundation-funded CREATEd project at CRUE, Professor Elizabeth Farley-Ripple and CRESP Research Associate III Carolyn Hammerschmidt developed Foundations of Knowledge Brokering, a six-month program preparing knowledge brokers to bridge research, policy, and practice. Participants complete month-long learning modules and attend bi-monthly virtual workshops covering knowledge brokering, equity, the educational ecosystem, evidence-informed change, design and communication, and facilitation. Launching in January 2025, the program is fully enrolled with 15 participants from diverse roles across the U.S. education ecosystem.

Teomara Rutherford and the Rutherford Lab have participated in several community events, including Boo at the Zoo and Open Streets Wilmington where they have provided community members with information and activities on how to talk to children and teens about their motivation for school.

Sanford Student took part in the DDOE’s working group on the state’s student growth model for accountability and was appointed to the Maryland State Department of Education’s Technical Advisory Committee.

The College School partnered with UD CHARM to host a STEM event for pre-service teachers in November. 

Team members from the Delaware Multi-Tiered System of Support Technical Assistance Center (DE-MTSS TA), housed at the Center for Disabilities Studies (CDS), supported multiple events this summer:

  • DDOE’s statewide Social Emotional Behavioral Wellbeing conference, August 6-7, 2024. In addition to assisting with overall event logistics, staff was invited to facilitate three presentations on supporting school discipline, use of Delaware survey data in decision making and hosting a discussion around the film On These Grounds. 
  • DDOE’s statewide Equity Summit on September 10, 2024. Across three 90-minute strands, each offered three times during the day, over 1,000 Delaware educators received professional learning from the DE-MTSS TA Center.

During National Literacy Month, the Early Learning Center (ELC) welcomed a visit from Delaware’s First Spouse Tracey Quillen Carney where she delivered the Governor’s proclamation, read her new book, Books for Blue, and shared copies of the book with all of the classrooms. The ELC also enjoyed guest readers from many friends across the college including DIEEC Professional Development Coordinator Jaquaya Thomas who visited multiple times and successfully read to every age group at least once.

College & University Awards

External Awards

Tia Barnes, Teomara Rutherford and Stephanie Smith Budhai were recognized at the Homecoming game as among the UD football team’s MVPs (Most Valuable Professor).

Doctoral student Kristin Chisholm was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research in exploring the opportunities and benefits of hands-on educational experiences in STEM. 

Amanda Delgado has received acceptances on papers and has one under review.

Doctoral student Victoria Figgs recently passed her social work licensing exam and has received approval of her Ph.D. thesis proposal from her committee. Victoria is also serving as adjunct faculty in the MSW program.

Jon Kittle received the International Literacy Association’s Jeanne S. Chall Research Fellowship to support his research in multilingual learner literacy. 

Doctoral student Ekaterina Novikova received a $25,000 Dissertation Grant for their research entitled Immigrant Families Participation in Child Care: A Mixed-Method Study. 

Doctoral student John Oluwadero had the opportunity to represent CRESP and UD at the United Nations Summit of the Future event this fall. John discussed implementing the Future Generations Declaration and the Pact for the Future in Africa, emphasizing the need for a systems-based approach to reform African institutions.

Camila Polanco received an American Educational Research Association Minority Dissertation Fellowship for their dissertation entitled The Children’s Interpersonal Mattering at School Scale: A Psychometric Exploration.

Doctoral Student Olushola Soyoye received funding to attend the National Assessment of Educational Progress  Data Training Workshop organized by the American Institutes for Research in June 2024.

The MSW program has commenced with 12 students enrolled in non-degree status as the program moves through the CSWE accreditation process.

Shortly after joining CDS as their mental health content specialist in June, Alexis Ambroise completed her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences in September 2024.

Doctoral student Sarah Clerjuste welcomed her son, Emerson, in June 2024.

Grants Analyst II Amanda Deaver volunteers and fosters dogs for House of Hope Animal Rescue. She and her family welcomed their seventeenth foster dog in November 2024.

Ohiro Oni-Eseleh created a documentary entitled When Brilliance Reigns, published by Irmedia.online. Ohiro also appeared on Nigeria’s Channels Television as an analyst on the U.S. Presidential Elections in September 2024.

Elena Silla welcomed her daughter, Cecilia (Cece), in April 2024.

Elizabeth Soslau’s son, Harry, made his middle school soccer team. 

Brittany Zakszeski and her husband Ryan welcomed their son, Rowan, on November 1, 2024.