Martha Buell

Professor

Martha Buell is vice provost for faculty affairs and professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. Her area of interest is teacher development and early childhood education, especially in the areas of language and literacy development. She teaches classes in early childhood curriculum, and her research focuses on factors that influence the professional development of early childhood teachers and child care providers. In the past, Buell has worked on several projects examining the quality of child care, and how teacher education contributes to that quality.

She is particularly interested in factors that affect the quality of early care and education for infants and toddlers. Her concern in large part has developed out of her work with the Early Head Start program that is operated out of the University of Delaware that serves both New Castle and Kent counties in Delaware. This program is designed to enhance the development of infants and toddlers and help parents do the best job they can of raising their very young children.

Research

Drs. Martha Buell and Myae Han conduct research with the Early Literacy Project and the Kindergarten project. Early Literacy Project is designed to increase the language and literacy skills of Head Start Preschool children. Both undergraduate and graduate opportunities are available to work in language and literacy settings and gain experience working with children on literacy instruction. Research assistantships are available for graduate students to work as tutors and data collectors. Data analysis opportunities exist on a limited basis for qualified undergraduate and graduate students. The Kindergarten project has collected data on kindergarten programming and child outcomes. Data coding and analysis opportunities are available for qualified undergraduate and graduate students. Professor Buell has other research opportunities available for independent studies addressing child care quality and child care workforce issues.