Peer effects in preschool classrooms: Direct and indirect pathways
"Peer effects in preschool classrooms: Direct and indirect pathways"
Children's early language skills are a strong predictor of children's later reading and school success. As such, it is important to identify factors that influence children's language development in early childhood educational settings. Empirical work will be presented about the peer effects on preschoolers' growth in language skills over the academic year and how peer effects manifest differently based on children's status in reference to their peers.
About the speaker:
Laura Justice, PhD, is Distinguished Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning and Executive Director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (http://ccec.ehe.osu.edu/) at The Ohio State University (Columbus).
A clinical speech-language pathologist, Justice is interested in early literacy development and intervention for children who have language difficulties. Much of Dr. Justice's research considers the effects of teacher or parent implemented interventions on children’s learning, including the effective use of storybooks. She is also interested in the state of classroom quality in early childhood and how various aspects of quality affect children’s gains with the classroom. Dr. Justice has served as PI on many federally funded studies involving preschool children, including studies of the effects of specific language or literacy intervention for at-risk children or children with disabilities. Her expertise in the field is evident through her authorship of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.
Justice’s work in early childhood has received great recognition, including a 2006 Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from President G.W. Bush. She has also received the Annie Glenn Leadership Award in Speech-Language Pathology, the Editor’s Award (from American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology,) the Early Career Publication Award (from Division of Research, Council for Exceptional Children,) the Erskine Fellowship (from University of Canterbury,) and the Fulbright Scholar Award.