CCFP Blog

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Shelby Tisdale is a recent graduate of Duke University and the Child Policy Research certificate program. 

The Center for Child and Family Policy recently welcomed approximately 50 students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners to campus for the annual Triangle Economics of Education Workshop.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

Cassie Ameen is a Senior majoring in public policy and getting the Child Policy Research Certificate. Her interests lie in the role of public policy in advocating for children and families.

Reagan Razon has long been interested in the intersections of computer science, education and policy. As a computer science major studying child policy research, Reagan found her perfect fit course when she enrolled in Equity in STEM Education (EGR190S/EDUC290S) her junior year.

The 2025 Duke School Research Partnership (SRP) poster presentation and dinner this April featured 27 student presenters – the highest number of student participants to date.

Dr. Joan Lombardi, director of the Early Opportunities Initiative and adjunct professor and senior adviser at the Stanford University Center for Early Childhood, Graduate School of Education, spoke recently at the Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture

In 2022, among households with at least one resident child under age 18, the typical white household had $166,000 more wealth than the typical black household. A confluence of factors contributes to the black-white racial wealth difference, including a legacy of economic hardship due to slavery, Jim Crow segregation and violence, and exclusionary education, housing,…

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

Three newly released research briefs present parents’ and providers’ insights into the strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement around home-based child care and explore the barriers and challenges of operating these businesses in N.C.

This past December, I had the privilege of joining the Center for Child and Family Policy on a trip to Washington, DC as part of a new pilot program that offers an incredible experience for Duke undergraduates considering or seeking careers in child and family policy.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

On Friday, September 20, CCFP hosted three Duke dual-degree graduate students pursuing careers at the intersection of Policy and Law/Medicine/Business, as part of the Exploring Careers series.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

Phil d’Almada is an analytic programmer who has been working with CCFP since 2020. Learn more about Phil’s work in our CCFP Community Spotlight.

As part of the CCFP Career Series, the event highlighted speakers’ diverse early career paths in popular service programs: AmeriCorps, PeaceCorps, and Teach for America.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

by Ella Davis, PPS ’25 We live in a world where-in one place-a simple act of parenting, like expectations regarding children’s obligations to their families, could spark outrage and misunderstanding in another. The Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) study, launched in 2008, delves into this complexity, exploring how cultural contexts shape parenting and impact children’s psychological…

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we honor faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

In 1987 and 1988, researchers John Bates, Kenneth Dodge, and Gregory Pettit launched a study with the goal of better understanding children’s behavioral development.

As part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s 25th Anniversary celebration, we are honoring faculty, researchers, and staff who have contributed to the Center’s work, culture, and impact.

Jenneca Graber-Grace is a staff specialist who has been working with CCFP since mid-September 2023. Learn more about Jenneca’s work in our CCFP Community Spotlight.

Marcos Rangel has been appointed scientific director of the North Carolina Education Research Data Center (NCERDC), housed in the Center. The NCERDC was created in 2001 through a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to store and manage data on the state’s public schools, school districts, students, and teachers. The data, which…

On April 18, the Center for Child and Family Policy (CCFP) hosted the School Research Partnership‘s annual spring event, featuring student poster presentations and an expert panel on Early Care & Education in North Carolina: Pressing Challenges and Future Directions in the Aftermath of COVID-19. Leslie Babinksi, director of the School Research Partnership, gave opening…

[Benforado] inspired me to continue advocating for the cause of putting children first. Minjee Kim PPS ’25 Dr. Adam Benforado, professor of law at Drexel University, discussed the importance of prioritizing child wellbeing in public policy as part of the Robert R. Wilson Distinguished Lecture series on March 7, 2024. Benforado was welcomed by the…

By Minjee Kim, PPS ’25 On February 16, 2024, the Center for Child and Family Policy welcomed two panelists, Libby Doyle, current Duke MPP student and former researcher analyst with the Urban Institute, and Emilia Sotolongo, senior technical assistance analyst at Child Trends. They sat down with a group of undergraduate and graduate students and…

By Phoebe Ducote, PPS ’25 On January 19, 2024, the Center for Child and Family Policy (CCFP) welcomed panelists from three nonprofit policy organizations for its Exploring Careers in Child and Family Policy Speaker Series. Neil Harrington from NC Child, Brennan Lewis from Equality NC, and Elizabeth Paul from the Public School Forum of North…

Ann Skinner is a research scientist working with CCFP and C-StARR. She has been with CCFP for just over 22 years, working for much of that time on Parenting Across Cultures (PAC).   Read more in this CCFP Community Spotlight.

Four newly released research briefs, Parent and Provider Voices on Early Care and Education in North Carolina, present parents’ and providers’ insights into the strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement on four topics: All Aboard: Parent and Provider Feedback on Meeting Early Care and Education School Readiness Goals Building Resilience: Nurturing Social and Emotional Health…

On November 30, I watched the recorded video of the presentation, Revealing the Legacy of Poverty in America, which featured leading poverty researchers Kathryn Edin, William Church Osborne Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs; and Timothy Nelson, lecturer in the Department of Sociology, both at Princeton University. They presented findings from their new book, “The…

Jennifer Mann is a researcher with Leslie Babinski on the Bridging English Language Learning and Academics (BELLA) project, which is a professional development program for classroom and ESL teachers to support language and literacy growth for their multilingual learners. Read more in this CCFP Community Spotlight.

On October 19, Kathryn Edin, Timothy Nelson and Liv Mann of Princeton University presented the Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture, “Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America.” The lecture drew on findings presented in Edin and Nelson’s new book, The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America. Edin is the William Church Osborn Professor…

Lola James is a first-year dual Master of Public Policy and Master of Business Administration candidate at Duke. She recently joined the CCFP community, working as a research assistant with Katie Rosanbalm. Read more in this CCFP Community Spotlight.

The Parenting Across Cultures project team’s research evaluating the effectiveness of Kenya’s legal ban on corporal punishment was recognized by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and Sage Publishing.

CCFP student Laura Stilwell, a PhD candidate in the Sanford School of Public Policy, has been awarded a prestigious F30 grant though the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.

On April 20, the Center for Child and Family Policy (CCFP) hosted the School Research Partnership’s annual dinner, themed The Power of School-Community-Research Partnerships in Building Student and Educator Wellness. The dinner featured a panel discussion about the importance of prioritizing a sustained and meaningful focus on collective care, social-emotional wellness, and community-building within schools…

By Clara Bonzi Teixeira ’24 Dr. Shantel Meek, founder of the Children’s Equity Project, joined the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy on March 22, 2023 to discuss her career in child and family policy. Meek’s most recent career move has been to launch the Children’s Equity Project (CEP), a multi-university initiative at Arizona State…

Komisarow received the Thomas A. Downes Best Paper Award for authoring the top journal article published in 2022 in Education Finance and Policy.

By Clara Bonzi Teixeira, MPP ’24 Founder and executive director of Durham Success Summit, Derek Rhodes, PPS ’15, joined the Center for Child and Family Policy on March 3 to talk about his professional journey and why he quit the corporate world to start his own non-profit. Rhodes has always had a passion for social…

by Clara Bonzi Teixeira The Center for Child and Family Policy welcomed two child advocacy professionals on February 3, 2023, Morgan Forrester Ray, director of the EarlyWell Initiative at NC Child, and Morgan Wittman Gramann, executive director at North Carolina Alliance for Health, for its Career Series. Although Ray and Gramann have had very different…

Jennifer Lansford, director of the Center for Child and Family Policy and research professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy, has been named President-Elect of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the society announced on February 8. Lansford’s position will take effect in March 2023. She will serve as SRCD President for…

by Clara Bonzi Teixeira The Center for Child and Family Policy welcomed Duke alum Rebecca Feinglos on January 20, 2023 to discuss her diverse set of experiences working in state and local government. Feinglos was part of the Center’s Career Series, which seeks to help students explore the wide range of career opportunities in child…

By Grace Lee, Child Policy Research Certificate student ’23 A push for increased diversity in classes and programs is at the forefront of many educational institution initiatives. Those initiatives would not be possible without the efforts of figures such as Dr. Dudley Flood, a champion of school integration who was instrumental in desegregating schools across…

On October 20, 2022, the Center for Child and Family Policy hosted a conference on International Perspectives on Parenting and Childhood Development, where researchers from the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) longitudinal study presented their findings.

On a day dedicated to illuminating the past in the hopes of improving our future, Dr. Jelani Cobb’s keynote speech intuitively addressed the importance of “Sankofa,” looking backwards to move forward.

The Center for Child and Family Policy welcomed Nichole Davis, Cassie Lutterloh, and Whitney McCoy on September 23, 2022, to discuss their experiences with Teach for America (TFA). The three speakers discussed their experiences in TFA and how it shaped their career choices and involvement in education policy.

In her recent lecture, Teaching in Times of COVID: Preparing Teachers to Work with Immigrant Students, Families, and Communities, Dr. Ana Christina da Silva addressed many questions teachers and schools are still asking. Dr. da Silva’s approach to the challenge invites educators to embrace curiosity, rather than grapple for control.

The long-term benefits of telling stories with young children was recently documented by a team of researchers, including Duke University Research Scientist Dr. Robert Carr. In a study published in Developmental Psychology, the research team found that children demonstrated higher language skills and, in turn, higher literacy skills throughout elementary school if their mothers used…

Lisa A. Gennetian, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies at Duke Sanford and affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy, has been appointed as a research associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Program on Children. A top nonpartisan research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, NBER is dedicated to conducting…

Dr. Margaret Burchinal of the University of Virginia recently joined the Center to deliver her guest lecture, “Creating More Promising Preschool Programs: Implications of Preschool Quality and Fade-Out/Catch-Up.”

Newly published research examining adolescent stress during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests parents can play a key role in helping their children develop resilience in the face of community-wide threats or public health crises.

By Sophia Bruton, Public Policy Undergraduate, ’22 On February 18, 2022, the Center for Child and Family Policy hosted a Careers in Child and Family Policy event focused on positions within state and local governments, with guest speakers Kelly Andrews and Alena Antonowich. Both speakers discussed their education and career paths, followed by a question-answer…

Why do you want to do what you want to do with your life? A recent panel of Legal Advocacy alumni offered listeners a different starting line as they begin their career search into the world of Child and Family Policy. Shajuti Houssain Duke Law ’18 Chavis Jones Duke Law ’20 Peggy Nicholson Senior Lecturing…

Children are born ready to learn. Their development is influenced by the experiences they have and the people who surround them. Education has the power to close gaps in opportunity, help students obtain knowledge to succeed, and improve the lives of young people.

Everyone knows Sesame Street. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the children’s television show, has harnessed this ubiquity to create powerful social change through an accessible platform.

On December 7, 2021, the Center for Child and Family Policy hosted Drs. Michael Maher and Jeni Corn as a part of its School Research Partnership event, The Road to Recovery in N.C. Public Schools: Comprehensive Planning, Strategic Investments, and Charting a Path Forward.

Depression is one of the most prominent psychiatric conditions today, affecting approximately one in three adults in the United States (Ettman et al., 2021). During the pandemic, mental health conditions have become so common that this statistic may not seem surprising. But something major is missing from the statistic: children.

A new study co-authored by Ann Skinner looks at how the relation between COVID-related personal disruptions as reported by mothers and their young adult children was associated with increased anxiety, depression and aggression experienced by both.

On November 9, 2021, Natalie Foster, co-chair and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, and Dr. Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, tackled the topic, “What Happens When You Give People Money,” as part of the Center for Child and Family Policy’s Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Series.

Billy Shore, founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, was the featured speaker at the October 27, 2021, installment of the Foundation Impact Research Group seminar series, co-sponsored by the Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society, the Center for Child and Family Policy, and the Duke World Food Policy Center.

The Center recently hosted Dr. Tiffany Green, assistant professor of population health sciences and obstetrics and gynecology, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as a speaker in its Early Childhood Initiative Series.

CCFP welcomed graduate students Gayane Baziyants, Maya Escueta, Liza Rodler, and Adam Stanaland as part of its Exploring Careers in Child and Family Policy speaker series.

On September 30, 2021, the Center welcomed guest speaker, Daphna Bassok, associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia, as part of its Early Childhood Initiative series.

CCFP welcomed Durham native and Duke alumna Dr. Sarah Rabiner Eisensmith as part of its Exploring Careers in Child and Family Policy speaker series.

“P-TECH blows apart the notion that high school is grade 9 to 12, and then students…enroll in a college,” shared Litow. Instead, P-TECH creates a novel, integrated high school and college program.

Dr. Christine McWayne, professor at Tufts University, an applied developmental scientist and community-based early childhood educational researcher, focuses on fostering a better understanding of the early social and learning successes of young children growing up in urban poverty. She believes that the use of culturally grounded information can help bridge the divides that often exist between primary helpers, such as parents and teachers, in young children’s lives.

“Addressing Child Poverty during the Pandemic” featured Dr. Lisa Gennetian, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy, and David Reese, president and CEO of Durham Children’s Initiative. During this webinar, the pair gave their perspectives on the challenges and successes the child poverty space has witnessed over the past year and what the future may hold.

On April 13, 2021, the Center for Child and Family Policy hosted Tyler Watts, assistant professor of developmental psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Watts studies educational policies designed to promote the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children from underserved communities. His talk focused on his current research evaluating the Building Blocks preschool mathematics curriculum.

The 2021 Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Series featured Dr. Cynthia Garcia Coll, who has devoted the past 30 years of her career studying child development. Dr. Garcia Coll began her presentation by sharing the distressing reality that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic downfall has had dramatically higher impacts on Black communities, Indigenous communities, and people of color.

How can we increase economic opportunity for children from neighborhoods with low upward mobility? The Duke Center for Child and Family Policy and the Duke University Population Research Institute hosted Dr. Raj Chetty, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University, to share research findings from his work using big data to address this issue.

Collaboration is critical in legislation and school re-openings. The ABC Science Collaborative, a consortium of public health scientists and physicians from Duke University and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, has fully embraced collaboration in working to safely re-open K-12 schools across North Carolina.

We know, based on mounting research evidence, that children thrive when they have stable, nurturing environments where there’s routine, responsive parenting, proper care, and quality nutrition and education. What we do not quite fully understand well is what kinds of policy can help both reduce the negative effects of poverty and foster the circumstances for children to thrive. My colleagues and I make the case that cash transfers to families with children is a promising possible solution.

By Leslie Babinski I always knew school principals had a big job, but my recent stint as “Principal for a Day” made it very clear how complex and multifaceted even just a few hours of a principal’s life can be. Thanks to the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and their efforts to bring business and…