Past Events

Sarah Dickerson, postdoctoral associate at the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, and Warren Lowell, Ph.D. candidate in public policy and sociology, will present their research on the consequences of housing disadvantage in the United States. Dickerson will discuss “Chronic Residential Mobility and Academic Outcomes for Public School Children in North Carolina.” Lowell will…

In this talk, Eugene Ohu shares his fascination with technology and its intersection with psychology and his work at the Virtual Human Computer Interaction (VHCI) lab of the Lagos Business School, Nigeria, where he teaches and researches virtual reality (VR) technologies. He will share how he and his colleagues are exploring the use of immersive…

During this statewide gathering, attendees will continue the national conversation from April 12, 2022, about how to implement the types of services and supports that young children and families need as part of a universal system of care. We encourage you to register for the online national conference as well to prepare for the state…

Videos of sessions Slides from presentations During this national convening, attendees will explore what research says about what young children and their families need and, subsequently, how universal systems of care could be developed to meet those needs. The conference will provide a national platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to join together in shifting…

Featuring Ana Christina da Silva, Professor of the Practice of Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University Discussions about improving learning opportunities and educational equity for young children have been at the top of educational agendas in the U.S. These discussions have been intensified in the last couple of years due to restrictions in learning environments imposed…

This session will feature Ashley Kazouh, policy and program associate at the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity; Molly Osborne, director of policy and engagement at EducationNC; and Julia Whitfield, associate policy analyst at The Hunt Institute. We will learn what their work in education policy entails and what motivates them to work…

Featuring Margaret R. Burchinal, Research Professor, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia Long-term results from the randomized controlled trial of the Tennessee prekindergarten and increased evidence of fade-out/catch-up of preschool impacts during the early elementary years should lead to a careful examination of what works for whom in early care and education…

We will be joined by Elizabeth Anderson, program director, Chatham County Partnership for Children; Suzy Khachaturyan, policy analyst, NC Budget & Tax Center; and Denise Rebeil, current Duke MPP student and former legal assistant at the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project.  They will talk about their current work advocating for children and families, as well…

Kelly Andrews, program coordinator, Durham Misdemeanor Diversion Program, Criminal Justice Resource Center, Durham County; and Alena Antonowich, current MPP student and former analyst in the NYC Department of Education will talk about opportunities to work in child and family policy within state and local governments, as well as other career adventures. This speaker series is for…

Join us to learn about pursuing a career in legal advocacy from Shajuti Hossain, JD `18, associate attorney at Renne Public Law Group; Chavis Jones, JD `20, associate counsel in the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; and Peggy Nicholson, supervising attorney, Children’s Law Clinic, Duke Law. They have pursued careers in…

Denise Forte is the interim CEO at The Education Trust. With more than two decades of experience in the federal legislative and executive branches advancing progressive education and family policy, Forte brings strategic leadership to the organization’s efforts to engage policymakers and diverse coalitions of advocates in demanding and securing equity-advancing policy change at the…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture The pandemic ushered in a time of unprecedented crisis in education, with students experiencing months of interrupted or unfinished learning. Student performance data shows that all students’ learning has been affected, but the impact is far greater for some student populations, particularly students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Fortunately, this…

We welcome Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice president for U.S. social impact at Sesame Workshop, for the Crown Lecture in Ethics. Dr. Betancourt will talk about Equity and Inclusion on Sesame Street. Named for benefactor Lester Crown, the lecture series was established to bring speakers to Duke to discuss ethical concerns in the arts, sciences,…

The Triangle Economics of Education Workshop (TEEW) will bring together scholars to present and discuss empirical research on the economics of education. Dr. Kirabo Jackson, Abraham Harris Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, will give the keynote address, What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of…

Michael Maher and Jeni Corn from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration will explain how NCDPI education researchers are providing resources and supports to districts and schools to address learning loss resulting from the pandemic. The Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration (OLR) is developing, implementing, and evaluating state-…

Isabelle Brantley and Hannah Leedle will join us to talk about working on child and family policy as consultants. Isabelle is a manager in The Bridgespan Group’s New York Office. Since joining Bridgespan, she has worked with both philanthropic and nonprofit organizations focused on serving children, youth, and families, as well as furthering global development….

Michael Gaffrey, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, and Director of Duke’s Early Experience and the Developing Brain Lab   A rapidly growing body of data indicates that the origins of depression are developmental in nature and identifiable as early as the preschool period. In this talk, Michael Gaffrey, assistant professor in the Department…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Dr. Aisha Nyandoro and Natalie Foster will discuss the powerful impacts a guaranteed income has on children and families. They will also suggest how the U.S. can make permanent the Child Tax Credit expansion, which provides a national guaranteed income for families under the American Rescue Plan. Nyandoro is CEO of Springboard…

Mandy Abliedinger, BA`98, and Bonnie Delaune, PPS`14, will join us to talk about their career paths. Mandy is a senior policy director with the Alliance for Early Success. Prior to the Alliance, Mandy worked at the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation, NC Child, and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After completing her undergraduate degree at…

Tiffany Green, Assistant Professor, Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Health inequalities at birth are a key mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of health and socioeconomic status. Although income is positively correlated with infant health, as well as maternal health and health behaviors before and during pregnancy, the causal effect of…

Color of Education 2021 is a two-day virtual summit that will bring together people from all over North Carolina to exchange ideas and strategies that address systemic racial inequities in the state’s education system. The summit will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, October 26, and Wednesday, October 27, 2021, both days from 4:00 pm…

Billy Shore is the founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, the parent organization for the No Kid Hungry campaign. Since founding Share Our Strength in 1984 with his sister Debbie, Shore has led the organization in raising more than $700 million to fight hunger and poverty, and has won the support of national…

Award-winning author and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones will headline Color of Education 2021, a two-day virtual summit that will bring together people from all over North Carolina to exchange ideas and strategies that address systemic racial inequities in our education system. Hannah-Jones will speak on October 26th, 2021. Color of Education will include additional sessions focused…

Join us to hear from three young alumni working in child and family policy. Jenn Acosta, PPS `17, works as a survey analyst at Mathematica, a social policy research organization, in the Children, Youth and Families Division. Arianna Fisher, MPP `21, works as a senior research analyst at Sycamores, a mental health and welfare agency…

Join us to learn from current MPP and PhD students about what their experiences looked like between undergrad and graduate work, why they decided to go back to school, how they figured out what to go back to school for, and what being a graduate student/postdoc is like. We will be joined by Gayane Baziyants,…

Foundation Impact Research Group Seminar   Gregg Behr is the author of the book When You Wonder, You’re Learning, which explores the science behind Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, revealing what Fred Rogers called the “tools for learning:” essential skills and mindsets that boost everything from academic performance to children’s well-being. The first 35 people in attendance will…

Daphna Bassok, Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Associate Director of EdPolicyWorks   The early childhood education (ECE) workforce in the United States is characterized by low wages, limited benefits, high levels of stress, and high rates of turnover. These work conditions have negative implications for young children…

Sarah Rabiner Eisensmith is a forensic social worker, academic consultant, educator, academic guide and researcher. As a forensic social worker at AHB Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness, Eisensmith provides a therapeutic environment for supervised visitation and exchanges to families with the goal of repairing or restoring parent-child relationships. She also conducts supervised visitation, including…

Stanley Litow, visiting professor of the practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy, will discuss his book, “Breaking Barriers: How P-Tech Schools Create a Pathway From High School to College to Career” in a discussion led by Jay Matthews, education columnist for the Washington Post. The event will feature P-Tech graduate ShuDon Brown, who,…

  Anna Rybińska, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Center for Child and Family Policy Short birth spacing, a birth-to-conception interval of under 18 months, is common in the United States, with over one third of all second or higher order children conceived under 18 months after the birth of their older sibling. While associations between short birth…

Early Childhood Initiative Series Christine McWayne, Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University Implicit within mainstream notions of family-school partnership is the assumption that school-based engagement is needed for parents to provide effective support for their children’s learning and development. However, for many low-income, ethnic minoritized and immigrant families,…

Lisa Gennetian, Pritzker Associate Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies in the Sanford School of Public Policy, and David Reese, President and CEO of the Durham Children’s Initiative Lisa Gennetian and David Reese discussed federal and local efforts to support children and families affected by the pandemic during this annual community event. The program also…

Early Childhood Initiative Series Tyler Watts, Assistant Professor of developmental psychology, Department of Human Development, Teachers College, Columbia University Tyler Watts presented data from four cluster randomized trials that evaluated the scale up of the Building Blocks preschool mathematics curriculum. These trials were run in five different cities, producing a range of effects on measures…

“Stand For” Series Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson,  President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, a pastor, philanthropist, activist and Duke alumnus, became the president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund in December 2020. He is a national thought leader in racial justice, community organizing, and movement building and a…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Cynthia García Coll, professor in the Pediatrics Department, University of Puerto Rico Medical School, and the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor Emerita at Brown University As this historic pandemic unfolds, we see Black, Indigenous, and people of color overrepresented in its dire consequences: increased numbers in positive COVID-19 cases…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Raj Chetty, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics and director of Opportunity Insights, Harvard University Children’s chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90 percent to 50 percent over the past half century in America. How can we restore the American Dream of upward mobility for our children? In…

School Research Partnership Event This webinar revealed how the ABC Science Collaborative, coordinated by the Duke School of Medicine and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, pairs scientists and physicians with school and community leaders to help them understand the most current and relevant data about COVID-19 so they may make decisions that will keep teachers,…

Early Childhood Initiative Series Stephanie Curenton, Associate Professor, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development This presentation focused on racially minoritized learners’ (RMLs) experiences and achievement in school settings with a particular focus on discussing how the field measures instructional quality as it relates to RMLs’ experiences in the classroom. The presentation provided…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Diane Schanzenbach, Director of the Institute for Policy Research, Margaret Walker Alexander Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University A growing literature has documented the large and persistent impact of increasing investments in children — from income support programs, to educational investments, to health coverage. Yet, we persistently…

Early Childhood Initiative Series Jordan Conwell, Assistant Professor, departments of Sociology and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison Compared to the growing literature on income disparities in parental spending on children’s education and care, little is known about racial differences in these investments, including whether there is racial variation in such spending, net of income—the…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Marta Tienda, Maurice P. During ’22 Professor of Demographic Studies and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University Integration is a ubiquitous concept in the immigration literature, but segregation—its opposite—dominates academic discourse about public education. Building on Justice O’Connor’s opinion (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2013) that “[O]ur nation’s public institutions should…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Natasha J. Cabrera, Professor of Human Development, University of Maryland In this lecture Natasha Cabrera reviewed the empirical evidence that links father involvement to children’s developmental outcomes during early childhood. She takes a family systems perspective that fathers’ contribution to their children’s development is over and above the contribution of mothers and…

Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, Founder and President of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race (WISER) Nearly 3 million grandparents are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren; however, less is known about grandmothers as caregivers. Using the Decennial Census and American Community Survey data, this study provides an analysis of Asian, Black,…