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.
Leslie Babinski is a research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy and an affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy, as well as the director of the Duke School Research Partnership. Read on to learn more about her research at the Center, why she loves the CCFP Community, and her favorite children's books.
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What year did you start working at the Center for Child and Family Policy and what initially drew you to CCFP?
I started working at CCFP in September of 2008 – almost 18 years ago! Beth Gifford hired me to work on an evaluation project for America’s Promise Alliance. It was a short-term project, so I knew I’d have to find other opportunities if I wanted to stay at Duke.
Can you share a bit about your early work at CCFP?
I started as a Research Analyst after having been an associate professor at Bucknell University and an associate research director at a non-profit. My job at CCFP was to interview the executive directors of non-profit organizations to ask about America’s Promise Alliance. These were in-person interviews – so I made many trips to DC. One of the perks of the job was to talk with lots of really interesting and accomplished leaders.
You serve as the director of the School Research Partnership for the University. Can you describe the purpose of the School Research Partnership (SRP) and share why you believe it’s important?
The goal of the SRP is to help Duke researchers connect with public schools. We host an annual event in which school district research directors talk about applying to conduct research in the schools and their priorities for research projects. We try to help researchers think about district leaders as partners in the research process. We also host an annual spring event that highlights the applied research of our students and features a presentation by researcher/policy/practice team.
You stepped up as Director of CCFP in 2019 and then led the Center through the Covid years. What was one of your takeaways from that experience? Covid was a tough time for everybody.
One thing that became clear was that with the right people – kind, considerate, and committed to a shared vision – you can get through anything. Effective teams are the key to a successful, happy work life.
Much of your recent work has been on the BELLA project. Can you share how that work began, what your team has learned, and what’s next for BELLA PD?
We’ve had terrific success with the BELLA Professional Learning Program. BELLA shows positive outcomes for both teachers’ practices and students’ language and literacy growth. Thanks to the amazing BELLA team, and our school partners, we’ve been able to design and evaluate a program to bring together grade-level and English-as-a-Second Language teachers to accelerate language and literacy growth for their multilingual learners. I’ve also started a company (figstar.org) to build a new version of the program and focus on dissemination and scaling.
If you had to choose just one, what is a takeaway from your research that you would want to share?
All children can thrive in a high-quality educational environment.
What’s one of your favorite stories or memories from your years at CCFP?
I always enjoy Erika’s creative Halloween costumes! I hope she’ll come back this year.
What is your favorite children’s book and why?
I have very fond memories of reading to my kids every night – the classics were some of our favorites – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon. The first book I remember reading on my own was Heidi – it’s when I realized that you could learn about new places and people in books – very exciting!
What’s something people might not know about you?
I am an aspiring pickleball player – just need to find the time to learn!
What’s one of your favorite local restaurants and do you have a go to order?
Carrboritos in Carrboro for the tostada.
What is your favorite genre of music, tv, books and/or film? What are you currently listening to, reading, or watching?
I’ve been listening to Taylor Swift lately – enjoying having my daughter living at home for the past six months. I enjoy reading anything by Ann Patchett – I am reading Tom Lake now. I listened to the Dutch House audio book read by Tom Hanks – one of my favorites!