Hope Gerde

The purpose of this project is to develop and test a professional development program, the Improving Writing Resources and Interactions for Teaching Environments through Professional Development (IWRITE PD), to support preschool teachers' use of writing during instructional activities with the goal of improving children's writing, literacy, and oral language skills. Young children's writing skills are related to their letter knowledge, word recognition, and phonological awareness skills, and...

The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct a program of research to advance knowledge of early writing development and assessment for data informed instructional decision making. Although the ability to express one's thoughts in writing is critical for success in school and life, current approaches to writing instruction are failing our children with only 28% writing proficiently by fourth grade. Children who experience difficulty writing are at risk of school dropout and mental health pro...

The researchers will test the initial efficacy of Early Learning Matters (ELM) for promoting school readiness. In recent years, the need for a research-informed, comprehensive curriculum for early care and education (ECE) settings has become evident. Critically, the existing comprehensive curricula that are most commonly used (e.g., Creative Curriculum, High Scope) either (1) have not been studied rigorously; (2) are expensive, making access a challenge for programs with few resources (e.g.,...