Building Connections and Community
December 16, 2025
As a young person with experience in the foster care system, University of Delaware graduate student William Woelki understands firsthand how important it is to support youth with foster care experience. The instability that youth often face in the foster care system — from access to food, school, housing and …
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Research Spotlight: Elizabeth Farley-Ripple
November 20, 2025
School leaders—like assistant principals, principals and superintendents—often determine how educational research is used in planning, decision-making and implementing initiatives that improve students’ academic or developmental outcomes. Yet, not all education doctorate (Ed.D.) programs—which lead to the highest attainable degree for school leaders—focus on understanding and using research to examine practical …
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Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQ+ Youth
October 10, 2025
During adolescence—a period defined by rapid physical, emotional and social development—LGBTQ+ youth often grapple with the decision to “come out” to their family or friends and disclose their gender and/or sexual identities. As University of Delaware research has shown, many LGBTQ+ young people avoid coming out, fearing rejection, social isolation …
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Research Spotlight: Eric Layland
October 10, 2025
National Coming Out Day continues to be a reminder that LGBTQ+ individuals make a brave decision to disclose their identities to family, friends and community members. Many LGBTQ+ people experience mental health symptoms due to ongoing discrimination, and Delaware adolescents are especially at risk. In one of the first studies …
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Bridging policy and practice
October 2, 2025
As the first doctoral graduate of the University of Delaware’s interdisciplinary education and social policy program, Hojung Lee is setting a powerful example of how rigorous, data-driven research can inform public policy and improve educational outcomes. Now a postdoctoral associate in Rice University’s Department of Sociology, Lee investigates how resource …
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Research Spotlight: Henry May and Sharon Walpole
June 28, 2024
In 2016, Delaware’s Seaford School District adopted the aptly titled Bookworms curriculum, an open access literacy program for students in kindergarten through grade 5 developed by University of Delaware Professor Sharon Walpole. Students’ love of reading grew rapidly, as well as their literacy achievement: the percentage of students achieving proficient …
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In the News: Henry May
October 25, 2023
More than 200 media outlets, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, recently featured the evaluation research of Henry May, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) School of Education and director of CEHD’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy. In his …
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In the News: Roberta Michnick Golinkoff
October 11, 2023
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair and professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) School of Education, discusses her newest project, Stories with Clever Hedgehog, with several news outlets. This website offers free interactive e-books, games and various resources for Ukrainian families and refugees. Golinkoff …
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High Quality Early Care and Education
August 22, 2023
By the end of their first year, an infant’s brain will double in size, and by the age of five, their brain will reach about 90% of its full development. The first five years of a child’s life are a critical time for building the foundations for lifelong academic and …
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In the News: Allison Karpyn on Accessing Healthy Food through WIC
December 12, 2022
Allison Karpyn, associate professor in CEHD’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, offers new insight into how state regulations affect families’ access to healthy food. In “USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Criteria: An Examination of U.S. Administrative Agency Variations,” Karpyn and …
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In the News: Kenneth Shores on federal aid to schools
October 20, 2022
In a new study published in Educational Researcher, Kenneth Shores, assistant professor in CEHD’s School of Education and the Joseph R. Biden Jr., School of Public Policy and Administration, and his co-author Matthew Steinberg of George Mason University, analyzed federal fiscal policy during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. …
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Research Spotlight: Increasing college success with a corequisite approach
September 27, 2022
University of Delaware assistant professor Florence Xiaotao Ran studied students from 13 community colleges affiliated with the Tennessee Board of Regents and found that students placed into corequisite remediation—directly into credit-bearing classes with additional support—were more likely to pass gateway courses in math and English in the first year compared …
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