IHD People & News
The Early Learning Science & Child Policy Certificate
Karina Du is currently pursuing her PhD in special education and will be one of the first students to complete the Transdisciplinary Early Learning Science & Child Policy Certificate, a joint program from the Institute of Human Development and the Goldman School of Public Policy. Her interest in working more on teacher training, research and policy was inspired from her work as a classroom teacher.
“My transition stems from the recognition that I needed to shift my focus from classroom-level support into thinking more about systems and policies,” she said. “Research and policy on inclusion have been around for decades, but little has changed in implementation. A lot of the challenges I was seeing and experiencing on the ground stemmed from structures that were out of my classroom control. For example, I couldn't place my kiddos in inclusive settings, if that setting wasn't offered in my school or district. Teachers can’t be expected to support children with disabilities if they aren't offered adequate training and administrative support. I knew I needed to learn more about how organizations function and how policy decisions are made to identify effective solutions or new practices in collaboration with those most impacted.”
With Karina’s background in early childhood education, BA in psychology and sociology, MA and teaching credential in special education, the Transdisciplinary Early Learning Science and Child Policy Certificate was a perfect match for her interests. “With all of the new early education policy changes, including expansion of universal preschool and focus on equity and inclusion, it has been invaluable to engage in coursework and opportunities to learn from multiple perspectives and collaborate with students and faculty across disciplines,” she said.
Early childhood is both effective and efficient as a point of early intervention; children’s trajectories of health and well-being can be improved dramatically, at a relatively lower cost, for their lifetime outcomes. The Transdisciplinary Early Learning Science & Child Policy Graduate Certificate enriches students' area of study and gives them hands-on skills for working with or on behalf of young children.
“We know that those first few years of early learning are foundational for development, and families and communities are such a critical component of the process,” Karina said. “I love partnering and working alongside families and communities to contextualize learning in ways that are responsive and nurturing to these relationships!”
While the importance of early childhood has been more and more clearly identified, it can be difficult for professionals to impact the field and their own communities. This focus on early childhood policy helps students build the essential knowledge and skills needed to connect science to policy, and to make impacts that will last a lifetime.
Students can work towards solving complex problems that they are inspired to address. Karina is leveraging the work in the program with her current position.
“I currently work for the San Mateo County Office of Education as a project specialist supporting districts’ efforts to expand their continuum of early childhood special education services,” she said. “I primarily work with teachers to train and coach teachers on inclusive practices, and work with program leaders to build out collaboration across systems. In this role, I am constantly learning about new policy changes and research within early education and special education to support practice in a way that is localized, relevant, and applicable to our teachers and administrators. It is exciting to be a part of the development and conversations regarding implementation on a county level and to see/experience firsthand how we are planning, responding, evaluating, and problem-solving around new policies! My studies and coursework within TELS&CP have really gone hand-in-hand with this work by supporting me to develop theoretical and research-based knowledge, and analytic skills in understanding the mechanisms of policy and decision-making.”
Karina demonstrates both the importance and relevance of the program to current or aspiring professionals working in the field. While she is sure that her career path will continue with education, she is undecided about exactly which route it will take:
“Whether I engage in research, policy, or practice, (or maybe all of the above!) I want to ensure that my work is always done in collaboration with those in our community and grounded in the experiences of children, families, and teachers, including those who may hold intersecting identities,” she said.”
We are excited to see how Karina impacts the field, and are supporting her mission and aspirations. To become a student in the TELS&CP program, more information can be found on our website at ihd.berkeley.edu.
Posted on September 6, 2023
GSPP, IHD Launch Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood
In partnership with UC Berkeley’s Institute of Human Development (IHD), the Goldman School of Public Policy announces the launch of the Early Learning Science and Child Policy Graduate Certificate. The certificate will prepare UC Berkeley graduate students to leverage the latest research in early childhood to inform practices, policies, and interventions to address challenges facing children and their families. The certificate is funded through the Early Childhood Policy in Institutions of Higher Education (ECPIHE) Initiative, which selected UC Berkeley as one of five U.S. research universities to develop a graduate program to train the experts needed for this exciting and burgeoning policy area.
“New research shows definitively that early experiences can have long-lasting and wide-ranging effects on children’s learning and development and their health and happiness as adults,” said Professor of Psychology Alison Gopnik. “This certificate will help connect UC Berkeley's research rigor and public-service orientation to the emerging field of early childhood policy.”
Recent scientific advances have underscored the critical learning and development that happens in a child’s first eight years. Promoting healthy learning and development early in a child’s life can positively impact that child’s life trajectory and provide an excellent return on investment for society. This understanding has spurred a dramatic increase in public investment. For example, California’s 2022-23 budget allots $12 billion for child-care and preschool programs. With this investment comes an increased need for researchers and practitioners who will help create and implement coordinated, effective, and equitable policies, practices, and infrastructure that support children birth-through-8-years-old.
Berkeley graduate students enrolled in the certificate program will work in transdisciplinary teams to develop, analyze, and advocate for policies that benefit young children and their families. This interdisciplinary and collaborative research will integrate policy and developmental science with the complexity of influences and interactions experienced by young children in their diverse contexts.
“There’s incredible work being done at UC-Berkeley about how to support our youngest children’s learning and well-being,” said Public Policy Professor Rucker C. Johnson. “This is our opportunity to bring the latest research from across campus—together with the best people—to develop policies that meaningfully address the vexing challenges of unequal opportunity facing young children today.”
“We are proud to collaborate with IHD and to be one of the few universities chosen to develop this innovative program,” said Goldman School Dean David C. Wilson. “The graduate students trained by this initiative will use cutting-edge science to inform how we create the most effective policies for our children. This kind of strategic, evidence-based innovation is the heart of what the Goldman School is all about.”
To pursue the certificate, Berkeley graduate students complete a minimum of three courses and an early childhood policy internship. The courses include the early childhood policy seminar (EDUC264), as well as two approved electives from public policy, education, public health, psychology, or social welfare. In addition, graduate students complete a 150-hour early childhood policy internship in the community.
“An essential part of learning how to improve (and evaluate) policies that impact young children is gaining a broader understanding of scientific advances—not only about learning and development but also about the role of social learning and social contexts that can promote positive developmental trajectories and how to leverage these insights in ways that can be implemented in our neighborhoods and preschools,” said Dr. Ron Dahl, Director of the Institute of Human Development and Professor in Public Health.
Graduate students from across the UC Berkeley campus whose career pursuits pertain to early childhood and the application of developmental science are encouraged to enroll.
Read more about the Early Learning Science and Child Policy Graduate Certificate on the IHD website.
Posted on January 12, 2023
Responsible Fatherhood Programs: Children Benefit from a More Integrated Family Approach
There is an exciting new policy brief on father involved interventions from IHD Faculty Members Carolyn Pape Cowan and Philip Cowan
Posted on September 20, 2022
OPINION: Let’s figure out a new way to talk about early childhood education so we can fix it
To win broader support, we need our language to reflect current developmental science
We are excited to share that Kelly Campbell, a faculty member of The Developing Child summer Minor at UC Berkeley, recently published an essay in The Hechinger Report! In this op-ed, Kelly outlines the limitations of outdated terminology in the ECE field and calls for language that reflects current developmental science. She contends that a clear, compelling framing of the crucial work serving children and families during the first five years of life could help win needed support from the public and policy makers in the US. As our own high-quality Early Childhood Education Programs (ECEP) at UC Berkeley demonstrate, childcare is much more than "babysitting."
Link to the article is below.
OPINION: Let’s figure out a new way to talk about early childhood education so we can fix it »
Posted on December 9, 2021
Susan Ervin-Tripp, pioneering psycholinguist and feminist, dies at 91
Susan Ervin-Tripp, a psycholinguist acclaimed for her pioneering studies of bilingualism and language development in children, native Americans and immigrants, died earlier this month in Oakland from complications of an infected cut. She was 91.
A widely cherished UC Berkeley professor emerita of psychology and an early advocate for gender equity in academia, Ervin-Tripp remained intellectually, socially and politically active after she retired in 1999, and right up until her death on Nov. 13.
Among other notable achievements, Ervin-Tripp, a 1974 Guggenheim fellow, discovered that people’s mindsets can change depending on the language they are speaking, providing new insights into the cognitive psychology of bilingualism.
“She was a pathbreaker, embracing new directions in the study of first-language acquisition as well as bilingualism,” said UC Berkeley psychology professor emeritus Dan Slobin. “In addition to groundbreaking scholarly work, she focused on the treatment of women and minorities, yet always using her psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic skills to provide a scientific foundation to her advocacy.”
Ann Kring, UC Berkeley chair of psychology, recalls how Ervin-Tripp’s steadfast activism led to the 1971 creation of the Academic Senate’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women, which later became the Committee on the Status of Women and Ethnic Minorities, of which she served as chair.
“This, along with actions by Sue and many other women on campus, led to significant increases in hiring of women faculty and movement toward pay equity between male and female faculty members,” Kring said. “She was a beloved member of the department, never shy to express her views but also keen to listen and understand others. She will be missed.”
Ervin-Tripp’s husband of 54 years, Robert Tripp, is a professor emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Groundbreaking research
Her efforts paid off. In a 1964 experiment, she showed a series of illustrations to bilingual French adults living in the United States and asked them to invent a three-minute story for each image. In describing each scene, the storytellers emphasized certain interpersonal dynamics in English and entirely different ones in French.
In a 1968 experiment of Japanese women married to American men in San Francisco, she found that the wives’ answers differed dramatically depending on the language in which the questions were asked. The results suggest human thought and feeling is expressed within language mindsets.
In 1975, Ervin-Tripp secured a faculty position in the psychology department, where she focused on early language development in mono- and bilingual children.
As her own children grew older, their language acquisition, jokes and insults became material for her research papers. She made presentations on such topics as “Gender differences in the construction of humorous talk,” “It was hecka funny: Some features of children’s conversational development” and “Risky laughter: Teasing and self-directed joking among male and female friends.”
Among other honors, she received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1974 and a Cattel fellowship in psychology in 1985. She was also a dedicated research psychologist in the Institute of Human Development and the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences. In 2000, she served as president of the International Pragmatics Association.
In her 70s, Ervin-Tripp acknowledged that she was slowing down physically, and so would give her beloved downhill skiing one last go.
“It was apparent it might be necessary to stop because of arthritis, so I thought I would really enjoy that run,” she wrote in an email to her family. “Because at my age anything you like to do may suddenly be unavailable. But it is not sad. It just means enjoy. It’s like mindfulness training.”
That combination of tenacity, resilience and cheerful optimism is what made Ervin-Tripp so remarkable, family members said.
“She never fully accepted slowing down with age and had a fire of curiosity until the very end that she shared with everyone whose life touched hers,” said her daughter, Katya Tripp. “The intensity of the light of who she was is irreplaceable, and we miss her terribly.”
Ervin-Tripp is survived by her husband, Robert Tripp, of Berkeley; sons, Alexander Tripp of New York, and Nico Tripcevich, of Berkeley; daughter, Katya Tripp of Portland, Oregon; daughters-in-law Suzanne Murray and Cheyla Samuelson; and granddaughters Clara Tripp, Iva Borrello and Sofia Tripcevich.
A campus memorial to celebrate the life and legacy of Ervin-Tripp will be held in the spring. For more details about the event, email ervin.tripp.memorial@gmail.com
Posted on November 30, 2018