Alice Klein, Ph.D.

Research Biography

Degrees:
Ph.D., 1984, Psychology (Developmental), City Univ. of N.Y., Graduate Center

University Positions:
Assistant Research Psychologist

Honors:
University of California, Berkeley: NICHD Postdoctoral Fellowship

City University of New York, Graduate Center: NIH Predoctoral Traineeship

Rutgers University, Douglass College: B.A. with High Honors in Psychology

Phi Beta Kappa

Role in IHD:
Member, Infant Subject Pool Committee, 1994-95 Member, Getting the Word Out Planning Committee, 1999

Current Work:
The central focus of my research program (with P. Starkey) is to understand how early mathematical thinking develops in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts. In two interrelated sets of studies, we are examining the extent to which young children's early learning environments - the home and the preschool classroom - influence the course of mathematical development in different socioeconomic groups (low- and middle-income families) and in different cultural contexts (China, Japan, and the United States). We have found a significant gap between low-income and middle-income children's mathematical development prior to entry into kindergarten. Our new grant will enable us to examine this gap from a cross-cultural perspective and across a longer age span. We have also developed, implemented, and tested the effectiveness of a research-based pre-kindergarten mathematics curriculum. This curriculum reduces the developmental gap between low- and middle-income children. In a third project, we are studying the effects of an after-school intervention program on the academic (mathematics and reading) development in low-income children in the lower grades of elementary school.

Publications:
2006 Platas, L., Starkey, P., & Klein, A. How do two years of professional development in a preschool math curriculum affect teachers' classroom practices? In F. Lamb-Parker et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Head Start's Eight National Research Conference. Washington, D.C.: Administration for Children and Families.

2005-2006 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. Child Math Assessment, Version 2 (CMA 2.0)©. (Revised version of instrument developed for assessing children's early mathematical knowledge.)

2005a Starkey, P., Klein, A., & Platas, L. Early Mathematics Classroom Observation, Version 3.1 (EMCO 3.1)©.(Revised version of instrument developed for categorizing and measuring mathematics instruction by preschool and kindergarten teachers.)

2005b Starkey, P., Klein, A., Platas, L. Numeracy Environment Checklist, Version 2 (NEC 2.0)©. (Revised version of instrument developed for categorizing and rating mathematics materials in preschool and kindergarten classrooms.)

2004 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. Math Activity Aids. In Opening the World of Learning Program. New York, NY: Pearson Early Learning.

2004 Starkey, P., & Klein, A. A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of a Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics Curriculum on Low-Income Children's Mathematical Knowledge: 2003-04 Annual Report. Report prepared for IES/U.S. Department of Education

2004 Starkey, P., & Klein, A. The Early Development of Mathematical Cognition in Socioeconomic and Cultural Contexts: 2003-04 Annual Report. Report prepared for NSF/Interagency Education Research Initiative.

2004 Starkey, P., Klein, A., Clement, D., & Sarama, J. A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of a Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics Curriculum on Low-Income Children's Mathematical Knowledge. In F. Lamb-Parker et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Head Start's Seventh National Research Conference: Promoting Positive Development in Young Children.

2004 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. Fostering Preschool Children's Mathematical Knowledge: Findings from the Berkeley Math Readiness Project. In D.H. Clements, J. Sarama and A.M. DiBiase (Eds.), Engaging young children in mathematics: Findings of the 2000 national conference on standards for preschool and kindergarten mathematics education. Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum.

2004 Starkey, P., Klein, A., & Wakeley, A. Enhancing young children's mathematical knowledge through a pre-kindergarten mathematics intervention. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 99-120.

2004 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. The Sharing Game. In J.V. Copley (Ed.), Spotlighting Mathematics for the Young Child. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

2004 Klein, A. & Starkey, P. Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics: Pre-K. Glenview, IL: Pearson Scott Foresman.

2002 Klein, A., Starkey, P., & Ramirez, A. (2002). Pre-K mathematics curriculum. Glendale, IL: Scott Foresman.

2002 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. Pre-K mathematics curriculum: Actividades para el hogar. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman. (Spanish supplement to book).

1998 Ginsburg, H. P., Klein, A., & Starkey, P. The development of children's mathematical thinking: From research to practice. In W. Damon, I. Siegel, & A. Renninger (Eds.), Hand-book of Child Psychology, Vol. 4, Child Psychology in Practice, 5th ed. New York: Wiley.

1993 Starkey, P., Klein, A., & Sloane, K. Preparing for the transition to kindergarten: The Head Start Family Math Project. Proceedings of the National Head Start Research Conference: Translating Research into Practice (p.384). Administration for Children, Youth, and Families, Washington, D.C.

1992 Starkey, P., & Klein, A. Economic and cultural influences on early mathematical development. In F. L. Parker, R. Robinson, S. Sombrano, C. Piotrowski, J. Hagen, S. Randolph, and A. Baker (Eds.), New Directions in Child and Family Research: Shaping Head Start in the 90s. New York: National Council of Jewish Women.

1988 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. Universals in the development of early arithmetic cognition. In G.B. Saxe & M. Gearhart (Eds.), New Directions for Child Development, No. 41: Children's mathematics. San Francisco:Jossey- Bass.

1987 Klein, A., & Starkey, P. The origins and development of numerical cognition: A comparative analysis. In J. Sloboda & D. Rogers (Eds.), Cognitive processes in mathematics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ALICE KLEIN Research Biography, 2007