Public seminar on “Learning to Listen to Families: Family Engagement in Urban Schools” co-organised with the Yew Chung Education Foundation.

The Yew Chung Education Foundation and Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association – Hong Kong Chapter (PECERA-HK) co-organized a public seminar on “Learning to Listen to Families: Family Engagement in Urban Schools”.

Dr. Stephanie C. Sanders-Smith is Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and the Yew Chung – Bernard Spodek Scholar in Early Childhood at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her doctor of philosophy in Urban Systems at Rutgers University where she studied urban early childhood programs and systemic barriers to quality education for young children. Prior to joining the faculty at UIUC, she was Clinical Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. While at UF, she oversaw the implementation of the Florida Master Teacher Initiative, program designed to build capacity among early childhood teachers in high need schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Dr. Sanders-Smith’s research in early childhood education and related policies has focused on effective pedagogies for young children and appropriate family engagement strategies for high need families. Research in both of these areas drives the early childhood teacher education program at UIUC, which Dr. Sanders-Smith directs. Dr. Sanders-Smith has also developed professional development sessions for teachers based in her research, as well as disseminating through conference presentations and journal articles. Dr. Sanders-Smith’s book on examining pedagogy in a high need preschool in Chicago, entitled Against Race- and Class-Based Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education, was released by Palgrave Macmillan in October, 2015.