Stephanie Curenton, Ph.D. is a tenured associate professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and the Director of the Ecology of School Readiness Lab. She studies the social, cognitive, and language development of low-income and minority children within various ecological contexts, such as parent-child interactions, early childhood education programs, early childhood workforce programs, and related state and federal policies.
IOC: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
SC: My background is in developmental psychology, and my research area is early childhood education. I’ve studied everything early childhood education-related, from literacy development to education equity and health equity for young children and how that relates to their school readiness.
I have several projects that investigate this—one thinks about classroom instructional practices, and how that relates to children’s school readiness. I also partner with a colleague at the University of Pittsburgh, with whom I’m doing a school-based literacy study that looks at how you foster a reading achievement within a school and how the community and family can support that.
The reason I became interested in the Initiative on Cities is because before coming to BU, I was in the [Bloustein] School of Planning and Public Policy [at Rutgers University]. When I worked in the Bloustein School, many of my colleagues were urban planners. So I became familiar with the field and discipline of urban planning. I became interested in the idea of urban spaces and the complexity around issues in that area, especially as it relates to education and young children’s development. When I came to BU and learned about the Initiative on Cities, it reminded me of the place I came from and I wanted to be a part of it.
What projects are you currently working on? Do you mind expanding on the Ecology of School Readiness Lab?
There are four projects from the Ecology of School Readiness Lab I want to highlight—one is called the Conversation Compass Project, which looks at classroom conversations and how those conversations can be related to children’s early literacy skills and development. The second is called the Access Project, and it looks at teachers’ instructional practices around what we call equitable social interactions. We also have the study [with my colleague from University of Pittsburgh], called the 3 R’s study, which stands for “Reading, Relationships, and Racial equity.”
What do you think are the most common problems facing children growing up in an urban environment, or problems in early childhood education and literacy that emerge in the urban space?
Some of the education problems that are facing young children in urban environments is access to high-quality early care and education services within cities and even across the greater metro areas, like the suburbs. Even if there are centers and family child care homes within the city that can serve families, they are either low quality or too expensive for the average low income family to afford. The second problem, once you get to K-12, is the quality of public schools. Of course, that’s an overgeneralization, because there are some very fine urban schools across the country. But for the most part, not enough resources and funding are put into these K-12 schools. When we look at national data around urban schools in the U.S., the schools tend to be more poorly funded and have less economic diversity.
There are other issues too, particularly regarding housing and the lack of high-quality, affordable housing that is safe for children and families, especially younger children. Not to mention problems like [exposure to] environmental pollutants and difficulties with transportation, all of which are facing young children in urban environments.
These issues are especially critical to think about with young children, because developmentally they’re more vulnerable due to their rapid rate of growth and development during the years from birth to age 8. Because they are growing so rapidly it makes them more vulnerable than adults, teenagers, and even children within the middle childhood period (age 9-12).
Do you think the policy solutions to these issues come from the local level, or need to be addressed by state and federal policy?
I think that, like all policymaking, it needs to happen at all levels. Of course, you need federal and state initiatives that are focused on cities, but you also need strong locally-generated initiatives. The American system of government is set up so we have federal, state, and local policymaking institutions working in tandem. So if we want to address urban problems, we have to think about these three tiers of policymaking can all work together to solve problems.
Do you have any children of your own? How did becoming a mother change your perspective or impact your research?
Yes, I do.
I’m African American, my children are African American, and my husband is a naturalized citizen from Jamaica. We are a bicultural, immigrant middle-class Black family [living in the suburbs of Boston]. Having children made me think more about the lived experience of middle-class African American children living in and attending schools in suburban environments. It’s made me more curious, and I’ve started to think about different research questions regarding this group of children. And as I learn more, I realize we have a significant portion of our Black/African American children and families actually living in the suburbs. There is growing diversity in the suburbs, particularly with immigrants and Black/African American populations who have chosen to leave the city or are being pushed out by gentrification. Learning this has been fascinating to me, and it has started to shape my research questions and framework.
From a student’s perspective, what’s the best way for undergraduate students to engage with their city on these childhood education and literacy issues? How could they got more involved to learn more about your field of work?
The Wheelock College is going to invest in creating an early childhood research and policy center that I will be the director of, and through that, I will continue to have research opportunities for undergraduates through the [Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program]. Since coming to BU since 2016, I’ve probably had about ten undergraduates who worked on projects in my lab. As we open the center and continue to grow, with more faculty getting involved, I will be looking for opportunities to invite more students to work on this kind of research and with more faculty members.
I actually love working with [BU] students! We have a really vibrant lab in our Ecology of School Readiness Lab, and students get a great experience. They usually stay with me for a couple years, not just one semester. I would love to meet more students and get them involved, and I think the UROP program is a really great way to do that. I also really hope we look for more opportunities across the university to engage students of color in research opportunities, and I hope to partner with the UROP in the future about ways that we can do that.
What’s your favorite thing about Boston?
I actually like the size of Boston because it’s a small city. I feel very comfortable. It still feels homey to me. In particular, one of my favorite things to do is go to the restaurant at the top of the Prudential Center. I love going there and looking out and seeing the whole city.
Finally, people are going to laugh at me, but I have to say, I like our commuter rail system. I take the commuter rail into work everyday, and I find it to be a reliable, clean and easy commute for me. Mind you, I’m taking the commuter rail…
What’s your favorite city?
My favorite city is actually Granada, Spain. I never like the biggest city anywhere—in the U.S., I don’t like New York City or Los Angeles. When I lived in Spain, I didn’t like Madrid. But when we went to Granada, I had that homey feeling. That was the first time in my study abroad trip that I started to wonder, “Can I move to Spain to live?” The landscape, history, and blending of North African, Spanish, and old Moorish culture is so beautiful. It is by far my favorite city in the world.