Stephanie Curenton
Director, Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED)
Professor
Dr. Stephanie M. Curenton is a professor in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies department at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and the director of the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED). She is also a senior fellow at the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child and is a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute.
She is a developmental and community psychologist who studies the social, cognitive, and language development of racially and linguistically marginalized children within various ecological contexts, such as parent-child interactions, early childhood care and education, professional development interventions for the early childhood workforce, and related state and federal policies designed to promote the positive development and health of young children.
Dr. Curenton has received national policy fellowships from several organizations, including the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Black Child Development Institute. She has worked as a research policy fellow in the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care, and has served on the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care. She previously served on the boards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and local Head Start programs. She currently serves on the leadership council for the Center on Early Childhood at Stanford University.
Dr. Curenton’s research has been funded by the HHS Office of Program Research and Evaluation (OPRE), the National Academy of Science Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, American Education Research Association–National Science Foundation (AERA-NSF), the Foundation for Child Development, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Imaginable Futures, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She was an associate editor for Early Education and Development and Early Childhood Research Quarterly, and now serves as an associate editor for Child Development.
Recent News
- Scholarly Accomplishments April 2025
- BU Wheelock Scholarly Accomplishments March 2025
- Investing in Early Education
- Teaching Racial Justice in Early Childhood Settings
- Shaking Up The System
- Three BU Wheelock Faculty Promoted to Full Professor
- Stephanie Curenton Joins Board of Massachusetts DEEC
- Supporting Antibias Education
- Partnership to Prepare Doctoral Students in Special Education and School Psychology
- New Center Supports Racial Justice and Equity for Children
In the Media
Education
PhD, Developmental and Community Psychology, University of Virginia
MA, Developmental Psychology, University of Virginia
BA, Psychology, Wittenberg University
Selected Publications
Chaparro-Moreno, L. J., Uanhoro, J. O., Curenton, S. M., & Justice, L. M. (2025). A 5-year longitudinal study of bilinguals’ vocabulary growth and the role of the prekindergarten home language and literacy environments. Journal of Educational Psychology, 117(3), 361–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000907
Ibekwe-Okafor, N., Sims, J., Liu, S., Curenton-Jolly, S., Iruka, I., Escayg, K.-A., Bruno, B., & Fisher, P. (2025). Examining the relationship between discrimination, access to material resources, and black children’s behavioral functioning during COVID-19. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.09.005
Curenton, S. M., Iruka, I. U., Sims, J., & Ibekwe-Okafor, N. (2024). Introduction to the supplemental issue: Advancing developmental science on the impact of racism in the early years. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.06.001
Curenton, S. M., Escayg, K.-A., Granda, C., House, S., Bolan, T., Sims, J., & Ibekwe-Okafor, N. (2024). Black families’ social and cultural capital during covid: Families talk about coping and supports. The Educational Forum, 88(4), 458–476. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2024.2383135
Liu, S., Curenton, S. M., Sims, J., & Fisher, P. A. (2024). The promotive and protective effects of parents’ perceived changes during the covid-19 pandemic on emotional well-being among U.S. households with young children: An investigation of family resilience processes. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1270514
Iruka, I.U., Curenton, S.M., Durden, T., & Escayg, K. (2019). Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.
Schilder, D., Curenton, S.M., & Broadstone, M. (2019). Special Issue: Early Care and Education Collaboration. D. Schilder, S. M. Curenton, & M. Broadstone (Eds.), Early Education and Development, 30(8).
Iruka, I.U., Curenton, S.M., Sims, J., Blithe, K., & Gardner, S. (2019). Factors associated with early school readiness profiles for Black girls. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 215-228.
Curenton, S.M., Iruka, I.U., Humphries, M., Jensen, M., Durden, T., Rochester, S.E.*, Sims, J*., Whittaker, J., & Kinzie, M. (2019). Validity for the Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES) in Early Childhood Classrooms. Early Education and Development, DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2019.1611331
Curenton, S. M., Sims, J.*, Rochster*, S. E., & Gardner, S. L*. (2019). The Conversation Compass Communication Screener-Revised. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 47, 182-193. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.10.013
Selected Presentations
Cook, K. D., Curenton, S. M., Nazaire, O., Babrow, D., Haas, C., & Moran, S. (2024, April 12). Centering equity in the planning and implementation of universal pre-kindergarten. Paper presented at Understanding the use and impact of public funding in early childhood education, 2024 AERA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. https://doi.org/10.3102/2097511