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June 18, 2024

OU Names New Director of the Early Childhood Education Institute

The University of Oklahoma Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI) on the Tulsa campus has announced the appointment of Kathleen Gallagher, Ph.D. as the new director, pending OU Board of Regents’ approval and effective Aug. 1, 2024. Gallagher will replace long-time ECEI founder and director Diane Horm, Ph.D., after her retirement in Dec. 2024.

“We extend our warmest welcome to Dr. Kathleen Gallagher as she joins the University of Oklahoma,” said Stacy Reeder, Ph.D., dean of the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education. “The Early Childhood Education Institute is incredibly valuable to the college and to early childhood education research in the state and beyond. With her deep understanding of this vitally important work, Dr. Gallagher is well prepared to carry on the research the ECEI has expertly championed. Dr. Gallagher’s experience and expertise will surely continue to elevate the mission of the ECEI into this next chapter and beyond, building on the legacy established by Dr. Horm.”

The search committee, comprising seven faculty members from the Norman and Tulsa campuses of the College of Education, embarked on a meticulous process to identify and recruit esteemed scholars in the field of early childhood research. With a keen focus on candidates possessing a track record of securing national grants or directing research centers, the committee curated a list of prominent researchers.

After a broad recruitment process and rigorous screening, finalists participated in on-site three-day interview processes. This comprehensive evaluation encompassed dedicated sessions at OU-Tulsa, the ECEI, community partners and the OU Norman campus. Recognizing the importance of garnering diverse perspectives, the committee actively solicited feedback from all college of education constituencies and community partners, ensuring a well-informed and inclusive decision-making process. This approach underscores the college's commitment to excellence and its dedication to fostering collaborative relationships within the broader educational ecosystem.

Gallagher comes to OU from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska, where she has served as director of research and evaluation since 2018. Gallagher also served as endowed chair and professor of education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and holds courtesy appointments in developmental psychology (University of Nebraska Omaha) and children, youth and family studies (University of Nebraska Lincoln). Her work focuses on developing applied research and evaluation studies involving children from birth through grade three, their families, and the early childhood professionals who care for and teach young children. Prior to the University of Nebraska, Gallagher served as a research scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she also taught in the school of education. Gallagher has more than 30 years of experience as an early childhood professional and educational psychologist.

An active and accomplished scholar of early childhood education best practices, Gallagher has published several book chapters and scores of articles in leading academic journals in her field. She has also presented widely at numerous highly regarded national and international conferences. She has served on the editorial boards of several scholarly publications including Early Childhood Research Quarterly and the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. Gallagher’s research has been widely funded by state and federal governmental agencies as well as private foundations, having received nearly $25 million in grants.

Gallagher has taught at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels on subjects such as child development and family studies, curriculum and instruction, and social relationships and developmental competence. Serving as a mentor for others, she serves as a peer reviewer for dozens of publications in the education sector.

Diane Horm, the current George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair and founding director of the ECEI, said that she is extremely comfortable with Gallagher coming on board as her successor. “Dr. Gallagher has deep knowledge of early childhood content, experience working in early childhood programs, applied research expertise that aligns with the ECEI’s mission and vision, and experience at two other top-notch university-affiliated early childhood research groups. This combination of background experiences uniquely qualifies her to take over leadership of the ECEI. I feel confident that she will excel as she builds on the ECEI’s capacities to continue its growth and foster its prominence as a national leader in ECE research.”

Gallagher earned a bachelor of arts in education/special education (early childhood) from Cardinal Stritch University and a master of arts degree in education policy/foundations from Marquette University. She also attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology/human development.

May 29, 2024

University of Oklahoma to Evaluate $36M Federal Grant to Strengthen State’s Early Childhood Systems

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Oklahoma has received a portion of a $36 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate strategies designed to strengthen educational support for Oklahoma’s children, ages birth through five years. Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services, in collaboration with the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness, was awarded this three-year grant and has contracted with OU researchers to lead the evaluation component.

“We look forward to once again working with the research teams from OU,” said Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness Executive Director Carrie Williams. “Their level of knowledge and expertise on the topic of early childhood care and education, or ECCE, makes OU the logical and best choice to evaluate the work we will be doing to improve systems and outcomes that will benefit Oklahoma’s children and families through this federal grant.”

The OU team leading the evaluation includes Erin Maher, Ph.D., Diane Horm, Ph.D., and David McLeod, Ph.D., MSW. They will focus on three areas of evaluation of ECCE strategies: community engagement, workforce development and quality enhancement. OU’s Educational Training, Evaluation, Assessment & Measurement research group will also support the endeavor with project management and data collection.

According to Horm, this research is especially important in Oklahoma because access to high-quality early childhood services is good for all children and particularly good for children who are considered at risk for a variety of reasons – including identified disabilities or living in minority or underrepresented communities. Oklahoma has a particularly high percentage of children considered at risk for school failure.

“Our state ranks low in indicators of health and education and has a high number of children growing up in poverty,” Horm said. “We also have a high number of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. These are things like abuse or neglect, homelessness or witnessing violence in the home. High ACE scores are one reason that Oklahoma needs support for children ages birth to five years.”

The results of this project could be significant, potentially improving the education and overall quality of life for children in Oklahoma, who demonstrate among the highest ACE scores in the country.

“There’s a constellation of factors that contribute to the trauma Oklahoma’s children endure. But this doesn’t have to be a sentence for a horrible life,” McLeod said. “How we engage in the education process is a major way to mitigate this trauma, and ages birth to five is a great time to give children support and to help their helpers. We must multiply our efforts and get other helping professionals trained in high-value, evidence-based activities to improve overall quality of life and dramatically help more children.”

Prior research published by Horm and OU’s Early Childhood Education Institute indicates that the earlier a child enters a high-quality early education program, the more likely they are to achieve at higher levels through the third grade than their community peers who did not have access to high-quality early childhood education and care birth through ages four or five. 

“It used to be that getting a head start on kindergarten entry meant enrolling four-year-olds,” Horm said. Over time, we learned that four was too late, so we started looking at three-year-olds. Now we know that if you really want to impact a child’s development trajectory, they need to start as infants.”

Oklahoma pioneered access to high-quality ECCE through its universal pre-K program, which more than 80% of all children now attend. This program's success has bipartisan support and has been proven successful in research by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman.

“Beyond that, Oklahoma has determined that access to affordable, high-quality childcare also supports parent employment,” Maher said. “If we want to grow economically as a state, access to high-quality ECCE provides a huge return on investment. This is especially true for rural and high-need communities.”

A particular high-need community is already being served by the University of Oklahoma’s Parent-Child Assistance Program, or PCAP. Overseen by Erin Maher, this program benefits the well-being of Oklahoma Children, birth to age five, who were exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb.

“The state of Oklahoma has identified the need to support vulnerable families and families affected by substance use disorders. These are the very families that PCAP helps and that, together with high-quality ECCE programs, can make a profound influence on child well-being,” Maher said.

This collaboration between OPSR and OU is mutually beneficial because the need for social program evaluation is so great. Partnerships with OU help meet that demand and also provide opportunities to train younger faculty to do this work.

“Projects like this are great for us, as senior faculty members, to mentor early-career and mid-career faculty while also building expertise and capacity to take on important work for the state of Oklahoma,” McLeod said. “They also allow us to connect our scholars with the organizations and agencies that have the biggest impact on the future of Oklahoma.

At the end of the three-year grant, these researchers have high expectations that they can document improvements that help support and sustain high-quality ECCE programs. These federal awards come with evaluation requirements for accountability, improvement and sustainability purposes.

“Much like healthcare, education is holistic, and ECCE programs set people up for success. My hope is that we can establish and embolden a strong early childhood system that can have a positive impact on child development, family functioning and our economy,” McLeod said. “This is something our state desperately needs, especially in rural and low-income communities across Oklahoma.”

Maher added, “These findings will also be useful for our state legislators to ensure high-quality ECCE is available and accessible to all families.”

Learn more about the DHS Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five Renewal grant and the University of Oklahoma’s Early Childhood Education Institute and the Oklahoma Parent-Child Assistance Project.

About the project

Through this grant, which was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Child Care, Administration for Children and Families, the state of Oklahoma will receive $12 million per year for three years 2023-2025. Erin Maher is an associate professor of sociology and senior associate director of OU’s Data Institute for Societal Challenges. Diane Horm is the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education and Founding Director of the Early Childhood Education Institute. David McLeod is a professor and interim director of OU’s Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work.

March 2024

Avoiding the Opportunity Gap

An OU-Tulsa study breaks through years of uncertainty to prove that early childhood education has long-lasting effects

For decades, researchers in the field of early childhood education have known that high-quality pre-K starting at age 4 can close the "opportunity gap" for children growing up in low-resource contexts, helping them enter kindergarten with academic readiness similar to their more privileged peers. But questions remained: Does early childhood education—or ECEI—starting at younger ages provide benefits as well? And do these effects last, or do they "fade out" as elementary school progresses?

Now, a groundbreaking, long-term study by the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa's Early Childhood Education Institute in partnership with Tulsa Educare shows strong evidence that these academic advantages persist at least through the end of third grade.

Read the full Sooner Magazine article here.

October 30, 2023

University of Oklahoma Faculty Receive $1.8 Million Grant from Environmental Protection Agency to Study Children’s Health Related to Chemical Exposures

OU researchers have received a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a research center to address children’s cumulative health impacts from agricultural and non-chemical exposures. This grant will create the Children’s Environmental Health Center in the U.S. Southern Great Plains, which includes Oklahoma and Texas. The Center will focus on mitigating the chemical and non-chemical stressors that affect school absenteeism caused by gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.

This collaborative center will be under the direction of Changjie Cai, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health in the Hudson College of Public Health on OU’s Health Sciences Center campus; Diane Horm, Ph.D., director of the Early Childhood Education Institute at OU-Tulsa; and Dan Li, Ph.D. from the University of North Texas College of Education.

Research has shown that children in underserved, rural, and agricultural communities face increased health risks due to the combination of agricultural pollutants in the air, water, and soil, as well as non-chemical stressors such as poverty and limited access to health services. This project addresses an urgent need to investigate the cumulative health impacts of chemical and non-chemical exposures for children in these communities to help keep children healthy.

“Our team will investigate the cumulative health impacts of early exposure to pollutants and the added effect of non-chemical stressors among children in these communities across the United States,” Cai said. “The goal of the Center is to reduce the environmental health disparities and promote environmental justice for children living in underserved, rural agricultural communities.”

Through a multidisciplinary approach, the center will use techniques such as low-cost sensors, satellite observations, air quality modeling and more to establish and evaluate impact assessments. Utilizing those results, affordable interventions will be assessed to reduce school absenteeism and address health disparities.

“At the Early Childhood Education Institute, it has always been our goal to advance and support access and opportunity for all children through research,” Horm said. “The opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Cai, Dr. Li, and others on this grant to establish the Children’s Health and Social Vulnerability Index (CHS) will allow us to better assess children’s health disparities in rural schools.”

The CHS will be stakeholder-and data-driven and will focus on children’s health disparities in rural school systems and focus on chemical and non-chemical stressors that lead to absenteeism in school due to gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.

This research grant is part of EPA’s larger effort to advance children’s environmental health and environmental justice by effectively reducing early childhood and lifetime health disparities in these communities. 

“This collaboration of OU researchers from various disciplines highlights OU’s commitment to supporting our faculty researchers so that they can deliver science-based recommendations to improve the lives of our youngest learners,” said Darrin Akins, vice president for research at the OU Health Sciences Center. “This research will have a strong focus on chemical and non-chemical environmental stressors that children in the Southern Great Plains face every day.”

April 2023

Horm recognized for contributions to education field

ECEI Director Dr. Diane Horm received the Distinguished Contribution to Research Award from the Early Education and Child Development Special Interest Group (EE/CD SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). This award is given annually and recognizes an individual who has contributed nationally and internationally to the field of early education and child development.

“Under Horm’s innovative leadership, the ECEI has gone from an idea to a visible, viable research group employing more than 30 people, and engaging in cutting edge early childhood research, grants, and publications,” said Myae Han, past chair of the EE/CD SIG. “Perhaps the most important impact that Diane has had on the field of early education and child development has been through her mentorship of students and newer colleagues as well as her ability to collaborate with others in the field.”

Diane was presented her award during the AERA annual meeting in Chicago in April 2023. Congratulations!

January 9, 2023

ECEI's latest publication featured in Tulsa World

We’re pleased to announce that “Kindergarten through Grade 3 Outcomes Associated with Participation in High-Quality Early Care and Education: A RCT Follow-Up Study” was featured in the Tulsa World on January 9, 2023. The Tulsa Educare Follow Up Study provides some answers about the impacts of a high-quality early childhood education program starting in infancy. Read the full article here. 

Congratulations to our researchers who led the study and conducted analyses of the study results — Dr. Diane Horm, Dr. Shinyoung Jeon, Moira Clavijo and Melissa Acton. Thanks to George Kaiser Family Foundation and our partners at Tulsa Educare for their support of this project. OU-Tulsa OU Education.