Workshop on Language and Poverty: Home, School, and Society

When & Where

Language Science Center (2130 H.J. Patterson Hall)
Friday, March 10, 2017
9am-5pm, Happy Hour to follow

Description

Children from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds enter school with poorer language skills compared to their higher-SES peers, which has a cascading effect on their success in their later education. This issue has received substantial attention in the media and by policy-makers, and it is now a major national priority to understand the nature of this "achievement gap," what causes it, and what can be done to close it.

The first-ever UMD-internal workshop on Language and Poverty: Home, School, and Society aims to connect researchers from diverse backgrounds who work on issues related to language and literacy development and SES. We have two primary goals: (1) to raise awareness about on-campus research related to family, school, and societal dynamics around SES, and (2) to initiate cross-department conversations and collaborations around these issues. This workshop is co-sponsored by the Language Science Center and the Field Committee in Developmental Science.

Invited speakers include:

Ana Taboada Barber (College of Education: Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education)
Natasha Cabrera (College of Education: Human Development and Quantitative Methodology)
Jan Edwards (Hearing and Speech Sciences, Language Science Center)
Claudia Galindo (College of Education: Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership)
Cecily Hardaway (African American Studies)
Yi Ting Huang (Hearing and Speech Sciences)
Brenda Jones-Harden (College of Education: Human Development and Quantitative Methodology)
Jeffrey Lidz (Linguistics)
Jeff MacSwan (College of Education: Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership)
Sheri Parks (American Studies, ARHU Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming)
Jennifer Turner (College of Education: Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership)
Julie Washington (Communication Sciences and Disorders at Georgia State University)

Lunch and coffee will be provided, with a happy hour to follow.

Program

9:00am Coffee, bagels, registration

9:45am Introduction

10-11am Panel Session 1 on Early Parent-Child Interactions and Language Acquisition: Natasha Cabrera, Brenda Jones-Harden, Jeffrey Lidz

11-11:30am Coffee break

11:30am-12:30pm Panel Session 2 on Home Language, School Language, and the Achievement Gap: Ana Taboada Barber, Jan Edwards, Jeff MacSwan

12:30-2pm Lunch

2-3pm Panel Session 3 on Literacy, Schools, and Society: Cecily Hardaway, Yi Ting Huang, Jennifer Turner

3-3:30pm Coffee break

3:30-4:30pm Breakout sessions on communication with broader audiences: policy makers in education (led by Claudia Galindo), the broader community (Sheri Parks), and families (Julie Washington)

4:30pm Closing statements

5-6pm Happy hour in the LSC