Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. in Risk and Prevention in Education Sciences, University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development, 2007
• Master of Social Work (clinical track with emphasis on children, families and communities), Florida State University School of Social Work, 1991
• B.S. in Social Work (clinical focus), Florida State University School of Social Work, 1990

Research interests

• Systemic influences on early childhood development
• Developing and implementing contextually relevant interventions
• Understanding and shaping equity creating policies and programs

Career highlights

• Advisor for international research with the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank and the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
• Founder and leader of the CASTL Caring Service project
• Nominated for the Casteen Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership award
• Creator of the online Early Childhood Concentration that serves two degree options for future educators

Recent publications/projects

• Lenahan, T., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Chamberlain, C., Williford, A., Whittaker, J., Downer, J., & Miller, L. (in press). Examining the differential relationship between neighborhood opportunity and kindergarten readiness across low & highly segregated school attendance boundaries. Frontiers in Education.
• Wang, S., Hu, B., LoCasale-Crouch, J. (2021). Supportive parenting and social and behavioral development: The moderating role of teacher-child interactions. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 77.
• Moon, R., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Turnbull, K., Colson, E., Kellams, A., Heeren, T., Kerr, S., Hauck, F., & Corwin, M. (2020). Investigating mechanisms for maternal education disparities in enacting health-promoting infant care practices. Academic Pediatrics. 20(7), 926-933.
• LoCasale-Crouch, J., Williford, A., Whittaker, J., DeCoster, J., & Alamos, P. (2018). Does fidelity of implementation account for changes in teacher-child interactions in a randomized control trial of Banking Time? The Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. 11(1), 35-55.

Bio

Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Ph.D. conducts research on the supports and systems that influence children during their early home and school experiences and how we can best enhance those experiences in contextually sensitive and responsive ways, particularly for minoritized children and those from families with limited financial resources. Her areas of expertise include identifying community investments and policies as well as adult beliefs, skills and behaviors that support children’s development, professional development that enables caregivers to engage in more effective interactions, and ways to implement such programs with high degrees of fidelity and quality. In addition to a strong record of dissemination for both research and practice audiences, her work in the design and implementation of early childhood studies considers varying cultural and geographic contexts involving research collaborations across six continents.

Curriculum Vitae