September - October 2020

From the Director

Dear Readers,

It’s been a busy fall semester in CCFP! We’ve hosted two very successful lectures so far and have several more in the coming weeks. In case you missed them, you can find the slides for the session with Jordan Conwell on Race, Income, and Parental Spending on Children’s Care and Education here and the lecture by Diane Schanzenbach’s on How We Are Underinvesting in Kids (and what we can do about it) here.

The 2020 Color of Education Virtual Summit concludes this week with a session on Tuesday called Racial (In)Equity in North Carolina Schools. These sessions have been a wonderful opportunity to hear about big issues in education and what we can do to address them. Thank you to all the CCFP researchers, staff, and students who have volunteered for these events.

In this issue of our newsletter, we are featuring Christina Gibson-Davis’ research on racial inequalities in wealth as part of our ongoing commitment to highlighting research on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Also in this issue,you will find a roundup of new research, media highlights, and information about a new book edited by Jennifer Lansford called Families and Social Change in the Gulf Region.

Finally, please join us for our next two speaker events featuring Boston University Associate Professor Stephanie Curenton, as part of our Early Childhood Initiative series, on Thursday, October 29 at 12:30pm ET, and Raj Chetty, Harvard economist, who will deliver our next Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture on December 8 at 5:30 pm ET. More information on both talks and links to register are included below.

I hope you and your families are staying safe and healthy!

Warm regards,
Leslie

New Research

A Simple Enrollment Change Boosts Parent Participation in Children’s Early Learning Program: Researchers know that texting programs aimed at parents of young children can greatly benefit young children’s literacy. Now, new research from Lisa Gennetian shows that parents’ participation in such programs can be boosted exponentially with one simple tweak: automatic enrollment, combined with the ability to opt out. Read more.

Charter Schools and Segregation Impacts: A new study from Helen "Sunny" Ladd and PhD candidate Mavzuna Turaeva reveals that the transfer of white students from traditional public schools to charter schools increases racial segregation between schools. “We find that by switching to charter schools that are whiter than the traditional public schools they leave behind, white switchers contribute to racial segregation across schools,” they write. Read more.

Forty Years of Gun Violence Research: Philip Cook was awarded the 2020 Stockholm Prize for his more than 40 years of gun violence research. In this article, he considers three issues that have shaped his research agenda: measuring the problem of gun violence; availability of guns to violent offenders; and improving police investigations of criminal shooting incidents. Read more.

For Vulnerable Families, Pandemic’s Effect on Mental Health is Swift and Harsh: COVID-19 has profoundly affected U.S. families, with many experiencing job and income loss, increased caregiving, and illness. A study by Anna Gassman-Pines collected data from hourly service workers with young children to examine the psychological well-being of the families. The study found that the mental health of both parents and children had worsened during the pandemic. Read more.

How Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Shapes Hispanic Families' Utilization: A new policy brief co-authored by Lisa Gennetian and fellow researchers at the National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families analyzes differences in certain state policies related to TANF allocations, eligibility, and application practices prior to COVID-19. Read more.

Racial Equity Research Highlight

Amidst ongoing protests again racial injustice and a pandemic that disproportionately impacts Black people, a June 2020 study from Christina Gibson-Davis and her co-author Christine Percheski of Northwestern University documented that, at the median, Black families have just one cent of wealth for every dollar of wealth of White families. The study, which garnered national media attention in the New York Times, TIME, and Forbes, was the first to describe the extreme racial wealth inequality that exists among families with children in the United States. Racial disparities in wealth – which are a household’s assets minus its debts – far exceed racial disparities in income. “Wealth helps children to flourish in ways that income might not," said Gibson-Davis. “It is hard to help your children flourish if you only have $808 in total wealth." A forthcoming study with Duke collaborators Lisa Keister and Lisa Gennetian suggests that many Black families have such low levels of wealth that they may be "net worth poor." "All of our data are taken before COVID," said Gibson-Davis. "It is likely that these disparities will only grow in the coming years."

In the Media

Katie Rosanbalm was quoted in the New York Times about dealing with a child’s temper tantrum.

Anna Gassman-Pines was interviewed on WSOC-TV about her research on the mental health struggles of service industry workers and their children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leslie Babinski was interviewed on NPR's The Takeaway about the unique challenges facing English Language Learners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A New York Times editorial cites racial wealth gap research of William Darity and separate research by Christina Gibson-Davis on families and the wealth gap.

Carolyn Barnes was quoted in Futurity, which featured the Sanford School of Public Policy's Ways & Means podcast on her work on afterschool programs and parents.

Helen Ladd's research about charter schools was mentioned in The Indy Online.

Lisa Gennetian co-authored a commentary in Child and Family Blog about how to address race and racism in poverty and child development research.

New Faculty Book

Families and Social Change in the Gulf Region

Jennifer E. Lansford, Anis Ben Brik, Abdallah M. Badahdah
Routledge

Over the last five decades, dramatic social changes have disrupted established patterns of family life and human development in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Lansford and co-authors examine the role of these changes, such as urbanization, educational progress, emigration, and globalization, and describe their implications for Gulf families.

Upcoming Events

2020 Virtual Summit

Color of Education co-sponsored by:

Learn more and purchase tickets

This presentation will focus on racially minoritized learners’ (RMLs) experiences and achievement in school settings with a particular focus on discussing how the field measures instructional quality as it relates to RMLs’ experiences in the classroom. The presentation will provide suggestions about (1) how to measure culturally responsive anti-bias instruction, (2) changes for instructional approaches to engage RMLs, and (3) larger systemic changes to the way in which RMLs are educated.

Stephanie Curenton is a tenured associate professor in the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. 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.

Children’s chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90% to 50% over the past half century in America. How can we restore the American Dream of upward mobility for our children? In this talk, Raj Chetty, William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University, will discuss recent work that he and his colleagues at Opportunity Insights have done to study this question. Chetty will show how children’s chances of climbing the income ladder vary across neighborhoods, analyze the sources of racial disparities in intergenerational mobility, and discuss the role of higher education in creating greater income mobility. He will conclude by discussing how local policymakers can harness big data to increase opportunity in their own communities and institutions.

www.childandfamilypolicy.duke.edu

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