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Margaret Ferguson Quinn

Assistant Professor, Co-Director of the Implementation Sciences for Early Learning Lab (ISELL)

Biography

Margaret Quinn is an Assistant Professor in the Child and Family Studies department. Her scholarship seeks to understand children’s experiences and skills in a 21st century context by developing approaches for supporting successful learners who can thrive contemporaneously and in the future in ways that are innovative and effective. Her research examines both children developing in context as well as teachers in early education and elementary settings with a specific priority placed on children (as well as their families and teachers) from historically marginalized and minoritized backgrounds. Her work, thus, centers on two primary foci – (1) understanding, evaluating, and supporting teachers’ instruction and instructional interventions in the areas of emergent literacy, early writing, and early STEM learning, and (2) understanding the nature and development of 21st century skills through authentic assessment and efficacious and sound measures and patterns of interactions between academic skills and other extant factors. Prior to joining the CFS faculty, she was the lead graduate student researcher on an IES-funded grant creating and implementing writing-focused professional development as well as a large-scale language and literacy intervention evaluation in the Metro Atlanta area. Prior to her academic work, she taught in schools in Atlanta, Georgia and in Belfast, Northern Ireland, working with toddler-, preschool-, and prekindergarten-aged children.

Research

  • Children’s development of key 21st century skills, in particular, early writing, executive function and self-regulation, and computational thinking
  • Authentic and effective assessments and measures for research and practice
  • Effective pedagogy and interventions that support young children’s development and learning
  • Practical and responsive professional learning to enhance teacher practices

Education

  • Ph.D., Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Georgia State University, 2017
  • M.S., Counseling and Therapeutic Communication, Ulster University, 2009
  • B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies, New York University, 2002

 

Curriculum Vitae

Awards and Recognitions

  • Building Words, Making Meanings - Developing Multisyllabic Decoding and Encoding Skills for Upper Elementary Learners ($320,884, 2022-2023, PI: Zoi Traga Philippakos) – Development and evaluation of instructional program for 3rd-5th grade learners to improve reading and writing outcomes related to multisyllabic words funded by Advanced Research and Development Fund.
  • CRRAFT Partnership ($1,000,000, 2021-2023, PI: Frances Harper).  – Research-practice partnership co-developing and investigating a culturally relevant robotics program for preschoolers funded by the National Science Foundation.
  • EPP Innovation Grant – Integrated Content for Foundational Literacy Skills ($93,747, 2021-2022, PI: Zoi Traga Philippakos). – Development of online modules to support teacher candidates’ understandings of foundational literacy skills funded by Tennessee Department of Education.
  • Promising Scholar Award ($15,000, 2020) Awarded to four Young Scholars Program applicants who demonstrate exceptional potential to conduct rigorous, high-quality implementation research focused on the early care and education workforce, Foundation for Child Development.

Publications

Selected Recent Publications

Quinn, M. F., Rohloff, R., & Mathis, S. (2022). Young children’s writing in traditional and digital contexts. Early Years: An International Research Journal. doi: 10.1080/09575146.2022.2087054

Bingham, G. E., Gerde H. K., Pikus, A. E., Rohloff, R., Quinn, M. F., Bowles, R. P., & Zhang, X. (2022). Examining teachers’ early writing knowledge and practices. Reading and Writing. doi:10.1007/s11145-022-10299-x

Quinn, M.F., & Bingham, G. E. (2022). Examining early composing: Children’s differential writing performance based on task context and scoring conceptualization. Early Education and Development, 33(1), 139-163. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2020.1857167

Quinn, M. F., Gerde, H. K., & Bingham, G. E. (2021). Who, what, and where: Classroom contexts for preschool writing experiences. Early Education and Development. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2021.1979834

Quinn, M. F., Bingham, G. E., & Gerde, H. K. (2021). Who writes what when?: Examining children’s early composing. Reading and Writing, 34, 79-107. doi: 10.1007/s11145-020-10063-z


Contact Information

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