About Us - Georgia State Urban Child Study Center

A teacher works with children in a classroom

ABOUT THE UCSC

Learn more about our mission, core values and the work we do.

DID YOU KNOW

The UCSC will work to inform and change policy and practices to serve the best interest of urban children and youth.

What Makes Us Unique

Our Mission

The Urban Child Study Center (UCSC) is an interdisciplinary research center in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State. UCSC promotes the overall development and school success of children and youth in urban contexts through innovative, translational research that informs policy and practice. Leveraging the college’s and university’s talent and resources, UCSC focuses on children, families, schools and communities.

Core Values

In order to address the needs of children, the UCSC is guided by core principles that characterize our partnerships and our research.

These include:

Universities are resources to their communities
Address “the whole child” meaning the child, family, school and community
Complex problems deserve comprehensive solutions
Collective impact and diverse perspectives to promote sustainable change
Researchers can generate and share knowledge in an accessible manner
Research-practice partnerships bridge the divide between “knowing” and “doing” what works
Commitment to rigorous research and scholarship activities
Commitment to objective, independent and meaningful analyses and recommendations

Our Work

Research & Evaluation

Translation & Implementation

Policy & Practice

Director

Executive Director
Dr. Gary Bingham

Professor
Early Childhood and Elementary Education
[email protected]

Research Interests

Gary Bingham's research examines home and school factors that contribute to the academic achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse children. Specifically, his research seeks to discover how high-quality adult-child interactions (i.e., emotionally and instructionally sensitive interactions) within the home and at school influence young children’s literacy and language development. His research also examines factors that contribute to these high-quality adult-child interactions, particularly with regard to writing, reading and language facilitation.

Bio

Gary E. Bingham is an associate professor in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Georgia State University. He received his Ph.D. in child development and family studies from Purdue University.

Bingham is the coordinator of the Ph.D. program in early and elementary education, a member of the Board of Regents Initiative on Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL) and a founding member of the Urban Child Study Center in the College of Education & Human Development. He serves on the editorial boards of the journals Language Arts and Early Child Development and Care.

His research has been published in a number of high-quality early childhood and language and literacy journals including Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Early Education and Development, Reading and Writing, and Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools.