
ABOUT THE UCSC
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
Executive Director
Dr. Gary Bingham
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 a Hettie Floyd Lee Professor of Young Learners in Urban Settings and Executive Director of the Urban Child Study Center (UCSC). He is a governing board member of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Southeast Regional Education Laboratory (REL-Southeast), a steering committee member of the Board of Regents Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy (RCALL) Initiative, and member at large for the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading. Bingham is a former preschool teacher who received his Ph.D. in child development and family studies from Purdue University in 2002 with an emphasis in developmental studies and early childhood education.
Bingham’s scholarship examines home and school factors contributing to culturally and linguistically diverse children’s literacy and language and development. A central focus of this research is on the quality of social and instructional interactions. He is particularly interested in supporting teachers to design developmentally appropriate, meaningful, culturally relevant and intentional literacy experiences for children in early childhood settings. Foundational to this work is developing, validating and utilizing literacy assessments (particularly early writing) that support teachers’ instructional decision-making.
Bingham believes strongly in the importance of research-practice partnership-based research where the expertise and interests of community and educational partners play a central role in the design, implementation and dissemination of research. Utilizing a research-practice partnership model, his scholarship seeks to leverage research findings to support the needs of the local community and educational partners while informing policy and practice at the state and federal levels.
Bingham’s research and scholarly activities have been supported by various organizations, including the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Spencer Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition. His research is published in high-quality early childhood and language and literacy journals, including Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Reading Research Quarterly, Early Education and Development, Reading and Writing, and Language, and Speech and Hearing Services in Schools. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the American Education Research Journal, Early Education and Development, Reading and Writing, and the Reading Teacher.


Muge Ongur

Sima Moghaddam

Meridith Rose

Sarah Newberry

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Maria Gordon-Rumley

Krista Sanders

Grace Lee

Xiying Wang

Brooke Schirmer

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Rachel Cassel

Grace Dean

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Emma Federer

Alaina Yarboro

Adrianna Braswell

Cheyenne Hanson

Jaelyn Blackwell

Allison Healey

Ava McDonald

Ruth Mpungu

Anna Grace Wood

Abigail Collins

Mary Grace Casey

Elissy Ponton

Benjamin Akangbe

Madison Wilson

Peyton Davidek

Madison West

Katharina Bezerra dos Santos

Anthony Galloway

Dr. Taneisha Lee

Dr. Kizzy Albritton

Dr. Meghan Dean

Dr. Jackie Towson

Dr. Katherine Rhodes

Dr. Millicent Carmouche

Dr. Souraya Mansour

Dr. Adrienne Stuckey

Dr. Brandy Gatlin

Dr. Margaret Quinn

Dr. Erin FitzPatrick

Dr. Ryan Lee James

Dr. Erica Edwards

Dr. Nicole Venuto

Dr. Chaehyun Lim

Dr. Johari Harris-Ward

Dr. Xiao Zhang
