Jill Pentimonti
Jill Pentimonti - Institute for Educational Initiatives
Director of Research Advancement
GC-DWC, Center Faculty Affiliates

 

 

 

Center Faculty Affiliates

Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child

Dr. Julie Braungart-Rieker, Mary Hesburgh Flaherty and James F. Flaherty III College Chair, Professor and Director of the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families, University of Notre Dame

Danice Brown Guzman, Research Associate, Initiative for Global Development, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Andrea Christensen, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Mark Cummings, William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame

Dr. TJ D’Agostino, Program Director of International Education Research Initiatives, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Chloe Gibbs, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Monica Kowalski, Associate Director for Program Evaluation and Research, Faculty of Ace Teaching Fellows and Remick Leadership Programs, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Julián Mariño, Associate Professor and Director Center for Evaluation, Los Andes University, Colombia

Dr. Zahirah McNatt, Assistant Professor, University of Global Equity, Rwanda

Dr. Laura Miller-Graff, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

Dr. John Mugo, Executive Director, ZiziAfrique Foundation, Kenya

Dr. Betsy Okello, Faculty Teaching and Learning Team, ACE Academies, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Paul Perrin, Director of Evidence and Learning and Concurrent Associate Professor of the Practice in Global Affairs/Global Health, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Kristin Valentino, William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Katy Walter-Lichon, Director of English as a New Language and Faculty member, ACE teaching Fellows, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Erin Wibbens, Faculty of Supervision and Instruction, ACE Teaching Fellows and ACE Haiti, University of Notre Dame
GC-DWC, Activating Systems

 

 

 

Activating Systems

 


HaitiSystemsThe Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) engages actors at all levels of a child’s social ecology--family, school, community, and other external support systems--to support children’s learning and development, despite adversity. By supporting this learning and development through co-created activities/interventions, community actors are not only able to foster a child’s academic and social development but also the development of their community by fostering responsible citizenship. This understanding has led to an increased emphasis on engaging community actors early in the lives of children in order to provide robust early childhood interventions and programming. Notably, emerging understanding of the reach and influence of a child’s faith-based community, calls for a greater focus on the activation of faith-based systems in order to increase a child’s access to quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) programming.

Investment in ECD accelerates progress towards the United Nations’ 17 key Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), as school-ready children are more likely to complete school, get jobs, boost the economy, educate their own children, and ultimately break the cycle of poverty. ECD is increasingly seen as a strategy for improving academic outcomes, a mechanism for fostering citizenship beyond the classroom (Oberle et al., 2016), and a reliable investment for improving health outcomes, reducing socioeconomic inequalities, and even strengthening the economy (Heckman, 2012). Empirical evidence has linked ECD to higher academic test scores, improved teacher commitment, and reductions in conduct problems, emotional distress and drug use, and school dropout rates (Durlak et al., 2011, Taylor et al., 2017, Wang et al., 2016, Collie et al., 2011).

However, the quality and delivery of ECD interventions largely impacts the outcomes of such programming. Research indicates that various socio-ecological levels work to influence ECD (Frye et al. 2010, Arnold et al. 2013, Neaigus et al. 2014, Jefferson et al. 2017, Micheni et al. 2017, Mayer 2018, Chen et al. 2019, Jiang et al. 2019), suggesting that interventions that work at various levels, include multiple mechanisms, and engage a variety of community actors will maximize the potential benefits from ECD programs.

ParishSystemFaith groups are often left out of these socio-ecological systems, despite the fact that they have a unique potential to unlock important local knowledge, establish trust with parents, and instill faith and resiliency. Faith leaders may even be more influential than government officials or secular leaders (UNICEF, 2003), particularly in states with fragile governments. Recent research with refugees in the Middle East found that faith groups played a critical role in providing local expertise, as well as social and physical capital (Ager et al. 2015). In Jordan, faith groups were found to have contributed significantly to social, human, spiritual and material capital and in some cases, financial capital for Syrian refugees (donations and income generation) (Henry Luce Foundation, 2015).  Faith groups have the potential to influence behavioral and social change, and are a largely untapped resource in ECD, and are the focus of the Strong Beginnings program in Haiti and IEI’s work with faith-based groups in other countries.

The work of GC-DWC examines how faith-based systems can be leveraged as effective and scalable change-drivers to increase equitable access to quality ECD programming in low resource and fragile contexts. We are working to address specific issues: How can the capacities of faith-based communities (like the Catholic church in Haiti) be leveraged to improve early child development supports within the home-school-church continuum? How can faith-based systems effectively scale and sustain ECD programs in multiple contexts? How are other faith-based groups engaged in ECD programming and to what effect? What kinds of research and evaluation designs are needed to measure faith-based ECD systems’ effectiveness?

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Institute's Director Awarded Presidential Citizens Medal
Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., professor of political science and director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame, received a 2008 Presidential Citizens Medal in an Oval Office ceremony held Wednesday (Dec. 10).
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Mark Berends, the director of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Research on Educational Opportunity and a professor of sociology, has been elected to the National Academy of Education.
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A recent study, co-authored by a University of Notre Dame professor, shows how educators’ racial and gender biases affect their assessments of students’ academic skills based on noncognitive skills, which include behavior, class participation, self-discipline and interpersonal skills.
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