Building Pathways out of Adversity
Our goal is to create pathways out of adversity for the world’s most vulnerable children. In 25 countries, we leverage evidence-based innovations to develop effective Whole Child Development (WCD) approaches to not only advance children’s academic achievement, but also create safe, supportive, and equitable family, school, and community environments.
Working with partners across the research-practice-policy spectrum, we iteratively develop and test WCD approaches, translating evidence into impactful programs. Our approach focuses on the relationships and settings that are most important in the lives of children and youth. By aligning knowledge, attitudes, practices, and policies within and across these settings – like the home, school, and community – we focus on how to best activate the systems which foster resilience and justice for children. We then use this learning and knowledge to advance policies which improve the lives and outcomes of children.
What do we do?
In our “dig-in deep,” or flagship country programs, we begin with a limited number of innovation school communities where we support partners with program design, training, and rapid assessment methods. This incubation period is followed by a limited scale-up to early adopter school communities; in these communities we invest in promising practices and prune less-effective ones. We conduct formal efficacy studies and randomized control trials when Whole Child Development (WCD) approaches are sufficiently mature, followed by evidence driven scaling system-wide. This research-to-action cycle comes full circle through dissemination of our learning through technical and non-technical resources, prioritizing the use of this learning by our community partners.
We also undertake applied research projects to build the evidence base on WCD. These education research projects are focused on different settings and relationships around the child but they all have a common focus: how do we activate the system around the child to best support WCD? Our research is driven by three key principles.
- Appropriateness: whether findings meet the contextual, cultural, and developmental needs of children and their families.
- Utility: whether research will be useful to make reasonable decisions about an education or social program for children.
- Feasibility: whether the proposed evidence-based solution is doable given the logistical, operational, and systematic limitations that are in place.
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Building an Evidence Base for Action
Why Whole Child Development?
Poverty is complex and comprehensive strategies are required to address these complexities. Our WCD approach is a proven, cost-effective investment, to ensure the education, health, and prosperity of individual children, and empower their families and communities to be agents of change:
- Children’s development happens in different spaces, simultaneously including family, school, and the wider community.
- The quality of relationships in each of these environments matters.
- When we invest in multi-sectoral solutions including health, nutrition, education, and protection, we support the holistic development of children.
- Investment in WCD approaches is critical for children growing up in poverty and other forms of severe adversity.
Together, we can build environments where all children can reach their potential and become responsible citizens and life-long learners.
Who are our partners?
We partner with a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations within the community, regional, and national education systems in each country. We look to build long-term partnerships that are characterized by joint learning goals, shared capacity development, and commitment to iterate on programs for children.
Faith-based communities play an important role in the provision of education globally, with enrollment projected to grow rapidly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) over the next decade. Given the University of Notre Dame’s Catholic foundation, the GC-DWC is uniquely positioned to advance faith-based partners’ research and program learning priorities. We are currently supporting Catholic parishes from Haiti to Kenya to embed WCD models of education into schools, homes, and communities. However, we engage with a multi-faith coalition of partners devoted to improving the outcomes for all children, including the Federation of Protestant Schools of Haiti, the Anglican Church in Kenya, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision International, and Arigatou International.
Where we work
The GC-DWC is involved in 25 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan.
Learn more about our global programs.
Our Team
With team members located all around the world who collectively speak 20 different languages, the GC-DWC's team is a multidisciplinary and diverse group. Most team members have academic as well as practitioner-focused backgrounds which brings a unique perspective to the implementation and evaluation of Whole Child Development research and programming.
Meet the Team
Opportunities
The Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, based at the University of Notre Dame, collaborates with researchers and practitioners to ensure the wellbeing—physical, emotional, social, and cognitive—of children and adolescents in low-resource and conflict-affected settings. Established to serve as a coherent platform for the Institute for Educational Initiative’s growing portfolio of global child development and learning programs, GC-DWC creates environments that foster resilience and encourage children and adolescents to thrive. Using an innovative whole child development approach tailored to context-specific needs, GC-DWC translates research into timely and thoughtful action, adapts research tools to improve the development of learning programs and policies, and activates systems (families, schools, communities) to lift children and adolescents out of adversity. Specializing in a holistic approach to child and adolescent development, GC-DWC’s dedicated team combines innovative research and measurement methods in addition to global collaborations, to assess and address risks and assets at the child-level in order to create environments that go beyond simply fulfilling children and adolescent’s basic needs.
We are always looking for Graduate Research Assistants to engage in a variety of research and program development projects. If you are interested in working with us, please complete the form below and reach out to Hannah Chandler (hchandl2@nd.edu) with any questions.
Childhoods & Education in the Global South: A Research and Program Learning Practicum
In the Fall semester, GC-DWC Founding Director, Neil Boothby, taught Childhoods & Education in the Global South: A Research and Program Learning Practicum. The course sought to provide students with an evidence-based framework and skillset to implement whole child development education programs in low income contexts.
Visit our Student Corner to learn more.
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ESS
At the heart of the ESS program is the study of how humans learn and how society, culture, politics, and the economy influence that learning.
Click Here for the Fall 2025 ESS Course Offerings
Education is a complex challenge
Education - formal and informal, inside and outside a classroom - is a complex and challenging aspect of human experience. It's both an end in itself and a means to many personal, professional, and spiritual goals. Thus, understanding its history and traditions, analyzing its processes, critiquing its goals, and studying its outcomes is of great importance to all of us.
Turning a wide-angle lens on education, ESS is offered as a supplementary major consisting of eight courses, or as a 15-credit minor composed of an Intro course, 3 electives, and a senior capstone research project. The program is designed to help students understand education broadly defined and to view it from many liberal arts perspectives: political science, history, sociology, and more.
Check out a small sampling of the kinds of places that ESS might take you and your future.
If you're interested in questions like...What is the purpose of education? Why aren't educational opportunities equitable for all? How does education contribute to the development of the "good" citizen and the "just" society?...become an ESS minor or major! To sign up or learn more, email Professor Kevin Sandberg, C.S.C.
Already an ESS student and in need of some advising? Of course, Father Kevin Sandberg, Ph.D., C.S.C. would love to talk with you too, feel free to stop by or set-up an appointment via email.
Study ESS, Prepare for Your Future
The program provides resources for students who will pursue a range of careers after graduation, from finance to film, law to medicine, philosophy to policy-making. Students who want to become certified teachers during their undergraduate studies may do so through our cooperative relationship with Saint Mary’s College.
Meet Some ESS Graduates
Sam Adofo
Julie Allpow
Lindsay Baca
Maddie Carr
Paige Curley
Mar Diego
Delaney Farwell
Alice Felker
Nay Fernandez
Collin Gortner
Emily Graff
Donna Hoang
Sam Kennedy
Catherine Korth (ND '20)
Zion Lee
Annie Moran
Julia Randall
Carolina Robledo
Emma Scheibel
Evy Stein
Natalie Stevens
Mary Stoutenburgh
Honoka Suzuki
Alli VanOverberghe
What Our Students Say about ESS...
"My ESS education...reaffirmed my passion for the dignity of the individual, the fundamental importance of communities, and the quest for life-long learning for all." Rachel Iverson, Psychology, Glynn Family Honors Program
"ESS pushed me to see the ways in which education extends far beyond the classroom..." Colin O'Neill, American Studies, Poverty Studies
“Whether you're interested in becoming a classroom teacher, human rights lawyer, or neuroscientist, through ESS you will discover your role in contributing to students' lives nationwide." Lindsay Baca, Psychology
Connect With Us
Father Kevin Sandberg, C.S.C., Ph.D. - ESS Director of Undergraduate Studies
ksandberg@nd.edu | Phone 574.631.4517
Formation
The CLE fosters the professional growth of dynamic, talented classroom teachers and literacy scholars. We equip them with professional support and resources to create vibrant literacy classrooms that celebrate diversity and student voice and help students to become powerful readers and writers.
ESS Minors
ESS Minors
The Education, Schooling & Society (ESS) supplementary major and minor is offered to Notre Dame undergraduate students. ESS is an interdisciplinary supplementary major and minor in the College of Arts and Letter and the Institute for Educational Initiatives. At the heart of the program is the study of how humans learn and how society, politics, and the economy influence that learning.
Using tools from a variety of disciplines, students explore an institution that profoundly affects the development of societies. How can the American education system serve all students equally? How can education be improved?
As students consider the research, theory, and practices relevant to answering such questions, they gain a deeper understanding of social structures, human development, and themselves.
Learn more at go.nd.edu/ess or contact Dr. Mike Macaluso.
O'Shaughnessy Fellows
O'Shaughnessy Fellows
Thanks to the generous support of the O'Shaughnessy Foundation Endowment for Excellence in K-12 Research, the O’Shaughnessy Fellows program equips dynamic English Language Arts teachers with the skills and scholarship to become literacy leaders in their school communities. The O’Shaughnessy Fellows program empowers teachers who believe that literacy changes lives and who seek long-term, transformative professional development to have a positive measurable impact on their students. The program exposes fellows to research based best practices and supports Fellows in developing collaborative literacy focused action research projects relevant to their particular students.
Long-Term Professional Development for the Practicing Teacher
Throughout the year, O’Shaughnessy Fellows grow as they work in Intellectual Learning Communities (ILCs). In these groups, teachers meet regularly online with faculty and one another to discuss pedagogical practices, research design, and how to gather and analyze research data.
Benefits
While there are many benefits of the O’Shaughnessy Fellows program, some of the highlights include:
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Longitudinal professional growth in literacy teaching, learning, assessment, and leadership
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Individualized coaching in instruction and research from leading literacy scholars
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A national and local community of practitioners with a strong cohort model
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Support and resources to present research at a regional ELA conference
Coyle Fellows
Coyle Fellows
The Coyle Fellows helps to establish early career, postdoctoral scholars in the field of literacy education research. University of Notre Dame faculty members mentor fellows in how to develop and conduct research projects, write for publication, and access professional societies.
Long-Term Professional Development for Literacy Researchers
Each year, the Coyle Fellows program invites promising researchers to create an ideal proposal. Once accepted, the fellow will receive a stipend each year of the two-year program to execute the research project; however, the fellowship does not demand residence at the university. The Coyle Fellows program is particularly interested in candidates whose research explores the intersection between faith formation and literacy achievement. For example, current Coyle fellows' research proposals investigate which texts best instill a social justice mindset or how the spirituality of hip-hop benefits marginalized students.
Throughout the year, Coyle Fellows visit campus, conduct virtual check-ins with mentors, and complete an annual report on their research.
Nomination
The CLE and IEI community must nominate an early career researcher for the fellowship. Potential candidates are referred to the program directors.
Benefits
- Longitudinal professional growth in literacy research design, data collection, and data analysis
- Individualized mentorship from tenured, high-profile literacy professors
- Connection to the larger professional research community
- Funding for research project
- Qualification for tenure track position
Contact us for more information.
Outreach
The CLE works closely with K-12 teachers and
leaders to co-create literary-rich environments
Super Reader Project
The Super Reader Project is a range of programs that promotes the use of the 7 Strengths of a Super Reader Model for teaching literacy, a framework popularized in the book Every Child a Super Reader by Pam Allyn and Dr. Ernest Morrell. In this book, Allyn and Morrell identify 7 “habits and feelings that educators and parents must nurture in children to provide them with the foundations they need to become super readers” (pg. 22). The Super Reader Project facilitates programs that teach parents, teachers, and school leaders how to implement the model. The goal is to engage children across the United States in deep reading that fosters these 7 strengths—belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope.
Project Components
This project has 2 different components:
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Ongoing Professional Development
The Super Reader Project assists school leaders in developing curricula and book clubs that transform students into “super readers.”
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Summer LitCamps
To address the “summer slide” phenomenon that impedes students’ literacy achievement, Pam Allyn created LitCamps, “a breakthrough summer literacy program that combines innovative, research-based reading and writing lessons with an engaging and interactive summer camp approach.” This is particularly significant for middle-grade students and students of color, who often show a greater extent of learning loss at the end of summer than other students. Since the program’s inception, around 684,000 students have participated in LitCamps.
Check out the CLE Pinterest page for Super Reader book and library suggestions.
Contact us for more information.
Picture from Scholastic.
South Bend Schools
The South Bend Schools initiative is the CLE’s local branch of the Super Reader Project. It shares the same goal as the Super Reader Project—to inspire students to become lifelong lovers of meaningful literature using the 7 Strengths Model.
Program Components
The program features:
- A four-day summer training for South Bend literacy teachers
- Ongoing professional learning
- Visits to schools
- Meetings with literacy leaders
- Help with creating classroom libraries
- Virtual consulting with principals
Check out the CLE Pinterest page for Super Reader book and library suggestions.
Contact us for more information.
