I am a clinical psychologist, with interest in children's academic, social-emotional,
and neurophysiological development, stress and trauma related to poverty and related
adversity, strengths of individuals facing hardship, and models of individual and
social change. My current research projects focused on positive effects of Head Start
preschool, arts and mindfulness interventions, and anti-racism training and support.
I welcome students to contact me about opportunities for assisting with research.
I remember when I first realized the impact of beliefs and emotions on student learning.
As a grad student psychology intern, I administered a test to a child who had lived
with several different foster families before arriving at his present residential
facility for boys. I realized that he did not believe he could control anything in
his life, including academic outcomes, and that his hopelessness interfered with his
persistence in the face of challenge. This experience motivated my research on how
poverty-related instability influences children's approaches to learning; and grounded
my philosophy of undergraduate teaching. I focus on the students. How will they respond
to academic challenges? How will my course prepare them for future challenges they
will face? How can I instill in them belief and passion enough to carry them through
these challenges? My answers to these questions lead me to a focus on learning process,
and a daily schedule that begins at a bustling Head Start preschool where I supervise
undergraduate students to serve low-income children, and ends in a university classroom
where I stay with students after class talking about psychological theories and daily
realities for families facing economic stress.
Research on responses to academic challenges suggests that focus on process and effort
encourages persistence in the face of challenge, whereas focus on ability alone, may
lead students to disengage. This idea shapes the process-oriented approach I take
in all of my courses, and influenced my decision to develop a new course: Field Experience
in Psychology: Diverse Communities. In this course, students use psychological tools
to serve low-income children and families in collaboration with Head Start preschools,
and I have the chance to focus on process and reinforce students' efforts by working
with them one-to-one as they apply theory to practice. This course also reflects what
research tells us about the influence of motivation on persistence in the face of
academic challenge. The sense of fulfillment students achieve, through helping children
and families, motivates them to pursue future scholarship and civic engagement.
I feel encouraged when students extend themselves beyond their assigned work. After
conducting interviews with low-income parents, the students often go to great lengths
to connect these parents with needed resources. One student helped to organize a support
group for immigrant families at a Head Start preschool we work with, and another organized
a food drive to provide Thanksgiving meals. Other students have joined community groups
that address issues of racism and related intolerance. I know I'm not the only instructor
who is making a difference in a way that carries beyond the classroom. That's why
I've invested time in helping to develop assessment measures for the Service Learning
and Women's Studies committees I serve on. I know that, by collaborating, we can promote
teaching methods that give students the knowledge, tools, and passion to engage effectively
with the challenges of our 21st century world.
The present era brings new challenges for education. We need scholars who can engage
thoughtfully with these issues and conduct rigorous research to inform policy and
practice. The students who work with me at the Head Start preschools conduct research
on questions like how poverty-related stress influences children's approach to learning,
and how parents' efforts to help children cope might matter. Poverty stress may influence
responses to challenge via disruptions to sleep, and one student recently examined
how parent-child talk time before bed might promote children's sleep. These studies
bring us small steps closer to understanding how we might close the achievement gap.
Today, one of my students told me that a four-year-old girl came to preschool in tears.
Her mom disappeared last week and is now incarcerated. My students will give her extra
support through this difficult time. Interestingly, this child reminds me of the one
who sparked my interest in how emotions influence learning. Maybe we will reach this
child in time to help her stay hopeful in the face of learning challenges. I know
my students will try. I know they will feel satisfaction for the ways they help, and
that, in the places their efforts fall short, they'll be motivated to continue their
studies and civic engagement. My undergraduate students don't face the same challenges
as our preschoolers. But, these undergraduates, too, have life stressors. They, too,
are learners who benefit when teachers take the time to engage them and encourage
them to take on challenges.
Eleanor D. Brown, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology
at West Chester University, where she directs the Early Childhood Cognition and Emotions
Lab (ECCEL) and co-directs the Research on Education and the Arts in Childhood or
REACH Lab. Dr. Brown is internationally recognized for her scholarship on children
facing poverty, as well as her research on arts programming. Her scholarship has highlighted
diversity among families facing adversity and opportunities for building on family
and community strengths to promote children's flourishing. For the past 15 years,
Dr. Brown has worked with community partners such as Settlement Music School to study
how music and the arts might help to advance child and family wellbeing.
Dr. Brown served as the Early Childhood Research Expert for the NEA/HHS Joint Convening
on the Arts and Human Development and her work was highlighted as model research in
the associated white paper that framed a federal research agenda for the arts. The
NEA supported her 2017 study “Can the Arts Get Under the Skin?” which demonstrated
the potential for music and arts programming to alleviate the impact of poverty on
the stress hormone cortisol for young children and her 2018 study, “The Art of Head
Start” which demonstrated a school readiness advantage for children receiving arts-integrated
Head Start preschool. Dr. Brown serves as an advisor for arts policy, practice, and
funding initiatives as well as for PBS Kids® and for Sesame Workshop and PNC’s Grow
Up Great® initiative.
Growing up, I saw how income poverty and related factors like violence and substance
abuse influenced my relatives' lives. It was clear to me that creating a better world,
would mean working to end poverty as well as related adversity, and helping individuals
of all backgrounds tackle emotional distress and irrational behavior patterns. I pursued
psychology because it offered useful tools for the challenge.
I agree with Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. This theory frames child
development in terms of interactions between a child's own biology, their family and
community, and the broader society they live in. I believe we must address all levels
of the ecological system–from individual to societal–to promote children's positive
development.
