Literacy Learning for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

Tanya S. Wright: Dr. Wright's research and teaching focus on curriculum and instruction in language and literacy during the early childhood and elementary years. Wright is co-author of several books for teachers and parents including A Teacher's Guide to Vocabulary Development Across the Day: Grades K-3 released in 2020. Her work has been published in journals such as American Educator, The Elementary School Journal, The Reading Teacher, Reading and Writing, Reading Research Quarterly, the Journal of Literacy Research and the Journal of Teacher Education. Wright's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the CREATE for STEM foundation at MSU. Sonia Q. Cabell: Dr. Cabell's research focuses on the prevention of reading difficulties among young children for who are at-risk, particularly those living in poverty. Dr. Cabell's work spans pre-kindergarten through second grade and consists of how to strengthen children's language and literacy skills that serve as precursors to both successful reading comprehension and word recognition. She is the co-author of the book Emergent Literacy: Lessons for Success. Nell K. Duke: Dr. Duke's work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. She has served as Co-Principal Investigator of projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, among other organizations. Duke has been named one of the most influential education scholars in the U.S. in EdWeek. Duke is author and co-author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent books are Inside Information: Developing Powerful Readers and Writers of Informational Text through Project-based Instruction and Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent's Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills From Birth to 5, Second Edition. Marianna Souto-Maning: Dr. Souto-Manning is President of the Erikson Institute. She holds academic appointments abroad at the University of Iceland and King's College London. Prior to her career in higher education, Souto-Manning was a teacher in public preschools in Brazil and the United States. Souto-Manning has published 10 books, co-authored more than 75 peer-reviewed articles and received a number of distinguished research awards.