Family Social Science Associate Professor receives CEHD Jumpstart Grant for research

A Professor.
Susan Walker is an associate professor in the Dept. of Family Social Science.

A new interdisciplinary collaboration between Family Social Science and Computer Science was awarded a $25,000 CEHD Jumpstart Grant.

Susan Walker, associate professor (FSoS), and Lana Yarosh, assistant professor (Computer Science and Engineering) will collaborate to better understand the benefits associated with a social networking platform for parents, teachers and staff launched in 2017.

The platform (called “parentopia”) was designed in partnership between the St Paul Public Schools Early Childhood Family Education program and Dr. Walker. The platform gives parents and teachers an online space to interact outside a weekly early childhood family education program. They share information about the program, exchange resources about child development and parenting, and enhance social connections.

The platform’s community has grown to more than 450 families and early childhood teachers and staff, as well as parenting educators at eight sites (five in St. Paul, and three in other school districts). Research to date has confirmed the platform’s popularity, ease of use and seamless integration into existing early childhood family education program infrastructure.

Dr. Walker’s collaboration with Computer Science will create a way to analyze user data to indicate the strength of social ties between parents, and between parents and staff. Doing so will help demonstrate the value of using complementary technology to face to face interventions with parents to build relationships and social support critical to family engagement in schools, parent learning and wellbeing as well as children’s development (indirectly). 

Yarosh is the project’s co-principal investigator and the community partner is the St. Paul Public Schools Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program. 

Learn more

The Department of Family Social Science offers graduate degrees and certificates in family education. Learn more at the FSoS programs page

Dr. Walker gave a “PED Talk” at the European Early Childhood Research Association conference in Budapest last fall. Here’s a studio version of the talk.