Cynthia Paris Associate Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies

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Office: 115 Alison Hall West, Newark, DE 19716
Phone: (302) 831-8557; Email: cparis@udel.edu
Vita

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Education:
Ph.D. Educational Leadership, Curriculum, Instruction, and Supervision, University of Pennsylvania
M.S. Life Span Development, University of Delaware
B.S. Early Childhood & Elementary Education, University of Delaware

Courses taught:
IFST 413 Inclusive Curriculum: Kindergarten to Grade 2
IFST 355 Professional Issues in Early Childhood Education

Interests and activities:
My teaching and my research focus on nurturing and sustaining learner-centered teachers who act as advocates for children and families, especially those who have been historically underserved. I am currently conducting research on how teachers across the professional lifespan grow to become committed learner-centered teachers and how they develop empowered relationships of agency in relation to curriculum. I am examining the personal and professional histories of experienced learner-centered teachers who reject prescribed curricula and standardized methods and policies that are disrespectful of children and their families, tracking pre-service and novice teachers trained in a learner-centered tradition, and examining the role of supervision and mentoring in the growth of learner-centered teachers looking specifically at the role of responsibility, power, and purpose in these relationships. Across all of these studies I am seeking to identify the sources of these teachers’ steadfast adherence to their convictions and resilience in the face of challenges to their practice.

I currently serve on the Board of Reviewers for The Journal of Teacher Education and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education.