Christopher is a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Education and a Fellow in the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professorship in Early Childhood Education. He is also the Past-Chair for the Early Education/Child Development Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association.
His research centers on early childhood education stakeholders across a range of political and educational contexts respond to policymakers' high-stakes standards-based accountability reforms. He has looked at this issue across a range of political and educational contexts using multiple theoretical and practitioner-based perspectives that span the fields of early childhood education, curriculum and instruction, teacher education, and policy analysis.
Such work has led to empirical, theoretical, and practitioner-oriented publications on such topics as: high-stakes standards-based accountability reform in early childhood, early learning standards, pre-kindergarten (Pre-k) assessment, Pre-k alignment with elementary school, school readiness, culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate teaching, kindergarten within a standardized education system, neoliberal reform, teacher education, professional development, and teaching a mandated curriculum.
His recent publications focus on two issues: 1) Understanding how practicing and pre-service early childhood educators in high-stakes public teaching contexts can engage in practices that support the cultural, individual, and developmental learning needs of children; 2) Examining the development of preservice teachers as they employ iPads in their teacher training program.
Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2004
M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, New Mexico State University, 1997
B.A. in Philosophy, University of the South, Sewanee, 1993
Impact of policymakers' high stakes reforms on teachers; early learning standards; pre-kindergarten assessment and alignment with elementary school; teacher education; curriculum development
Brown, C., Mowry, B. & Feger, B. (2015). Helping others understand academic rigor in teachers' developmentally appropriate practices. Young Children, 70(4), 62–69.
Brown, C., Lan, Y. & Jeong, H. (2015). Beginning to untangle the strange coupling of power within a neoliberal early education context. International Journal of Early Years Education, 23(2), 138–152.
Brown, C., Bay-Borelli, D. & Scott, J. (2015). Figuring out how to be a teacher in a high-stakes context: A case study of first-year teachers' conceptual and practical development. Action in Teacher Education, 37(1), 45–64.
Brown, C. & Mowry, B. (2015). Close early learning gaps with RIGOROUS DAP. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(7), 53–57.
Brown, C., Weber, N. & Yoon, Y. (2015). The practical difficulties for early educators who tried to address children's realities in their high-stakes teaching context. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 36(1), 3–23.
Brown, C. & Lan, Y. (2015). A qualitative metasynthesis comparing U.S. teachers' conceptions of school readiness prior to and after the implementation of NCLB. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45(1), 1–13.
Brown, C. & Lan, Y. (2015). A qualitative metasynthesis of how early educators in international contexts address cultural matters that contrast with developmentally appropriate practices. Early Education and Development, 26(1), 22–45.
Brown, C. (2015). Taking and teaching the test are not the same: A case study of first year teachers' experience in high-stakes contexts.. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 22(3).
Brown, C. (2014). Balancing the school readiness equation in early learning environments. Childhood Education, 115(12), 1–36. doi:10.1177/1476718X14538602.
Brown, C. (2013). Reforming preschool to ready children for academic achievement: A case study of the impact of pre-k reform on the issue of school readiness.. Early Education and Development, 24, 554–573.
Brown, C. & Lan, Y. (2013). The influence of developmentally appropriate practice on children's cognitive development: A qualitative metasynthesis.. Teachers College Record, 115, 1–36.
Regents' Outstanding Teacher Award, University of Texas System (2013)
Foundation Research Award, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (2013)
Exemplary Research Award, American Educational Research Association, Division K: Teaching and Teacher Education (2011)
Taylor Francis Outstanding Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education Journal Article Honorable Mention, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (2011)
