Jennifer Keys Adair, PhD is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Adair also currently oversees the Agency and Young Children Research Collective and is the director of Dynamic Innovation for Young Children, a partnership with the San Antonio Independent School District to re-design preK-3rd grade classrooms district-wide. Her work focuses on the connection between agency and discrimination in the learning experiences of young children and how we can engage young children in authentic learning experiences about race, community and their real lives.
Dr. Adair is a former Young Scholars Fellow with the Foundation for Child Development where she conducted a video-cued ethnographic study of childrens agency and its impact on social and academic development. She recently completed a major Spencer Foundation study on civic agency in preschool classrooms serving Maori, Aboriginal and Latinx immigrant communities in New Zealand, Australia and the United States respectively. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and filmmaker, Dr. Adair uses video-cued ethnography to privilege the voices and perspectives of young children, teachers and parents and how they see and understand schooling. Dr. Adair has published in numerous journals including Harvard Educational Review, Race, Ethnicity and Education, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Young Children, Anthropology and Education Quarterly and Teachers College Record. She currently serves on the editorial board of Teachers College Record and Anthropology and Education Quarterly. She lectures in multiple countries and her work, reports and expertise have been covered by many media outlets including NPR, CNN, The Conversation, Huffington Post, Time, Christian Science Monitor, and The Washington Post. She is the co-author of Children Crossing Borders: Immigrant Parent and Preschool Teacher Perspectives on Preschool for Children of Immigrants. And her new book Segregation by Experience: Agency, Racism and Early Learning published by The University of Chicago Press is due out at the end of 2020.
Ph.D. in Anthropology and Education, Arizona State University, 2009
Areas of expertise include early childhood education, racial justice and equity in early learning, educational anthropology, video-cued ethnography, immigration and education, impact of social injustices on childhoods, project-based learning led by community expertise and early childhood educational leadership and program transformation.
Adair, J K. (2012). Discrimination as a Contextualized Obstacle to Preschool Teaching of Young Latino Children of Immigrants.. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 13(3). (View)
Adair, J K., Tobin, J. & Arzubiaga, A. (2012). The Dilemma of Cultural Responsiveness and Professionalization: Listening Closer to Immigrant Teachers Who Teach Children of Recent Immigrants.. Teachers College Record, 114(12). (View)
Dynamic Innovation for Young Children (DIFYC)
During 2018-2019, under the leadership of Superintendent Pedro Martinez, San Antonio Independent School District co-created and launched The Dynamic Innovation for Young Children professional development program in partnership with The Agency and Young Children Research Collaborative at The University of Texas at Austin.
DIFYC is a professional development model designed to build district-wide instructional and leadership capacity in early childhood education and to work towards equity and racial justice in the types of learning experiences young children are offered at school. Built as a cohort model, teacher and administrator participants engage in a co-constructive retreat, five workshops on high quality early childhood education principles, and a series of action plans and coaching. DIFYC staff follow an observation/interview protocol with each participant (both teachers and administrators) to document and reflect on how children in their classrooms / schools use agency in their learning. Workshops include small ongoing professional learning communities and interactive delivery of content (e.g., videos of early childhood classroom experiences, discussion with peers and community members, designing projects, and reviewing assessment protocols created for specific classrooms). Participant progress is documented in pre- and post- classroom observations and one-on-one interviews, transcript analysis of workshops, learning samples collected throughout the year, observations-in-context, and benchmark assessment data from the year previous to DIFYC participation and the year of DIFYC participation.
Towards a Culturally Relevant Emphasis on Agency in the Social and Academic Development of Latino Children of Immigrants in PK-3 Educational Settings
This proposal focuses on the types of environments and teacher behaviors that foster immigrant childrens use of agency in ways that positively affect their social and academic development. Foundation for Child Development (FCD) New American Children Young Scholarship Fellowship program
Cultural Nature of Project-Based Instruction
Pilot project on how children of immigrants and their families and teachers respond to greater classroom-based agency within project-based instruction models.
Children Crossing Borders
This large-scale study with research teams in the U.S., Germany, Italy, France and England aims to better understand the perspectives of preschool teachers and immigrant parents regarding early childhood education. (Spencer Foundation)
Nnenna Odim, Ph.D., expected 2023 (Supervisor)
Her experience as an early childhood teacher guides her exploration into the ways young children negotiate and resist inequity in their environment. Most recently, her works focuses on socio-cultural environmental influences and inquiry-driven interactions in early childhood spaces.
Shubhi Sachdeva, Ph.D., expected 2020 (Supervisor)
Shubhi is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Early Childhood Education. Her work engages with critical methods and theories to understand equity and social justice issues in early education.
Sunmin Lee (Supervisor)
Monica Alonzo (Supervisor)
Natacha N Jones (Supervisor)
| Year | Semester | Course |
|---|
| 2020 | Fall | EDC 385G: 88-Rsch Early Childhood Educ |
| 2020 | Fall | ALD 321: Play In Early Childhd Devel-Wb |
| 2019 | Fall | EDC 388R: 3-Educational Ethnography |
| 2018 | Fall | EDC 385G: 1-Glbl Comp Early Childhood |
| 2018 | Spring | EDC 385G: 88-Rsch Early Childhood Educ |
| 2017 | Fall | EDC 388R: 3-Educational Ethnography |
| 2017 | Fall | ALD 321: Play In Early Childhood Devel |
| 2017 | Spring | ALD 321: Play In Early Childhood Devel |
| 2016 | Fall | EDC 385G: 1-Glbl Comp Early Childhood |
| 2016 | Fall | ALD 321: Play In Early Childhood Devel |
| 2015 | Fall | EDC 385G: 82-Maj Theorists Early Chldhd |
| 2015 | Fall | EDC 388R: Educational Ethnography |
| 2015 | Spring | EDC 385G: 88-Rsch Early Childhood Educ |
| 2014 | Fall | EDC 388R: Educational Ethnography |
| 2014 | Spring | EDC 371G: Teaching Young Children-E |
| 2014 | Spring | EDC 385G: 2-Parents And Education |
