Mariela M. Páez, EdD

Dr. Mariela Paez is Associate Professor of Early Childhood. She has a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Her primary research interests are early childhood education and language development for bilingual students. She has training in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, child development, psychology, and linguistics. Dr. Páez has taught courses in second language and literacy learning, child development, and methods of early childhood teaching. In addition, she has carried out professional development related to the education of ELLs with early childhood principals and teachers including Head Start programs. From 2000 to 2005, she was the co-investigator of the Early Childhood Study of Language and Literacy Development of Spanish-speaking Children which investigated the factors that influence the course of English and Spanish literacy development for young Spanish-speaking children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. This longitudinal study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office for Educational Research and Improvement, Department of Education. She is currently Principal Investigator for the Early Childhood Intervention Study: Improving the Language and Literacy Skills of Spanish-English Bilingual Kindergartners, which is another NICHD funded longitudinal intervention study designed to improve the language and literacy development of young bilingual students. In addition, Dr. Páez is Co-Principal Investigator for the project Teaching Academic Language in the Content Areas: Enhancing Achievement for English Language Learners, funded by the US Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students. This is a national professional development grant used to better prepare and support teachers in providing effective instruction to Limited English Proficient students. She is author of numerous articles and has published in leading journals including Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, American Educational Research Journal, Topics in Language Disorders, and Equity & Excellence in Education. She is also co-editor of Latinos: Remaking America (with Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, 2002, 2008). Dr. Páez was invited to be a member of the National English Language Learners Literacy Research Committee (2007) and the Roundtable on Supporting Positive Language and Literacy Outcomes for Young Language Minority Children (2008). She is also a member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Society for Research in Child Development, and the American Educational Research Association.