Social & Behavioral Science Spotlight – Kristen Bub
Kristen Bub
OIBR Affiliate
Associate Professor, Educational Psychology
Topic: Impact that COVID-19 has on pre-k children’s school readiness skills as they transition to kindergarten and then through first grade.
Dr. Kristen Bub is working with the Clarke County School District to examine the impact that COVID-19 has on pre-k children’s school readiness skills (academic, social, behavioral and relational) as they transition to kindergarten and then through first grade.
COVID-19 and specifically the lengthy disruption to in-person instruction is unprecedented and thus we do not know the impact it may have on children’s learning and social/emotional development. Dr. Bub believes that pre-kindergarten children transitioning to kindergarten are particularly vulnerable to the disruption and change in instructional format because they were just beginning to develop their school readiness skills.
Dr. Bub’s research team will be collecting information entirely online on the children’s academic skills, social skills, behavior problems, and relationship skills. In addition, her team is gathering information from pre-k teachers about their practices during COVID, their experiences with COVID, and their contact with participating children.
The first wave of data collection has been completed and Dr. Bub hopes to use the first results to determine the impact to the Fall of 2020 when the children return to school.
Research data will be gathered 5 times across 2 years (spring pre-k, fall and spring kindergarten, and fall and spring first grade).