Biography
Dr. Sharon Wolf is an applied developmental psychologist who studies how children's family and educational environments shape their development. Dr. Wolf's research informs interventions and tests the effectiveness of theoretically informed policy solutions designed to promote childhood development and learning through randomized field experiments.
Dr. Wolf directs the Early Childhood Education and Family Studies (ECEFS) Certificate Program, which prepares students for work in roles across the early childhood education sector. She also leads the RIPPLE (Research and Interventions Promoting Positive Learning Environments) Lab at Penn GSE.
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn GSE, Dr. Wolf was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Global TIES for Children research center at New York University and a National Poverty Fellow with the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was in residence at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Quantitative Analysis from New York University.
Education
- Ph.D. (Applied Psychology) New York University, 2014
- B.A. (Psychology) University of Pennsylvania, 2006
Areas of Expertise
- Poverty and child development
- Risk and resilience
- Early childhood education
- School readiness
- Teacher professional development
- Program evaluation
More Information
Academic Programs
Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development, M.S.Ed. Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development, Ph.D. International Educational Development, M.S.Ed.Research Interests and Current Projects
Dr. Wolf’s work focuses on three primary areas: developing and evaluating interventions to improve educational quality and child learning outcomes; the measurement of educational settings and children’s learning outcomes; and understanding the links between poverty, education, and child development. She has conducted several longitudinal evaluation studies of educational and anti-poverty programs that allow for the investigation of program impacts over time and the study of how development unfolds across childhood.
Dr. Wolf has conducted several research–policy–practice partnerships, including work with the Ministry of Education in Ghana and the Ministry of Education and Literacy in Cote d'Ivoire to evaluate and improve several teacher professional development programs and children's learning outcomes. Dr. Wolf is also currently partnering with the Centre for Girls Education in Zaria, Nigeria to study the medium-term impacts of their Preschool Safe Spaces program, a Montessori-based preschool program for marginalized girls in rural communities in Northern Nigeria.
In addition, Dr. Wolf studies the links between poverty, anti-poverty policies, and child development. She studies the interplay between household economic hardship and school quality in shaping children’s development.
Publications
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Journal Editorial Boards
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Editorial Board
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
Editorial Board
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
Editorial Board