Professor Studies Impact of Early Childhood on Later Outcomes

Professor George Farkas, with colleagues Marianne Hillemeier and Paul Morgan, both of Penn State, has received a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to conduct a longitudinal study of the effects of gestational, birth, and sociodemographic factors on cognitive delay and learning-related behaviors. The study, entitled Poverty, Low Birth Weight and Early Cognitive Delay: A Population-Based Approach, will use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) to examine effects at 9, 24, 48, and 60 months of age.

Professor Farkas' research centers on the achievement gap, educational inequality, early childhood, and afterschool programs.