David Dickinson

Professor of Education, Interim Department Chair

Ed.D., Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1982

Research Area

Early literacy development, professional development

Professor Dickinson is interested in the home and classroom factors that support children's acquisition of language and literacy abilities. His work addresses both basic questions about the role of language in literacy and in practical questions about strategies for improving the literacy-learning opportunities of children. Basic research questions that he studies relate to the role of language development in the consolidation of young children's linguistic, cognitive, and social abilities in fostering literacy growth. Professor Dickinson's applied interests include efforts to identify strategies that result in enhanced learning and in work developing techniques and systems for delivering materials and professional development to teachers that are effective and cost effective.

Short Biography

David Dickinson is professor and interim Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University's Peabody School of Education.  After graduating from Oberlin College and while working toward his M. Ed at Temple University, he taught elementary school in the Philadelphia area for five years. He taught African-American children from working class homes and became interested in the role of language in literacy. He pursued his interest in language and cognition as he worked on his doctorate at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. 

After studying the association between conceptual development and vocabulary learning, he and Catherine Snow embarked on a longitudinal study of the contributions of homes and preschool classrooms to language and literacy development. They followed low-income children from age three into middle school.  He was responsible for studying children's classroom experiences, and found evidence that specific kinds of classroom experiences contribute to children's long-term language and literacy development.  The results of this study are described in Beginning Literacy with Language. 

Realizing the pressing need to enhance classroom support for language and early literacy he worked with colleagues from Education Development Center (EDC) to develop and study professional development interventions and create tools for describing classroom supports for literacy and language including the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO). 

As evidence mounted that preschool classrooms too often lack sufficient intellectual challenge or intentional support for language, Judith Schickedanz and Dickinson co-authored Opening the World of Learning (OWL), a comprehensive preschool curriculum. 

He has authored numerous articles and co-authored books that include two volumes of the Handbook of Early Literacy Research.  He continues to examine language supports in classrooms and challenges associated with enhancing program quality.

Currently he is studying the impact of OWL in a large Head Start program and is helping to lead an Early Reading First Project in Nashville.  He has participated on numerous national advisory panels, was a Commissioner for the National Association for the Education of Young Children in the revision of its accreditation standards and now is on a National Academies of Science committee that is examining the relationship between children's academic language abilities and the achievement gap.

Learn More about David Dickinson:

Projects | Courses Taught
Selected Publications | CV | Media Mentions

Media Mentions

Project Lift Off prepares pre-k grads for kindergarten
New program developed by Carin Neitzel used by YMCA to fight summer learning loss.

Rowe, Dickinson Receive Federal Grant to Develop Pre-K Language and Literacy Programs with Nashville Public Schools
Peabody College of education and human development, in partnership with Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and other community agencies, has won a three-year, $3.4 million federal grant to enhance language and literacy skills in pre-kindergarten classrooms.

Irish educators visit Vanderbilt
Exchange of best practices regarding immigration, integration and other social issues that impact educators, students

Peabody's Dickinson to advise Brazilian government on early education
Policymakers to be briefed on latest research and evidence

Small Talk
Preschool conversations are critical to long-term reading achievement.

Researchers win nearly $3 million to improve pre-school language skills
Kaiser and Dickinson were awarded a $2.99 million four-year grant to conduct a study that will simultaneously address curriculum, language content and teaching strategy in an attempt to improve language and literacy skills in high risk program enrollees.

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