Stephanie S Zuilkowski
Biographic Data
| ID | 149946 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephanie S Zuilkowski |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephanie S |
| FAMILY NAME | Zuilkowski |
| SIGNATURE | ZUILKOWSKI S S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Florida State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6616-2764 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 90 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Transitioning learners from literacy instruction in local languages to English in Zambia: Teacher practices and parental responses
In Zambian primary schools, children begin learning to read in one of seven Zambian languages, transitioning to English as the language of instruction by fifth grade. Research on early-exit language transition in this context is limited. This case study aimed to examine this transition in four primary schools in Serenje, Zambia. Study participants included teachers, parents, and Ministry of Education officials. We found that phonics-based approac…
Books That Talk About My Dreams”: Understanding Children's Book Access, Preferences, Motivations, and Support at Home and in Nearby Environments in Rwanda
Understanding children's motivations to read and preferred materials is key to fostering reading skills and promoting a national reading culture. This study, conducted a decade after the launch of the Soma Rwanda (Rwanda Read) national reading initiative, explores children's access to books at home, their reading preferences, and the motivations driving their reading engagement. Data include focus groups with 50 students (Grades 1–6) and 49 paren…
If I do not bear such a burden today, I will bear it in the future: The reasons for private tutoring and its perceived academic impact on children in Nigeria
Theory, policy, and practice: Bridging the gap between teacher training and classroom practice in language of instruction in Zambia
This participatory action research project conducted through the USAID-funded Transforming Teacher Education activity examined how two pre-service teacher education programs in Zambia prepared teachers for primary reading instruction. College and university lecturers and in-service primary grade teachers participated in focus groups and interviews. We identified gaps between training and practice within the framework of Zambia’s language of instr…
Instructional strategies used by teachers in multilingual classes to help non-speakers of the language of instruction learn initial reading skills in Zambia
Pedagogical strategies intended for monolingual classes may not adequately address the educational needs and aspirations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, as multilingual and bilingual learners differ from monolinguals. This article sought to understand multilingual teachers’ pedagogical approaches to helping non-speakers of the language of instruction learn initial reading (decoding) skills in diverse classes of Lusaka District …
Economic vulnerabilities, mental health, and coping strategies among Tanzanian youth during Covid-19
These findings underscore the potential opportunity to promote policies and programs which address risks youth face. Recommended measures include expansion and adaptation of social protection policies, strengthened food and nutrition surveillance and referral systems, and scaling up community-based mental health programming
Differentiated meanings of education in the reintegration of ex-combatants in Colombia
With the purpose of ending wars, international organizations and governments promote reintegration projects that seek to transform combatants affiliated with illegal armed groups into citizens through education. The assumption behind these efforts is that through education, ex-combatants will become economically independent, overcome marginalization, experience personal transformations, and integrate into communities. This paper questions this op…
I can teach what’s in the book”: Understanding the why and how behind teachers’ implementation of a social‐emotional learning (SEL) focused curriculum in rural Malawi
Contextualizing the role of teachers in social‐emotional learning (SEL) in Malawi, we examine how teachers’ comfort with, commitment to, and perceived school culture toward SEL relate to their actual teaching of it. Using surveys from 432 primary school teachers (20–60 years old), we found teacher comfort and supportive school culture were positively related to integration of SEL into classroom instruction, while commitment had no statistically s…
The role of vocabulary and decoding language skills in reading comprehension: A cross-linguistic perspective
The present study explored the role of vocabulary and decoding skills in predicting reading comprehension, utilizing data from 322 first- grade children from four elementary schools in Kenya. The children were administered a comprehensive battery of tests to assess pseudo-word reading skills, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and receptive vocabulary in English and Kiswahili. The results showed that receptive vocabulary and pseudo-word…
Relative importance of early childhood development domains for schooling progression: Longitudinal Evidence from the Zambia Early Childhood Development Project
Student perceptions of school safety and student learning outcomes in a context of protracted conflict
Are Low-Cost Private Schools Worth the Investment? Evidence on Literacy and Mathematics Gains in Nairobi Primary Schools
Background/Context Low-cost private schools (LCPSs) represent a large and growing share of schools in many low- and middle-income countries, including Kenya. In some Nairobi neighborhoods, more than half of children attend LCPSs, despite policies providing free access to public education. Parents generally choose LCPSs because they believe they are higher quality, although there is little conclusive evidence supporting this belief. Objective In t…
Impact of Literacy Interventions on Reading Skills in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Meta-Analysis
Reading skills are foundational for daily lives, academic achievement, and careers. In this study, we systematically reviewed literacy interventions in low- and middle-income countries, and estimated their effects on children's reading skills using a meta-analytic approach. A total of 67 studies (N = 213,464) from 32 countries found in various databases (e.g., PsycINFO, ERIC) and sources (e.g., United States Agency for International Development) …
Once they fall pregnant, they don't come back”: Teacher perspectives on Zambia's school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers
A multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis of teacher perceptions of social and emotional learning in rural Malawi
BackgroundSocial and emotional learning (SEL) positively impacts children's school achievement and adult productivity. Successful implementation of SEL relies on teachers' pedagogical beliefs and practices.AimsWe examined whether the Teachers' SEL Belief Scale designed in the United States is adoptable in low-income countries such as Malawi in response to a growing interest in teacher practices in SEL but a lack of research instruments in these c…
Relationships Among Home Literacy Behaviors, Materials, Socioeconomic Status, and Early Literacy Outcomes Across 14 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Most research on reading acquisition is conducted in high-income countries, and the majority of the limited research from middle- and low-income countries focuses exclusively on school settings. We therefore know little about how home literacy environments (HLEs) relate to early reading skill acquisition in low-resource settings. This study uses baseline data from 18 Save the Children (SC) project sites across 14 countries in Central America, Asi…
Reforming teacher education in Nigeria: Laying a foundation for the future
Zambia’s school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers: Examining impacts beyond re-enrollment
Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: Teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides
Several rigorously evaluated programs have recently shown positive effects on early literacy and numeracy outcomes in developing countries. However, these programs have not been designed to evaluate which ingredients of the interventions are most essential to improve literacy outcomes. Policy makers therefore lack evidence as to whether program ingredients such as teacher professional development (PD), instructional coaching, learner materials, t…
Do Schooling and Urban Residence Develop Cognitive Skills at the Expense of Social Responsibility? A Study of Adolescents in the Gambia, West Africa
The recent growth of schooling and urban residence represents a major change to the cultural context of child development across Africa. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between these social changes in the Gambia and the development of both cognitive skills and behaviors viewed by participant communities as the basis for success in village life, comprising six aspects of social responsibility. We compared these skills and be…
Improving teacher training in Ethiopia: Shifting the content and approach of pre-service teacher education
Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics
Limited rigorous evidence is available from sub-Saharan Africa regarding whether children who learn to read in their mother tongue will have higher learning outcomes in other subjects. A randomised controlled trial of mother-tongue literacy instruction, the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative, was implemented in Kenya from 2013 to 2014. We compared the impacts of the PRIMR mother-tongue treatment group in two languages with those of anoth…
There is no free education nowadays’: Youth explanations for school dropout in Indonesia
Indonesia has dramatically increased school enrolment at the secondary level over the past several decades, as reflected in national statistics. However, significant variation in enrolment rates remains across regions and genders. In some areas, nearly all youth complete secondary school; in others fewer than half attend. This study investigates the reasons for secondary school dropout in Banten and Aceh, two provinces of Indonesia with lower-tha…
Conceptualising education quality in Zambia: A comparative analysis across the local, national and global discourses
Building on the Education for All movement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development re-emphasises quality education as a discrete goal. Contextualising the discussion surrounding this goal in Zambia, this study examines how education quality is conceptualised by educational stakeholders at local, national, and global levels. Triangulating teacher survey and interview data with policy documents from the government of Zambia and UNESCO, we foun…
Youth and Resilience in Postconflict Settings: An Intervention for War-Affected Youth in Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, as in conflict and postconflict settings around the world, youth are coping with their exposure to violence during conflict as well as the poverty and displacement that follow war and the stigma that can persist long after involvement with armed groups has ended. Both contextual and individual factors influence whether youth overcome these barriers successfully and resume positive life trajectories, or struggle to reintegrate int…
Poverty, physical stature, and cognitive skills: Mechanisms underlying children’s school enrollment in Zambia
Past research suggests robust positive associations between household socioeconomic status and children's early cognitive development in Western countries. Relatively little is known about these relations in low-income country settings characterized by economic adversity, high prevalence of malnutrition and infectious disease, and relatively lower school enrollment. The present study develops and empirically evaluates an adapted model of early ch…
Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: Teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides
Several rigorously evaluated programs have recently shown positive effects on early literacy and numeracy outcomes in developing countries. However, these programs have not been designed to evaluate which ingredients of the interventions are most essential to improve literacy outcomes. Policy makers therefore lack evidence as to whether program ingredients such as teacher professional development (PD), instructional coaching, learner materials, t…
Improving reading outcomes in Kenya: First-year effects of the PRIMR Initiative
Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics
Limited rigorous evidence is available from sub-Saharan Africa regarding whether children who learn to read in their mother tongue will have higher learning outcomes in other subjects. A randomised controlled trial of mother-tongue literacy instruction, the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative, was implemented in Kenya from 2013 to 2014. We compared the impacts of the PRIMR mother-tongue treatment group in two languages with those of anoth…
Teacher coaching in Kenya: Examining instructional support in public and nonformal schools
Instructional coaching has improved student outcomes in the United States, and may help to solve Kenya's literacy problems. Coaching is costly, however, and evidence is lacking regarding the most cost-efficient teacher-to-coach ratio. We used student literacy outcome data from more than 8000 students participating in the Kenya Primary Math and Reading Initiative—a randomized controlled trial of instructional interventions in public and nonformal …
Zambia’s school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers: Examining impacts beyond re-enrollment
Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya
Education policymakers are investing in information and communications technology (ICT) without a research base on how ICT improves outcomes. There is limited research on the effects of different types of ICT investments on outcomes. The Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) study implemented a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects and cost of three interventions – e-readers for students, tablets for teachers, and the base PRIMR prog…
Relationships Among Home Literacy Behaviors, Materials, Socioeconomic Status, and Early Literacy Outcomes Across 14 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Most research on reading acquisition is conducted in high-income countries, and the majority of the limited research from middle- and low-income countries focuses exclusively on school settings. We therefore know little about how home literacy environments (HLEs) relate to early reading skill acquisition in low-resource settings. This study uses baseline data from 18 Save the Children (SC) project sites across 14 countries in Central America, Asi…
Once they fall pregnant, they don't come back”: Teacher perspectives on Zambia's school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers
Improving teacher training in Ethiopia: Shifting the content and approach of pre-service teacher education
Making do’: Teachers' coping strategies for dealing with textbook shortages in urban Zambia
There is no free education nowadays’: Youth explanations for school dropout in Indonesia
Indonesia has dramatically increased school enrolment at the secondary level over the past several decades, as reflected in national statistics. However, significant variation in enrolment rates remains across regions and genders. In some areas, nearly all youth complete secondary school; in others fewer than half attend. This study investigates the reasons for secondary school dropout in Banten and Aceh, two provinces of Indonesia with lower-tha…
Assessing reading fluency in Kenya: Oral or silent assessment
In recent years, the Education for All movement has focused more intensely on the quality of education, rather than simply provision. Many recent and current education quality interventions focus on literacy, which is the core skill required for further academic success. Despite this focus on the quality of literacy instruction in developing countries, little rigorous research has been conducted on critical issues of assessment. This analysis, wh…
Differentiated meanings of education in the reintegration of ex-combatants in Colombia
With the purpose of ending wars, international organizations and governments promote reintegration projects that seek to transform combatants affiliated with illegal armed groups into citizens through education. The assumption behind these efforts is that through education, ex-combatants will become economically independent, overcome marginalization, experience personal transformations, and integrate into communities. This paper questions this op…
Student perceptions of school safety and student learning outcomes in a context of protracted conflict
A multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis of teacher perceptions of social and emotional learning in rural Malawi
BackgroundSocial and emotional learning (SEL) positively impacts children's school achievement and adult productivity. Successful implementation of SEL relies on teachers' pedagogical beliefs and practices.AimsWe examined whether the Teachers' SEL Belief Scale designed in the United States is adoptable in low-income countries such as Malawi in response to a growing interest in teacher practices in SEL but a lack of research instruments in these c…
Reforming teacher education in Nigeria: Laying a foundation for the future
Do Schooling and Urban Residence Develop Cognitive Skills at the Expense of Social Responsibility? A Study of Adolescents in the Gambia, West Africa
The recent growth of schooling and urban residence represents a major change to the cultural context of child development across Africa. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between these social changes in the Gambia and the development of both cognitive skills and behaviors viewed by participant communities as the basis for success in village life, comprising six aspects of social responsibility. We compared these skills and be…
I failed, no matter how hard I tried”: A mixed-methods study of the role of achievement in primary school dropout in rural Kenya
Early childhood malaria prevention and children's patterns of school leaving in the Gambia
BackgroundEarly childhood malaria is often fatal, but its impact on the development and education of survivors has not received much attention. Malaria impacts cognitive development in a number of ways that may impact later educational participation.AimsIn this study, we examine the long-term educational effects of preventing early childhood malaria. Does intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during early childhood reduce the risk of dropout? I…
The impact of education on sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of the evidence
Many studies have attempted to determine the relationship between education and HIV status. However, a complete and causal understanding of this relationship requires analysis of its mediating pathways, focusing on sexual behaviors. We developed a series of hypotheses based on the differential effect of educational attainment on three sexual behaviors. We tested our predictions in a systematic literature review including 65 articles reporting ass…
Healthy Skepticism: Do Adults Trust Health Information From Children in Rural Kenya
Despite the frequent use of schools and schoolchildren to disseminate information to wider communities in sub-Saharan Africa, little research has been done examining whether children are seen as trustworthy sources of information. Participants (67 women and 66 men aged 19–77 years living in coastal Kenya) listened to different claims made by an adult informant and a child informant in a video scenario. The competing claims pertained to both healt…
Improving reading outcomes in Kenya: First-year effects of the PRIMR Initiative
Early childhood malaria prevention and children's patterns of school leaving in the Gambia
BackgroundEarly childhood malaria is often fatal, but its impact on the development and education of survivors has not received much attention. Malaria impacts cognitive development in a number of ways that may impact later educational participation.AimsIn this study, we examine the long-term educational effects of preventing early childhood malaria. Does intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during early childhood reduce the risk of dropout? I…
Making do’: Teachers' coping strategies for dealing with textbook shortages in urban Zambia
Teacher coaching in Kenya: Examining instructional support in public and nonformal schools
Instructional coaching has improved student outcomes in the United States, and may help to solve Kenya's literacy problems. Coaching is costly, however, and evidence is lacking regarding the most cost-efficient teacher-to-coach ratio. We used student literacy outcome data from more than 8000 students participating in the Kenya Primary Math and Reading Initiative—a randomized controlled trial of instructional interventions in public and nonformal …
Promoting Education for Vulnerable Children by Supporting Families: A Holistic Intervention in Uganda
Despite increased access to antiretrovirals, HIV/AIDS continues to impact millions across sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda, stigmatization compounds the challenges of poverty and poor government service provision, often limiting children's school participation. Holistic family support interventions are a promising strategy to ensure that children enroll in and attend school. This article reports on the Western Uganda Bantwana Program, which worked w…
Assessing reading fluency in Kenya: Oral or silent assessment
In recent years, the Education for All movement has focused more intensely on the quality of education, rather than simply provision. Many recent and current education quality interventions focus on literacy, which is the core skill required for further academic success. Despite this focus on the quality of literacy instruction in developing countries, little rigorous research has been conducted on critical issues of assessment. This analysis, wh…
Poverty, physical stature, and cognitive skills: Mechanisms underlying children’s school enrollment in Zambia
Past research suggests robust positive associations between household socioeconomic status and children's early cognitive development in Western countries. Relatively little is known about these relations in low-income country settings characterized by economic adversity, high prevalence of malnutrition and infectious disease, and relatively lower school enrollment. The present study develops and empirically evaluates an adapted model of early ch…
Youth and Resilience in Postconflict Settings: An Intervention for War-Affected Youth in Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, as in conflict and postconflict settings around the world, youth are coping with their exposure to violence during conflict as well as the poverty and displacement that follow war and the stigma that can persist long after involvement with armed groups has ended. Both contextual and individual factors influence whether youth overcome these barriers successfully and resume positive life trajectories, or struggle to reintegrate int…
The role of timing in assessing oral reading fluency and comprehension in Kenya
Despite rapid growth in literacy-related programmes and evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, little critical attention has been paid to the relevance of assumptions that underlie existing assessment methods. This study focuses on the issue of timing in the assessment of oral reading fluency, a critical component of successful reading (Chard, Vaughn, & Tyler, 2002; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000; Pikulski & Cha…
I failed, no matter how hard I tried”: A mixed-methods study of the role of achievement in primary school dropout in rural Kenya
Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya
Education policymakers are investing in information and communications technology (ICT) without a research base on how ICT improves outcomes. There is limited research on the effects of different types of ICT investments on outcomes. The Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) study implemented a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects and cost of three interventions – e-readers for students, tablets for teachers, and the base PRIMR prog…
Dimensionality and the Development of Cognitive Assessments for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa
Over the past decade, researchers have shown increased interest in examining the cognitive development of children in non-Western countries, often in connection with evaluations of health and educational interventions. However, many studies have used Western-developed measures without proper consideration of contextual validity. Across domains-from language to cognition to non-cognitive skills-this results in varying degrees of bias that call int…
Improving teacher training in Ethiopia: Shifting the content and approach of pre-service teacher education
Examining the secondary effects of mother-tongue literacy instruction in Kenya: Impacts on student learning in English, Kiswahili, and mathematics
Limited rigorous evidence is available from sub-Saharan Africa regarding whether children who learn to read in their mother tongue will have higher learning outcomes in other subjects. A randomised controlled trial of mother-tongue literacy instruction, the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative, was implemented in Kenya from 2013 to 2014. We compared the impacts of the PRIMR mother-tongue treatment group in two languages with those of anoth…
There is no free education nowadays’: Youth explanations for school dropout in Indonesia
Indonesia has dramatically increased school enrolment at the secondary level over the past several decades, as reflected in national statistics. However, significant variation in enrolment rates remains across regions and genders. In some areas, nearly all youth complete secondary school; in others fewer than half attend. This study investigates the reasons for secondary school dropout in Banten and Aceh, two provinces of Indonesia with lower-tha…
Conceptualising education quality in Zambia: A comparative analysis across the local, national and global discourses
Building on the Education for All movement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development re-emphasises quality education as a discrete goal. Contextualising the discussion surrounding this goal in Zambia, this study examines how education quality is conceptualised by educational stakeholders at local, national, and global levels. Triangulating teacher survey and interview data with policy documents from the government of Zambia and UNESCO, we foun…
Reforming teacher education in Nigeria: Laying a foundation for the future
Zambia’s school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers: Examining impacts beyond re-enrollment
Identifying the essential ingredients to literacy and numeracy improvement: Teacher professional development and coaching, student textbooks, and structured teachers’ guides
Several rigorously evaluated programs have recently shown positive effects on early literacy and numeracy outcomes in developing countries. However, these programs have not been designed to evaluate which ingredients of the interventions are most essential to improve literacy outcomes. Policy makers therefore lack evidence as to whether program ingredients such as teacher professional development (PD), instructional coaching, learner materials, t…
Do Schooling and Urban Residence Develop Cognitive Skills at the Expense of Social Responsibility? A Study of Adolescents in the Gambia, West Africa
The recent growth of schooling and urban residence represents a major change to the cultural context of child development across Africa. The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between these social changes in the Gambia and the development of both cognitive skills and behaviors viewed by participant communities as the basis for success in village life, comprising six aspects of social responsibility. We compared these skills and be…
Once they fall pregnant, they don't come back”: Teacher perspectives on Zambia's school re-entry policy for adolescent mothers
A multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis of teacher perceptions of social and emotional learning in rural Malawi
BackgroundSocial and emotional learning (SEL) positively impacts children's school achievement and adult productivity. Successful implementation of SEL relies on teachers' pedagogical beliefs and practices.AimsWe examined whether the Teachers' SEL Belief Scale designed in the United States is adoptable in low-income countries such as Malawi in response to a growing interest in teacher practices in SEL but a lack of research instruments in these c…
Relationships Among Home Literacy Behaviors, Materials, Socioeconomic Status, and Early Literacy Outcomes Across 14 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Most research on reading acquisition is conducted in high-income countries, and the majority of the limited research from middle- and low-income countries focuses exclusively on school settings. We therefore know little about how home literacy environments (HLEs) relate to early reading skill acquisition in low-resource settings. This study uses baseline data from 18 Save the Children (SC) project sites across 14 countries in Central America, Asi…
Psychology (33 works) · Pedagogy (23 works) · Medicine (20 works) · Political science (17 works) · Mathematics education (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Developmental psychology (15 works) · Medical education (15 works) · Literacy (14 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (13 works)