Lia E Sandilos
Biographic Data
| ID | 4420299 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lia E Sandilos |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lia E |
| FAMILY NAME | Sandilos |
| SIGNATURE | SANDILOS L E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lehigh University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7474-6636 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Preschool Teachers’ Metalinguistic Talk During Storybook Reading: Vocabulary Transfer and Messages for Word Learning
Student vocabulary size in preschool predicts later literacy outcomes. With many words to master, effective preschool teaching must not only focus on specific words but also on word-learning strategies, with metalinguistic awareness being one strategy. Research supports metalinguistic instruction in upper elementary grades, but few studies explore preschool metalinguistic teacher talk. Research Findings: This study analyzed nine teachers’ use of …
Aligning Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Professional Development to Support Multilingual Learners of English in Elementary Schools
Teachers enter increasingly linguistically diverse classrooms, and report being ill-prepared to support the learning of multilingual learners of English (MLEs) in the early grades. This study explored the potential of a dual-pathway approach where paired in-service mentors and pre-service mentees are provided with aligned and synchronized professional development (PD) content on effective practice for MLEs. The efficacy of this approach was explo…
A mixed methods study examining how classroom experiences cultivate respect in Middle school students
The Influence of Social-Emotional Learning Programs on Key Outcomes for Dual Language Learners in Head Start
Research Findings: Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in U.S. preschools increasingly experience social emotional learning (SEL) programs. Limited research has explored whether SEL programs benefit DLL development. This study takes an ecological systems and sociocultural approach to address this gap. Using data from a group-randomized controlled trial with Spanish-speaking DLLs in Head Start (N = 374; age: M = 53.2 months), we estimated multilevel mod…
Belonging contributes to compassion: A longitudinal study of middle school students' prosocial competencies
Crucial skills for early adolescents to develop include respecting people from different backgrounds, showing empathy and compassion, and making ethical decisions in challenging situations. This exploratory study aims to understand the extent to which students' perceptions of teacher caring and belonging related to changes in their self-reported prosocial competencies ( i.e. , cultural respect, empathy, compassion, integrity)? We conducted a mult…
“The most important part of empathy is…being able to help”: Empathy definitions and teaching practices in middle school
This qualitative study explored the relationship between EL Education and Comparison school students' definitions of empathy and educators' teaching practices. We interviewed 23 5th and 6th grade students and 18 educators from nine middle schools across the United States. Students were asked to define empathy and educators described empathy teaching practices. Three themes appeared in student definitions: empathy, prosocial behavior, and empathy-…
Schoolwork With Purpose: A Mixed Methods Study on Youths’ Perspective on What Makes Learning Meaningful
Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet what is considered meaningful, meaningful to whom, and why, leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education schools compared to comparison schools, and (2) How adolescents describe meaningful schoolwork. Survey responses were gathered from 258 stude…
They’re Going Through Something, Too: The Challenges and Opportunities of Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Middle School
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental period. This study aims to fill this gap. Sixteen sixth-grade students from two middle schools in a…
Teacher gestures bridge meaning: Unpacking teacher gesture in storybook read alouds to support vocabulary
Toward a Coherent and Comprehensive Approach to Teacher Well-Being: A Synthesis of Theory and Review of Intervention Research
Teachers in the United States report persistently high levels of stress and burnout. In response, teacher well-being interventions have become increasingly prevalent in educational settings. To advance the development of a rigorous science of teacher well-being, our chapter offers a bioecological framework for understanding this construct; synthesizes findings from 15 years of peer-reviewed, published interventions; and critiques gaps in the lite…
The roles of adaptability and school climate in first-year teachers' developing perceptions of themselves, their classroom relationships, and the career
Teacher language quality in preschool classrooms: Examining associations with DLLs' oral language skills
Examining Rater Effects on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System
The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta et al., 2008) is a popular measure of teacher–child interactions. Despite its prominence, CLASS scores have fairly weak relations with various child outcomes (e.g., Zaslow et al., 2010). One potential reason for these findings could be systematic differences in observer severity. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore the scope and impact of rater effects on CLASS scores with a sam…
Burnout and Teacher–Child Interactions: The Moderating Influence of SEL Interventions in Head Start Classrooms
Research Findings: The present study explored the extent to which teachers’ participation in professional development focused on children’s social-emotional learning moderated the relation between self-reported burnout and teacher–child interactions. The sample included 307 Head Start preschool teachers who participated in a large randomized controlled trial, the Head Start CARES (Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social sk…
English learners' achievement in mathematics and science: Examining the role of self-efficacy
A Partnered Approach to School Change in a Rural Community: Reflections and Recommendations
With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany F…
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
Preschool teachers’ language and literacy practices with dual language learners
The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the degree to which teachers used linguistically responsive practices to support the language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLL) and (b) to investigate the associations between these practices and select teacher-level factors. The sample consisted of 72 preschool teachers. Observational data were collected on practices. Teachers self-reported on language and cul…
The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
Preschool teachers’ language and literacy practices with dual language learners
The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the degree to which teachers used linguistically responsive practices to support the language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLL) and (b) to investigate the associations between these practices and select teacher-level factors. The sample consisted of 72 preschool teachers. Observational data were collected on practices. Teachers self-reported on language and cul…
Schoolwork With Purpose: A Mixed Methods Study on Youths’ Perspective on What Makes Learning Meaningful
Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet what is considered meaningful, meaningful to whom, and why, leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education schools compared to comparison schools, and (2) How adolescents describe meaningful schoolwork. Survey responses were gathered from 258 stude…
They’re Going Through Something, Too: The Challenges and Opportunities of Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Middle School
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental period. This study aims to fill this gap. Sixteen sixth-grade students from two middle schools in a…
Teacher gestures bridge meaning: Unpacking teacher gesture in storybook read alouds to support vocabulary
The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review
Preschool teachers’ language and literacy practices with dual language learners
The purposes of this study were to (a) examine the degree to which teachers used linguistically responsive practices to support the language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLL) and (b) to investigate the associations between these practices and select teacher-level factors. The sample consisted of 72 preschool teachers. Observational data were collected on practices. Teachers self-reported on language and cul…
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
A Partnered Approach to School Change in a Rural Community: Reflections and Recommendations
With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany F…
Burnout and Teacher–Child Interactions: The Moderating Influence of SEL Interventions in Head Start Classrooms
Research Findings: The present study explored the extent to which teachers’ participation in professional development focused on children’s social-emotional learning moderated the relation between self-reported burnout and teacher–child interactions. The sample included 307 Head Start preschool teachers who participated in a large randomized controlled trial, the Head Start CARES (Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social sk…
English learners' achievement in mathematics and science: Examining the role of self-efficacy
Examining Rater Effects on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System
The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta et al., 2008) is a popular measure of teacher–child interactions. Despite its prominence, CLASS scores have fairly weak relations with various child outcomes (e.g., Zaslow et al., 2010). One potential reason for these findings could be systematic differences in observer severity. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore the scope and impact of rater effects on CLASS scores with a sam…
Toward a Coherent and Comprehensive Approach to Teacher Well-Being: A Synthesis of Theory and Review of Intervention Research
Teachers in the United States report persistently high levels of stress and burnout. In response, teacher well-being interventions have become increasingly prevalent in educational settings. To advance the development of a rigorous science of teacher well-being, our chapter offers a bioecological framework for understanding this construct; synthesizes findings from 15 years of peer-reviewed, published interventions; and critiques gaps in the lite…
The roles of adaptability and school climate in first-year teachers' developing perceptions of themselves, their classroom relationships, and the career
Teacher language quality in preschool classrooms: Examining associations with DLLs' oral language skills
“The most important part of empathy is…being able to help”: Empathy definitions and teaching practices in middle school
This qualitative study explored the relationship between EL Education and Comparison school students' definitions of empathy and educators' teaching practices. We interviewed 23 5th and 6th grade students and 18 educators from nine middle schools across the United States. Students were asked to define empathy and educators described empathy teaching practices. Three themes appeared in student definitions: empathy, prosocial behavior, and empathy-…
Schoolwork With Purpose: A Mixed Methods Study on Youths’ Perspective on What Makes Learning Meaningful
Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet what is considered meaningful, meaningful to whom, and why, leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education schools compared to comparison schools, and (2) How adolescents describe meaningful schoolwork. Survey responses were gathered from 258 stude…
They’re Going Through Something, Too: The Challenges and Opportunities of Empathy and Prosocial Behavior in Middle School
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental period. This study aims to fill this gap. Sixteen sixth-grade students from two middle schools in a…
Teacher gestures bridge meaning: Unpacking teacher gesture in storybook read alouds to support vocabulary
A mixed methods study examining how classroom experiences cultivate respect in Middle school students
The Influence of Social-Emotional Learning Programs on Key Outcomes for Dual Language Learners in Head Start
Research Findings: Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in U.S. preschools increasingly experience social emotional learning (SEL) programs. Limited research has explored whether SEL programs benefit DLL development. This study takes an ecological systems and sociocultural approach to address this gap. Using data from a group-randomized controlled trial with Spanish-speaking DLLs in Head Start (N = 374; age: M = 53.2 months), we estimated multilevel mod…
Belonging contributes to compassion: A longitudinal study of middle school students' prosocial competencies
Crucial skills for early adolescents to develop include respecting people from different backgrounds, showing empathy and compassion, and making ethical decisions in challenging situations. This exploratory study aims to understand the extent to which students' perceptions of teacher caring and belonging related to changes in their self-reported prosocial competencies ( i.e. , cultural respect, empathy, compassion, integrity)? We conducted a mult…
Preschool Teachers’ Metalinguistic Talk During Storybook Reading: Vocabulary Transfer and Messages for Word Learning
Student vocabulary size in preschool predicts later literacy outcomes. With many words to master, effective preschool teaching must not only focus on specific words but also on word-learning strategies, with metalinguistic awareness being one strategy. Research supports metalinguistic instruction in upper elementary grades, but few studies explore preschool metalinguistic teacher talk. Research Findings: This study analyzed nine teachers’ use of …
Aligning Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Professional Development to Support Multilingual Learners of English in Elementary Schools
Teachers enter increasingly linguistically diverse classrooms, and report being ill-prepared to support the learning of multilingual learners of English (MLEs) in the early grades. This study explored the potential of a dual-pathway approach where paired in-service mentors and pre-service mentees are provided with aligned and synchronized professional development (PD) content on effective practice for MLEs. The efficacy of this approach was explo…
Psychology (16 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (12 works) · Developmental psychology (10 works) · Mathematics education (10 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Literacy (5 works) · Dual language (4 works) · Educational and Psychological Assessments (4 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (4 works)