Tyler Wayne Watts

I am an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology in the Department of Human Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. I study educational policies designed to promote the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children from underserved communities. I worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at New York University, and I received my Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Irvine in 2017.

I am currently working on several large-scale, longitudinal, studies of early childhood development, including evaluations of the Chicago School Readiness Project, the Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K program, and the Building Blocks preschool mathematics curriculum. Across my projects, I seek understand whether interventions designed to boost children’s early cognitive and behavioral skills will make long-lasting changes on developmental outcomes.

Research Interests

Adolescent / Young Adult Developmental Transitions
Adolescents/Youth
Adulthood
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Child Policy
Children
Early Interventions or Prenatal to Age Three Interventions
Education/Schools
Family
Human Capital and Children
Income Based Interventions
Inequality
Inequality/Disparity
Long Reach of Childhood or Childhood Origins of Adult Health
Neurodevelopment
Policy (policies)
Poverty
Social Policy
Social Stratification
Social Support
Toxic Environmental Exposures
Toxic Stress

Datasets

American Community Survey
Administrative Data (state or national)
Current Population Survey
Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies Program or other Institute of Education Sciences Data
Stanford Education Data Archive
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
NCDS