Cara Kelly

Cara is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. Cara’s academic work broadly focuses on early care and education (ECE) programs, policies that impact young children, and child development. This scholarship addresses questions about the indicators of ECE programs that promote children’s development, policies that impact these programs, and types of early relationships that are associated with children’s short- and long-term outcomes. Specifically, her mixed methods dissertation seeks to understand how teachers in the largest ECE program in the United States, Head Start, think about and define classroom quality.
Cara received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and her Master of Education in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy from the College of Charleston. After completing her doctorate, Cara hopes to continue working in academia and focus on research related ECE programs and policies.

Recent Publication

• Kelly, C. L., Slicker, G., & Hustedt, J. T. (2022). Family characteristics, parenting behaviors, and infants’ and toddlers’ social-emotional skills. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01425-z
• Kelly, C. L., Brock, L. L., Swanson, J. D., & Russell, L. (2022). Teacher engagement scale for professional development.Journal of Educational Issues, 8(1), 261-278. https://doi.org/10.5296/jei.v8i1.19636
• Tang, J., Kelly, C. L., & Pic, A. (2021). Latent profile analysis of toddler parents’ perceptions of early care and education arrangements. Children and Youth Services Review, 129, 106206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106206
• Gutshall, C. A., & Kelly, C. L. (2021). Noncognitive influences on talent development. In J. D. Swanson & M. Van Sickle (Eds.), Talent development in school: An educator’s guide to implementing a culturally responsive talent identification and development program (1st ed., pp. 203-216). Prufrock Press Inc.
• Kelly, C. L., & Brock, L. L. (2021). Assessing the impact of teacher learning. In J. D. Swanson & M. Van Sickle (Eds.), Talent development in school: An educator’s guide to implementing a culturally responsive talent identification and development program (1st ed., pp. 261-279). Prufrock Press Inc.
• Slicker, G., Tang, J., & Kelly, C. L. (2020). Workforce-, classroom-, and program-level predictors of quality in infant and toddler programs: How subsidized programs compare with other center-based programs. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105675

Recent Presentations

• Kelly, C. L., Whitaker, A. A., & Burchinal, M. (2023, March). An empirical examination of the structure-process-outcomes model within Head Start programs. Paper presentation at the 2023 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), March 23rd-25th, Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Kelly, C. L., Stoffers, M., Whitaker, A. A., Barnes, T. N., & Rutherford, T. (2023, March). Relationship between classroom quality and children with and without disabilities’ academic and behavioral outcomes. Flash talk presentation at the 2023 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), March 23rd-25th, Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Kelly, C. L., Whitaker, A. A., & Burchinal, M. (2022, September). An empirical examination of the structure-process-outcomes model in early care and education. Paper presentation at the 2022 meeting of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), September 21st–24th, Arlington, Virginia.
• Whitaker, A. A., Watts, T., Bailey, D., Duncan, G., Jenkins, J., Lipsey, M., Amaya, J. C., Botvin, C., Cordero, T., Kelly, C. L., & Stoffers, M.(2022, September). A systematic review of research methods used to evaluate state and local pre-kindergarten programs. Paper presentation at the 2022 meeting of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE), September 21st–24th, Arlington, Virginia.
• Kelly, C. L. & Whitaker, A. A. (2022, June). Do curriculum and coaching supports in Head Start classrooms predict classroom and child outcomes. Poster presentation at the 2022 meeting of the Administration for Children and Families’ National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC), June 27th-29th, virtual conference.
• Kelly, C. L. & Brock, L. L. (2021, April). Validating a teacher engagement scale for professional development. Paper session at the 2021 Marion Steele Research Symposium, April 23rd, Newark, Delaware.
• Kelly, C. L., Slicker, G., & Hustedt, J. T. (2021, April). Contributions of mothers’ parenting behaviors to infants’ and toddlers’ social-emotional development. Poster session at the 2021 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), April 7th-9th, virtual conference.
• Tang, J., Kelly, C. L., & Pic, A. (2021, April). Latent profile analysis of toddler parents’ perceptions of child care arrangements. Poster session at the 2021 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), April 7th-9th, virtual conference.
• Slicker, G., Tang, J., & Kelly, C. L. (2021, April). Workforce and program features of quality: How does Early Head Start compare to other programs?. Paper presentation at the 2021 meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), April 7th-9th, virtual conference.
• Slicker, G., Tang, J., & Kelly, C. L. (2021, April). Comparing predictors of quality in infant and toddler early education programs operating in lower-income areas. Paper presentation at the 2021 meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), April 9th-12th, virtual conference.

Professional Experiences

• Graduate Research Assistant, University of Delaware, 2019-present
• Program Evaluator, College of Charleston, 2017-2019
• Research Specialist, College of Charleston, 2016-2017
• Research Association, University of Virginia, 2012-2017

Professional Memberships

• Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
• American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)

Past Education

• M.Ed. Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy, College of Charleston, 2016
• B.S. Psychology, College of Charleston, 2012