Faculty Research - Dr. Joohi Lee

Curriculum and Instruction REP focuses on HIPPY and Head Start Programs

Dr. Joohi Lee is an assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction department. Her research focus is teacher preparedness and promoting appropriate curriculum and demographic equity with students, specifically in mathematics.

Dr. Lee will soon begin evaluating the effectiveness of the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program within ten Head Start programs in Dallas county.  The University’s Research Enhancement Program (REP) is funding the study.  The goal of the HIPPY programs is to increase children’s school readiness by promoting parent involvement.  Because the partnership between HIPPY and Head Start only just began, Dr. Lee will look at the effectiveness of the programs through multiple standardized tests administered by DISD.  Dr. Lee is testing to see if children who participated in HIPPY were more proficient in literacy, math and social skills, and motor skills development.  A sampling of 100 students standardized test scores will be used to evaluate the relationship between the HIPPY program and school readiness.  Dr. Amber Brown, also an assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department, is the co investigator on the REP grant and has worked with the HIPPY programs since 2005.  Dr. Lee is planning to use this pilot study to obtain further research funds from the Institute of Education Science in the U.S. Department of Education. 

In addition to this study, Dr. Lee has three articles in press. The first, Children’s Communication and Socialization Skills by Types of Early Education Experiences, investigates children’s communication skills and socialization by the types of early education experiences.  The study found that there were significant differences in expressive, written language and interpersonal relationship skills based on the early education experiences of the children.  This research is a collaboration with Dr. Jill Fox, associate professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department, and will be published in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education.  Dr. Lee’s other studies focus on assessing kindergarten teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics and the needs of developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood mathematics.  These articles will be published in the International Journal of Early Childhood Education and the Journal of Early Childhood Education and Family Review.

For more information on Dr. Lee’s research, please visit Dr. Lee's Research Profile.