Alexandra Nancarrow

Alexandra (Allie) joined IES as a Research Fellow in December 2021. Broadly, her main interests include using a range of quantitative skills to investigate predictors of children’s educational achievement, parent well-being, and early social cognition.

Prior to joining IES, Allie was a Research Associate at the University of York, where she examined gene-environment interplay in early life cognitive development, and a Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University, where she worked on projects related to self-regulation and academic achievement in early childhood.

Allie completed a PhD in developmental psychology with a minor in statistics at the University of Alabama, focusing on the relations among home- and neighbourhood-level factors, parent well-being, and child self-regulation in low-income families. A central theme of her research has been the academic achievement gap, which increases over time and often leads to poor outcomes late in life for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition to analysing large, longitudinal secondary datasets, she has experience training and supervising undergraduate student research assistants on large-scale intervention projects with 3- to 5-year-olds, including a two-generation socioemotional intervention and a pretend play intervention. A highlight of her research has been the collaboration of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including sociology, anthropology, education, and psychology.

In addition to publishing in the field of developmental psychology, Allie has provided statistical consulting to a public school district in Virginia and nursing faculty at the University of Alabama. She also has enjoyed communicating research to families, school personnel, and a variety of stakeholders and charities.