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Accepting new graduate students

parkso@uw.edu

Phone

206-616-3029

Office

Miller 322C

Website

https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0002-0861-4133

Area

Learning Sciences & Human Development

Research Interests

Development of Children & Youth

Early Childhood

Educational Policy

Equity Studies

Immigration and Schooling

Learning Sciences & Human Development

Literacy

Policy & Educational Reform

Qualitative Research Methods

Quantitative Research Methods

Soojin Oh Park

Associate Professor

Co-Program Director, Learning Sciences & Human Development

Early Care and Education Early Childhood and Family Studies Education, Equity and Society Learning Sciences & Human Development

Dr. Soojin Oh Park is a tenured Associate Professor and Program Co-Director of Learning Sciences & Human Development at the University of Washington College of Education. An interdisciplinary developmental scientist and community-engaged researcher, her scholarship addresses critical gaps in early childhood education (ECE) and parenting through an equity-driven lens. Her methodology leverages qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to disrupt the mechanisms of social stratification and racial ethnic disparities impacting children and families from the earliest years of life.

Dr. Park's asset-based research agenda operates at the intersection of three core strands:

Multilingual Learners in Early Childhood: Examining how families and communities support the early language and literacy development of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) / emergent bilingual children, and subsequently generate transformative possibilities in ECE.
Culturally Grounded Parenting: Amplifying culturally embedded parenting practices across diverse community, transnational, and digital landscapes to shift school systems and public policies away from deficit-oriented frameworks toward approaches that honor family cultural strengths.
Advancing Asset-based Policymaking & Teacher Education: Co-designing, implementing, and evaluating equity-driven improvements in early learning environments, public policies, and ECE teacher preparation to better serve historically marginalized communities.

Demonstrating a strong commitment to systemic capacity building, Dr. Park serves as core faculty across several programs, including the Early Care and Education (ECE) program (B.A.), the Early Childhood and Family Studies (ECFS) program (B.A.), the P-3 Certification Online B.A. degree program, the Early Childhood Policy specialization (M.Ed.), and the Learning Sciences & Human Development program (M.Ed./Ph.D.). Her large-scale collaborations have been supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bezos Family Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Heising-Simons Foundation, National Center for Children and Families, National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families, and UNICEF. As a Principal Investigator, she currently directs several projects, including:

FAMILY (Fathers And Mothers Investing in the Learning of Young Children)
BASECAMP (Bolstering & Amplifying Students in Early Childhood via Asset-based Multilingual Pedagogies)
RECLAIM² (Restoring Equity through Cultural & Linguistic Assets: Investigating Measures & Moderators): A Quantitative Reframing of Head Start Treatment Heterogeneity for Dual Language Learners
Designing for Linguistic Justice: Co-designing Professional Development with Early Childhood Educators in Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs.

Education

Ed.D., Human Development and Education, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education

M.Ed., Educational Policy and Analysis, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education

M.S.Ed., Learning, Teaching, and Literacies, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education

B.A., Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

Expertise

Early Language & Literacy Development

Dual Language Learners (DLLs) / Emergent Bilingual Children

Parenting in the Context of Culture, Race/Ethnicity, Immigration, and Social Class

Family Literacy & Language Socialization in Early Childhood

Early Literacy Instruction

Certifications

Pennsylvania State PreK-4 Teacher Certification

Courses Taught

ECFS 410 Supporting Language and Literacy Learning in Preschool (Offered annually in Autumn)

EDPSY 567 Bilingual and Biliteracy Development in Early Childhood: Advancing Equity-Driven Policies and Practices (Offered Annually in Autumn)

ECFS 315 Parenting and Child Development: Socioeconomic & Racial Inequities in the First Years of Life (Offered Annually in Winter; Fulfills Diversity & Writing Requirements)

EDPSY 550 Parenting and Early Learning: Class, Race, and Family Life (Offered Annually in Winter; Graduate Seminar)

Fellowships, honors and awards

SRCD Horowitz Early Career Scholars Program Mentor, Wallace & Spencer Foundations.
Early Childhood Policy in Institutions of Higher Education Scholars’ Award, National Center for Children and Families, Columbia University.
Outstanding Research Paper Award, Korean American Educational Research Association & the Embassy of Republic of Korea in the USA
Distinguished Paper Award, Washington Educational Research Association.
Best Article of the Year Award, Journal of School Psychology
SRCD Federal Policy Fellowship.
Emerging Scholar Fellowship, National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families.
Julius B. Richmond Fellowship, Harvard Center on the Developing Child.
Harvey Fellowship, The 28twelve Foundation.
Presidential Scholar Fellowship, Harvard University.
Teaching Fellowship, Harvard University.
Dean's Education Fellowship, Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Klingenstein Summer Fellowship, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Publications

Park, S. O., & Yamamoto, Y. (Special Issue Editors). (in press). Asian Immigrant-Origin Parenting: Culturally Grounded, Agentic, and Contextual Processes of Family Support for Child and Youth Thriving. Research in Human Development.
Park, S. O., & Cho, N. H. (in press). “That’s My Mission and My Battle”: Building Belonging and Crowdsourcing Cultural and Linguistic Assets among Korean Immigrant-Origin Parents for Their Bilingual Children. Research in Human Development.
Park, S. O., & Hassairi, N. (2026). Differential Pathways of Parenting Support: Exploring Head Start’s Stronger Effects on the Early Literacy Skills of Dual Language Learners. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 76(3), 335-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2026.03.016
Park, S. O., Li, K., & Asiedu-Ofei, C. (2026). Rooted in community, rising for justice in early childhood: Everyday routines as practices of family survivance towards equitable futures. In M. Varghese, A. Elfers, M. Plecki, & A. Rajendran (Eds.), Centering communities of color in statewide school transformation: Establishing just policies and practices. Teachers College Press.
Park, S. O., Joseph, G. E., Hertzog, N. B., Conkling, T., Hassairi, N., Moricet, M., Olsen-Phillips, C., Holm Tobin, E., Branson-Thayer, M., & Halverson, T. (2025). Data to prove or improve?: A cross-case analysis of state prekindergarten quality improvement through Research-Practice Partnerships. International Journal of Early Childhood Education, 31(1), 215-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.18023/ijece.2025.31.1.010
Park S. O., & Xu, C. (2024). Parental attitudes and practices of Chinese immigrant families supporting emergent bilingual children’s Heritage Language Maintenance (HLM). International Journal of Early Childhood Education, 30(2), 99-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.18023/ijece.2024.30.2.005
González, A. P., & Park S. O. (2024). Culturally responsive assessment of multilingual learners: Preschool teachers’ (re)construction of pedagogical possibilities towards justice (Issue No. 12). AERA Bilingual Education Research SIG Research Brief.
Park, S. O. (2023). Transforming a cemetery into a garden of languages: A justice-oriented, family-centered framework for cultivating early bilingualism and emergent biliteracy. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24(2), 97-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491231169762
Park, S. O., & Hassairi, N. (2021). What predicts legislative success of early care and education policies?: Applications of machine learning and natural language processing in a cross-state early childhood policy analysis. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246730.
Capotosto, L., Kim, J. S., Burkhauser, M., Park, S. O., Mulimbi, B., Donaldson, M., & Kingston, H. C. (2017). Family support of third-grade reading skills, motivation, and habits. AERA Open, 3(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417714457
Weiland, C., McCoy, D., Grace, E., & Park, S. O. (2017). Natural window of opportunity? Low-income parents’ responses to their children’s impending kindergarten entry. AERA Open, 3(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416681509
Park, S. O., & Yoshikawa, H. (2017). Contemporary immigration policy and early childhood development. In E. Votruba-Drzal and E. Dearing (Eds.), Handbook of Early Childhood Development Programs, Practices, and Policies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Warren, M. R., Park, S. O., & Tieken, M. C. (2016). The formation of community engaged scholars advancing equitable policy and practice: A collaborative approach to doctoral training in educational research. Harvard Educational Review, 86(4), 233-260. https://doi.org/10.17763/0017-8055.86.2.233
Schindler, H. S., Kholoptseva, J., Oh, S. S., Yoshikawa, H., Shonkoff, J. P., Duncan, G. J., & Magnuson, K. (2015). Maximizing the potential of early childhood education to prevent externalizing behavior problems: A meta-analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 53(3), 243-263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2015.04.001
Britto, P. R., Yoshikawa, H., Ponguta, L. A., Reyes, M., Oh, S. S., Dimaya, R., Nieto, A. M., & Seder, R. (2014). Strengthening systems for integrated early childhood development services: Cross-national analyses of governance. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1308, 245-255. https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12365
Oh, S. S. & Yoshikawa, H. (2012). Examining spiritual capital and acculturation across ecological settings: Developmental implications for children and youth in diverse immigrant families. The Impact of Immigration on Children’s Development, 77-98. https://doi.org/10.1159/000331029
Snow, C. E., & Oh, S. S. (2010). Assessment in early literacy research. In S. B. Neuman and D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy Research. (Vol. 3, pp. 375-395). New York: Guilford Press.
Afolabi, K. P., Bocala, C., DiAquoi, R., Hayden, J. M., Liefshitz, I., & Oh. S. S. (Eds.) (2011). Education for a Multicultural Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. [equal authorship]
Catone, K., Chung, C. K., & Oh, S. S. (2011). An appetite for change: Building relational cultures for educational reform and civic engagement in Los Angeles. In M. R. Warren, K. L. Mapp, and the Community Organizing and School Reform Project (Eds.), A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform, (Chapter 3, pp. 66-98). New York: Oxford University Press. [equal authorship]
Oh, S. S., & Cooc, N. (2011). Immigration, Youth and Education: Editors’ Introduction. Harvard Educational Review, 81(3), 397-407. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.81.3.w310738k22303n37

Grants awarded

2023-2025 Co-PI (PI David Knight), Developing New Leaders and Growing the Field of Early Childhood Policy. Early Childhood Policy in Institutes of Higher Education.

2021-2023 Co-PI (PI Holly Schindler), Center for Early Childhood Policy and Equity. The Buffett Early Childhood Fund and Heising-Simons Foundation.

2019-present PI, The Fathers and Mothers Investing in Learning of Young Children (FAMILY) Study. University of Washington College of Education.

2019-2020 Faculty Collaborator (PIs: Manka Varghese, Marge Plecki, Ana Elfers), A Roadmap to Reducing Barriers to Educational Injustice in Washington State. Washington Education Association.

2017-2020 Co-PI (PI Gail Joseph), Cultivating Research-Policy-Practice Partnerships for Improving Prekindergarten Quality. Gates Foundation.

News features

Study: Early start on social skills keys better behavior

Placing a greater emphasis on social skills in early childhood education than is currently the norm could significantly reduce antisocial or aggressive behaviors later in life, new research from the University of Washington College of Education finds.