Degrees and Certifications

• Ph.D., Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • Specialization: Early Childhood Unified

• M.A., Early Childhood Studies, Boise State University, Boise, ID

• B.A., English, Phi Beta Kappa, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Responsibilities

I am a faculty member in Early Childhood Education in the Teacher Education Division, and engage in research, teaching, and service related to inclusive early childhood and early childhood special education. 

Biography

My experiences in and out of the classroom have been framed by my belief in the importance of equity and the role of high-quality, inclusive education in promoting equitable outcomes for children and families from marginalized and multiply-marginalized backgrounds, particularly families of color and families experiencing poverty. These commitments stem from my six years as a preschool teacher in a variety of inclusive settings in Arizona and Idaho.

Area of Expertise

• Home Visiting 
• Family-Professional Partnerships and Power Dynamics
• Shared Decision-Making

 

Research Interests

My scholarship focuses on promoting equitable family partnerships in inclusive early childhood contexts, with particular emphasis on families from marginalized and multiply-marginalized backgrounds. I investigate how families and early educators communicate as they make decisions about young children’s learning and development, and how early educators reflect on decision-making. Drawing on sociocultural and discourse theory, I implement a mixed methods approach to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze detailed transcripts of decision-making interactions. I also partner with early educators in video analysis of their practice with families, fostering reflection that can contribute to more equitable decision-making with all families.

Awards

• 2023: College of Education Faculty Innovation Award, with A. L. Miller and P. Arya, for the research project CyCLE: Collaboratively Co-Designed Literacy Experiences
• 2020: American Educational Research Association Family, School, and Community Partnerships Special Interest Group Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2nd place

 

Grants

• Hancock, C. L. (2023). Families of Infants and Toddlers Designing Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators (FIT PD). PNC Foundation. Principal Investigator. $20,000.

• Hancock, C. L. (2023). CyCLE: Collaboratively Co-Designed Literacy Experiences. Bridge Funding. Office of the Vice President for Research & College of Education, Wayne State University. Co-Principal Investigators A. L. Miller & P. Arya. $8,000.

• Hancock, C. L. (2022). CyCLE: Collaboratively Co-Designed Literacy Engagement. Social Sciences Research Support Program, Wayne State University. Principal Investigator. Co-Principal Investigators A. L. Miller & P. Arya. $10,000.

• Hancock, C. L. (2021). Project RED: Reflecting on Equitable Decisions. Early On Center for Higher Education Faculty Grant, Clinton County Regional Educational Services Agency. Principal Investigator. $7,000.

• Hancock, C. L. (2020). Project DECIDE: Parent and Home Visitor Decision-Making to Enhance Development of Children Experiencing Poverty. University Research Grant Program, Wayne State University. Principal Investigator. $10,000. 

 

Community Engagement Activities

Recent Service to the Field

• Member, Editorial Board of Young Exceptional Children, 2019-present

• Member, Research Committee, Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, 2020-2024

• Selected Guest Reviewer
  • Journal of Early Intervention, 2022-present
    
  • Equity & Excellence in Education, 2022-present
  • Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 2020-present
  • Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2019-present
  • International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2017-present

Recent Service to the Community

• Member, Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Early Childhood General and Special Education (Birth–Kindergarten) Content Advisory Committee, 2021-2024

• Member, Review Team for the Michigan Department of Education Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Early Childhood General and Special Education (Birth-Kindergarten), 2019

• Education Advocate, Families Together, Inc. Parent Training and Information Center, 2017-2019
  • Served as legal educational decision-maker for children with disabilities in the custody of the State of Kansas

 

Presentations

Recent Refereed National or International Presentations

• Hancock, C. L. (2024, September). Who leads home visit decision-making, and how? A qualitative study. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, New Orleans, LA.
• Morgan, C. W., & Hancock, C. L. (2024, September). Imagining alternate possibilities for family-professional partnerships. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, New Orleans, LA. 
• Love, H. R., Morgan, C. W., Kilincci, E., & Hancock, C. L. (2024, February). Taking another look: Applying critical frameworks and methods to EI/ECSE research. Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention, San Diego, CA.
• Hancock, C. L. (2024, February). Transcribing talk to uncover complexities of family-professional partnerships. Presentation at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention, San Diego, CA. 
• Hancock, C. L. (2023, November). Engaging early interventionists in reflection on decision-making. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Minneapolis, MN. (Refereed)
• Hancock, C. L. (2023, November). Any questions? Rethinking communication for decision-making with families. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Minneapolis, MN. (Refereed)
• Hancock, C. L. (2022, September). Power, paperwork, and decision-making with families during home visits. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Chicago, IL.
• Hancock, C. L. (2022, September). Cultivating early interventionists’ reflection on decision-making with families. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Chicago, IL.
• Hancock, C. L. (2022, April). Ideologies of poverty and implications for partnerships with families during home visits. Presentation at the International Conference of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
• Hancock, C. L., Morgan, C. W., & Holly Jr., J. (2021, September). DisCrit classroom ecology: Re-Envisioning practice in preschool settings. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Online conference.
• Hancock, C. L. (2021, September). In search of shared decision-making by families and home visitors. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Online conference.
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2021, January). Perceptions of poverty and implications for partnerships during home visits. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Online conference.
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2021, January). Agree to disagree: Listen for family resistance to foster shared decisions. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Online conference.
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2019, October). Decision-making by families and early educators during Early Head Start home visits. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Dallas, TX.
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2019, October). Beyond open-ended questions: Reflecting on discourse to promote shared decision-making. Presentation at the International Conference of the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood, Dallas, TX.

Featured publications

Possibilities and power during Early Head Start Home visits: Comparing family‐ and home visitor‐opened decision‐making

Hancock, C. L. (2024). Possibilities and power during Early Head Start Home visits: Comparing family‐ and home visitor‐opened decision‐making. Infant Mental Health Journal: Infancy and Early Childhood. Advance online publication.

Keywords

Decision-making
Discourse analysis
Early Head Start
Family partnerships
Home visiting
Mixed methods research

Decision-making by families and professionals about how to support children’s development is an integral aspect of home visits. This study investigated home visit decision-making in a US program for families experiencing poverty, Early Head Start (EHS), through the following questions: What types of decisions do home visitors and families make about children’s development during EHS home visits? How and to what extent do home visitors and families participate during these decisions? A convergent mixed methods research design was implemented to investigate participation through frequency counts and discourse analysis of home visit transcripts. Home visitor participants were four women, three white and one Black. Twelve families participated (12 mothers, 2 fathers). Parents identified as white (n = 8), Black (n = 3), and multiracial (n = 3; Black and white). One parent was a bilingual Arabic and English speaker. A total of 66 decisions about children’s development were identified, with 49 decisions initiated by home visitors and 17 initiated by families. Although families talked more and took on active roles when they initiated (i.e., opened) decisions, home visitors predominantly controlled decision-making. Quantitative and qualitative participation differed only in the beginning of family-opened decisions, and home visitors gradually took more control.

Disrupting inequitable family-professional decision-making in EC/ECSE: Alternate possibilities through the humanist frame

Hancock, C. L., & Morgan, C. W. (2024). Disrupting inequitable family-professional decision-making in EC/ECSE: Alternate possibilities through the humanist frame. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Advance online publication.

Keywords

Family-professional partnerships
Decision-making
Power

Though families are recognized as educational decision-makers for their children, inequitable family-professional partnerships persist in early childhood and early childhood special education (EC/ECSE), particularly for marginalized families. In this article, we argue that to promote equitable decision-making and best meet the needs of young children from birth through age five and their families, EC/ECSE professionals can reframe family-professional partnerships through an alternate lens to disrupt and transform entrenched power dynamics. To this end, we first introduce two perspectives of knowledge and power, functionalism and humanism, and discuss how they contribute to decision-making in EC/ECSE. Then, we present a model to examine power and apply the model to contrast decision-making rooted in functionalist and humanist framings. To conclude, we provide recommendations for policy, research, and practice through the humanist frame.

Ideologies of poverty and implications for decision-making with families during home visits

Hancock, C. L. (2023). Ideologies of poverty and implications for decision-making with families during home visits. Linguistics and Education. Advance online publication.

Keywords

Discourse analysis
Family-professional partnerships
Home visiting

Early childhood professionals are increasingly called upon to be responsive to children and families experiencing poverty. Such responsiveness requires consideration of ideologies of poverty, including beliefs and assumptions about poverty that are deeply embedded within educational policy and practice. This investigation explored how four Early Head Start home visitors enacted ideologies of poverty with 12 families of infants and toddlers through their decision-making talk with families during home visits. Drawing on Gee's D/discourse theory, ideological assumptions about poverty were identified through discourse analysis of home visit transcripts, and supplemented by qualitative analysis of home visit documents and individual interviews with home visitors and families. In emphasizing parents’ ability to redress poverty through personal responsibility and individual action, identified assumptions predominantly reflected individualistic ideologies of poverty. Findings offer insight into how ideologies of poverty constrained decision-making and subtly reinforced deficit-based messages about families, despite home visitors’ empathy.

How Early Head Start home visitors foster or impede shared decision-making with families

Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2023). How Early Head Start home visitors foster or impede shared decision-making with families. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. Advance online publication. 

Keywords

Early childhood
Decision-making
Family partnerships

Rather than professional-driven decisions, shared decisions are central to family-centered philosophy and practices. This qualitative study investigated how four home visitors and 12 families engaged in institutional decision-making about 16 infants and toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start. The following research question was addressed: How do home visitor discursive strategies contribute to family participation during institutional decision-making about their child? Discourse analysis of detailed home visit transcripts focused on two phases of decision-making: (1) how home visitors opened decision-making, and (2) how home visitors signaled the opportunity for families to participate in making a choice. Although eight approaches were identified across both phases, only two aligned with features of shared decision-making. Instead, home visitors predominantly used unilateral approaches that drew on professional and curricular authority to narrow how families could participate in decision-making about their child. Unilateral approaches set the stage to enact professional recommendations without meaningful family participation, and created a context where home visitors could subtly exert decision-making control over families. Examining details of how decision-making unfolded contributes nuanced information about what shared decisions do – and do not – sound like, and offers insight into discursive strategies that better enact equitable partnerships with families.

Tensions as opportunities for transformation: Applying DisCrit Resistance to early childhood teacher education programs

Love, H. R., & Hancock, C. L. (2022). Tensions as opportunities for transformation: Applying DisCrit Resistance to early childhood personnel preparation programs. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. Special issue: Re-imagining pre-service early childhood education and care: Critical discourses and new directions. Advance online publication.

Efforts to “professionalize” early childhood through professional standards, licensure require- ments, and standardized assessments have aimed to support effective practice and rectify the pay inequities experienced by early educators. However, such initiatives can inadvertently reinforce hegemonic developmentalism and have largely served to advance white, able-bodied norms and narrow views of teaching and learning. Teacher educators endeavoring to combat racism and ableism, therefore, can encounter several tensions that result from trying to apply critical perspectives while preparing pre-service teachers for graduation and certification in the current personnel preparation landscape. In this article, the authors employ Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) Resistance to explore these tensions and offer potential ways they can serve as key opportunities for supporting equity. They discuss how teacher educators can enact DisCrit Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Solidarity to diversify the knowledge(s) that are represented in content; center and affirm the identities and gifts of multiply marginalized teachers of color; and disrupt power hierarchies.
 

Power and partnerships: Families, educators, and implications for school leaders

Hancock, C. L. (2022). Power and partnerships: Families, educators, and implications for school leaders. In C. O’Brien, W. R. Black, A. B. Danzig (Eds.), Who decides? Power, disability, and education administration (pp. 515-542). Information Age. 

Keywords

Educational decision-making
Family-educator partnerships
School leaders

Meaningful participation in educational decision-making by families from multiply marginalized backgrounds is recognized as a key element of social justice which school leaders must address to promote equitable outcomes for students and families. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present a framework to analyze ways in which power is reflected and constructed at ideological, institutional, and interactional levels during family-educator decisions. By attending to power, school leaders can deepen understandings of decision-making, and ultimately transform school systems for shared decisions. First, issues of power and asymmetry in family-educator relationships will be briefly outlined. Next, theoretical foundations of the framework will be addressed. Empirical support for the framework will then be provided, and a case example will be presented. Finally, implications for school leaders and recommendations to redistribute decision-making power will be provided. 

Moving toward more meaningful family participation during home visit decision-making

Hancock, C. L. (2021). Moving toward more meaningful family participation during home visit decision-making. Young Exceptional Children. Advance online publication.

Keywords 

Family partnerships
Early intervention
Decision-making

Decision-making between professionals and families is an integral part of early intervention, as reflected by family-centered philosophies and practices embodied in the Division for Early Childhood’s Recommended Practices. Understanding how these decisions unfold between families and early intervention practitioners (EIs) requires consideration of discourse, or language in social interaction. As such, EIs may benefit from a framework to examine how they and families communicate during decision- making. When EIs attend to discursive details of decisions, they can foster shared decisions with all families. To this end, I first briefly define decision-making and two forms of decision-making relevant to families and EIs. Next, I deconstruct decision-making by outlining its sequential components. Examples from practice are embedded to explore nuances of decision-making. I conclude by presenting recommendations to facilitate shared decisions with families. 

Counteracting dysconscious racism and ableism through fieldwork: Applying DisCrit Classroom Ecology in early childhood personnel preparation

Hancock, C. L., Morgan, C. W., & Holly Jr., J. (2021). Counteracting dysconscious racism and ableism through fieldwork: Applying DisCrit Classroom Ecology in early childhood personnel preparation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Advance online publication.

Keywords

Disability critical race theory
Fieldwork
Practicum
Personnel preparation

Early childhood personnel preparation programs must prepare future early educators who can counteract racism and ableism to provide all children with an equitable and just education. We applied Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) Classroom Ecology to early childhood and specifically to preschool settings. We argue that early childhood personnel preparation programs can utilize this framework to prepare preservice early educators to facilitate more equitable experiences for Children of Color with disabilities and their families. We discuss the importance of preparing future early educators to counteract racism and ableism through their fieldwork experiences. We also provide a brief overview of DisCrit in relation to early childhood personnel preparation and present DisCrit Classroom Ecology to apply the framework components to preschool fieldwork.

Fostering shared decisions to promote literacy: Strategies for talking with families

Hancock, C. L. (2020). Fostering shared decisions to promote literacy: Strategies for talking with families. Michigan Reading Journal, 52(3), 44-51.

Families play a critical role in their child’s literacy learning. Disconnects between family and school literacy practices can result in missed opportunities for families and educators to collaboratively promote children’s literacy. In addition, a deficit-based perspective regarding family practices can further marginalize families and impair efforts at partnerships. As a result, early childhood educators often struggle to build meaningful partnerships with families for children’s literacy. Thus, a gap exists between the intent of recommendations such as those in the Essential Instructional Practices and shared decision-making by educators and families. Because decision-making takes place through language, educators must consider intricacies of communication when exploring how decisions to promote literacy are made. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine how PK-3 educators and parents communicate as they discuss family literacy practices. I argue that when educators attend to details of language use, they can better facilitate shared decisions that build on family knowledge, priorities, and culture, thereby promoting children’s literacy. I first briefly discuss decision-making, discourse, and power. Next, I synthesize empirical research to present recommendations for PK-3 educators to foster collaborative decisions regarding family literacy.
 

Decision-making during early intervention home visits: From minimal to meaningful parent participation

Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2020). Decision-making during early intervention home visits: From minimal to meaningful parent participation. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. Advance online publication. 

Family-early educator partnerships are foundational to early childhood and early childhood special education, and collaborative decision-making regard- ing child and family need is recognized as a critical component of these partnerships. This study investigated how two Part C early intervention home visitors and four parents communicated during home visits, and discursively selected strategies to promote children’s development. The following research questions were addressed: (1) How is decision-making constructed through discourse by parents and home visitors during home visits? (2) How do decision-making structures contribute to parent participation in decision- making? Analysis of home visit transcripts and interviews with home visitors indicated that how home visitors introduced the opportunity to make a decision and addressed options with families played an essential role in the extent to which parents meaningfully participated in decision-making. Although home visitors intended to provide parents with opportunities for full participation, this was not consistently realized during home visits. Home visitors predominantly initiated and controlled discussion topics. Features of words spoken and actions taken through language contributed to interactional construction of home visitors as assessors and advice givers, with parents in more passive roles, such as informants and advice followers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

• Hancock, C. L., & Morgan, C. W. (2024). Disrupting inequitable family-professional decision-making: Alternate possibilities through a humanist frame. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. Advance online publication. 
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2024). How Early Head Start home visitors foster or impede shared decision-making with families. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 38(1), 80-103. 
• Hancock, C. L. (2023). Ideologies of poverty and implications for decision-making with families during home visits. Linguistics and Education, 78, 1-13.
• Hancock, C. L. (2023). Moving toward more meaningful family participation during home visit decision-making. Young Exceptional Children. 26(1), 42-54. 
• Love, H. R., & Hancock, C. L. (2022). Tensions as opportunities for transformation: Applying DisCrit Resistance to early childhood personnel preparation programs. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 23(4), 483-489. 
• Hancock, C. L., Morgan, C. W., & Holly Jr., J. (2021). Counteracting dysconscious racism and ableism through fieldwork: Applying DisCrit Classroom Ecology in early childhood personnel preparation. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 41(1), 45-56.
• Hancock, C. L., & Cheatham, G. A. (2021). Decision-making during early intervention home visits: From minimal to meaningful parent participation. Journal of Research in Childhood Education. 35(1), 68-90.
• Hancock, C. L. (2020). Fostering shared decisions to promote literacy: Strategies for talking with families. Michigan Reading Journal, 52(3), 44-51.
• Hagiwara, M., Palmer, S. B., Hancock, C. L., & Shogren, K. A. (2019). Sibling roles in family-school partnerships for students with disabilities during transition planning. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 42, 194-200.
• Hancock, C. L., & Miller, A. L. (2018). Using cultural historical activity theory to uncover praxis for inclusive education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 22, 937-953.
• Hancock. C. L., & Carter. D. R. (2016). Building classrooms that encourage positive behavior: The Preschool Behavior Support Self-Assessment. Young Children, 71(1), 66-73.
• Allred, K. W., & Hancock, C. L. (2015). Reconciling leadership and partnership: Tools to empower professionals and families. Young Children, 70(2), 46-65.
• Johnson, E. S., Hancock, C. L., Carter, D. R., & Pool, J. L. (2012). Self-regulated strategy development as a Tier 2 writing intervention. Intervention in School and Clinic, 48, 218-222.
• Allred, K. W., & Hancock, C. L. (2012). On death and disability: Reframing educators’ perceptions of parental response to disability. Disability Studies Quarterly, 32(4).

Refereed Book Chapters

• Hancock, C. L. (2022). Power and partnerships: Families, educators, and implications for school leaders. In C. O’Brien, W. R. Black, A. B. Danzig (Eds.), Who decides? Power, disability, and education administration (pp. 515-542). Information Age.
• Hancock, C. L., Beneke, M. R., & Cheatham, G. A. (2017). Discourse during IEP decision-making: Saying, doing, and being with families from diverse backgrounds. In C. M. Trivette and B. Keilty (Eds.), Knowing families, tailoring practice, building capacity: DEC Recommended Practices Monograph Series 3 (pp. 75-84). Washington, DC: Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Early Childhood.

Courses taught by Christine L. Hancock

Winter Term 2025 (future)

• ELE6041 - Intentional and Inclusive Teaching: The Content Areas (PK-K)

Fall Term 2024

• ELE6041 - Intentional and Inclusive Teaching: The Content Areas (PK-K)

Winter Term 2024

• ELE6041 - Intentional and Inclusive Teaching: The Content Areas (PK-K)

Fall Term 2023

• ELE2020 - Foundations of Early Childhood Education
• ELE6010 - Equitable Partnerships with Families and Communities
• ELE6070 - Family, Community and School Partnerships: Supporting Children's Learning
• SW6010 - Equitable Partnerships with Families and Communities

Winter Term 2023

• ELE6040 - Role of Content Areas in Early Childhood Education
• ELE6070 - Family, Community and School Partnerships: Supporting Children's Learning

Winter Term 2022

• ELE6030 - Assessment of Young Children in Educational Settings
• ELE6070 - Family, Community and School Partnerships: Supporting Children's Learning

Recent university news spotlights

• This bill would close a funding gap for future Michigan early childhood educators
• Researcher explores strategies to improve shared decision-making and increase effectiveness of home visit programs
• Investigators awarded $32,000 grant to help STEM teaching residents integrate technology into their classrooms

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