Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies

(PhD, University of Minnesota)

Research Interests

Early social-emotional development, child care quality, early childhood program evaluation, caregiver-child relationships, birth-to-three professional development

Contact Information

Fowler Memorial House, Room 206
Purdue University
1200 W. State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2055
Phone: (765) 494-2938
Fax: (765) 494-0503
E-mail: elickerj@purdue.edu
Website: Infant-Toddler Specialists of Indiana (ITSI)   
              Paths to QUALITY Evaluation Briefs and Technical Reports

• Biography
• Recent Publications
• Education
• Courses Recently Taught
• Honors
• External Grants
• Professional Service

Biography

Jim Elicker is Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University. He has been a child development researcher, early childhood educator, and program administrator for more than 35 years.  He currently teaches early education courses. His research focuses on child care quality and interpersonal relationships in early childhood programs. He is evaluating Paths to QUALITY, Indiana’s child care quality rating system, he is investigating children's learning as they play with large "loose parts" on the playground, and he co-directs the Infant-Toddler Specialists of Indiana (ITSI) professional resource network.

Recent Publications

 *graduate student advisee 

• Elicker, J., Langill, C., Ruprecht, K. M.*, Lewsader, J.*, Anderson, T.*, & Brizzi, M.  (in press).  Paths to QUALITY: Collaborative evaluation of a new child care quality rating and improvement system.  Early Education and Development.  
• Elicker, J., & McMullen, M. B.  (in press).  Appropriate and meaningful assessment in family-centered infant toddler programs.  Young Children.
• Elicker, J., Ruprecht, K. *, & Anderson, T.* (in press).  Observing infants’ and toddlers’ relationships and interactions in group care.  In L. J. Harrison & J. Sumsion (Eds.), Lived spaces of infant-toddler education and care. Dordrecht: Springer.
  
• Elicker, J., Wen, X.*, Kwon, K.*, & Sprague, J. B. * (in press). Early Head Start relationships: Associations with program outcomes. Early Education and Development.
• Kwon, K.*, Bingham, G. E., Lewsader, J.*, Jeon, H., & Elicker, J. (in press).  Structured task vs. free play: The influence of social context on parenting quality, toddlers’ engagement with parents and play behaviors, and parent-toddler language use.  Child and Youth Care Forum.
• Kwon, K.*, Bingham, G. E., Lewsader, J.*, Jeon, H., & Elicker, J. (in press). Structured task vs. free play: The influence of social context on parenting quality, toddlers’ engagement with parents and play behaviors, and parent-toddler language use. Child and Youth Care Forum. doi: 10.1007/s10566-013-9198-x.
• Kwon, K.*, & Elicker, J. (in press). The role of mothers’ and fathers’ parental control and co-parenting in toddlers’ compliance to parents. Early Education and Development.
• Kwon, K.*, Jeon, H., & Elicker, J. (in press). Links among coparenting quality, parental control, and toddlers' social emotional competence: Testing three process models. Journal of Family Studies.
• Elicker, J., & Barbour, N.  (2012). Introduction to the special issue: University laboratory schools in the 21st century.  Early Education and Development, 21, 157-159.
• Kwon, K.*, Jeon, H., Lewsader, J.*, & Elicker, J. (2012).  Mother-toddler and father-toddler interactions observed in dyadic & triadic family contexts.  Infant and child development, 21(4), 356-373.  doi: 10.1002/icd.1746
• McBride, B., Groves, M., Barbour, N., Horm, D., Stremmel A., Lash, M., Bersani, C., Ratekin, C., Moran, J., Elicker, J., & Toussaint, S.  (2012).  Child development laboratory schools as generators of knowledge in early childhood education: Models and approaches.  Early Education and Development, 23(2), 153-164. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2012.651068
• Elicker, J. & Thornburg, K. R. (2011). Evaluation of quality rating and improvement systems for early childhood programs and school-age care: Measuring children’s development. Research-to-Policy, Research-to-Practice Brief OPRE 2011-11c.  Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Kwon, K.* & Elicker, J.  (2011). Social IEP objectives, teacher talk, and peer interaction in inclusive and segregated preschool settings.  Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 267-277 DOI: 10.1007/s10643-011-0469-6
• Wen, X.*, Elicker, J. & McMullen, M.B.  (2011).  Early childhood teachers’ curriculum beliefs: Are they consistent with observed classroom practices? Early Education and Development, 22, 945-969.  DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2010.507495
• Rose, K.K.*, & Elicker, J.  (2010).  Maternal child care preferences for infants, toddlers and preschoolers: The disconnect between policy and preference.  Community, Work, & Family, 13(2), 205-229.
  
• Kensinger, K.*, & Elicker, J. (2008). Parental decision-making about child care. Journal of Family Issues, 29, 1161-1184.
• Wang, J.*, Elicker, J., McMullen, M., & Mao, S. (2008). Chinese and American preschool teachers' beliefs about early childhood curriculum. Early Child Development & Care, 178(3), 227-249.
• Elicker, J., Georgescu, O.*, & Bartsch, E.* (2008). Increasing the sensitivity of infant-toddler child care providers: Applying the VIPP approach. In F. Juffer, M. Bakermans-Kranenburg, & M. Van IJzendoorn (Eds.), Promoting positive parenting: An attachment-based intervention. (pp. 155-170). Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum. 
  
      

Education

• PhD, 1991, Child Psychology, University of Minnesota.
• EdM, 1976, Human Development, Harvard University.
• BS, 1972, Biology, Cornell University.

Courses Recently Taught

• HDFS 40900: Science in Preschool and Primary Grades
• HDFS 41500: Foundations of Early Childhood Education
• HDFS 42000: Developmental Foundations of Infant-Toddler Curriculum

Honors

• Hoosier Educator of the Year (Higher Education Award). Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children, 2007.

Recent External Grants

• Evaluation of Paths to QUALITY, the Indiana Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS): Phase 2. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration-Child Care Bureau. October 1, 2012-September 30, 2016. ($705,609; PI).
• Improving Adult-Child Interactions in Child Care. Issue Based Action Team (IBAT) Grant, Purdue University Extension Service. July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013. ($17,083; PI).
• Children's Social Competence and Engineering Play in the Imagination Playground. August 15, 2012-August 14, 2013. KaBOOM! Foundation. ($25,000; Co-PI, with Professor Demetra Evangelou, Engineering Education.)
• Church Sponsored Child Care: Association of Regulatory Level with Quality for Young Children. Child Care Research Scholars Program. October 1, 2011-September 30, 2012. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. ($24,930; PI, with graduate student Joellen Lewsader).

Professional Service

• Governor-appointed Member, Indiana Inter-agency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention

Editorial Boards

• Consulting Editor, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 1998-2001
• Editorial Board Member, Early Education and Development, 1997-present

Reviewer

• Child Development
• Contemporary Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Early Child Development and Care
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Early Education and Development
• Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development
• International Journal of Behavioural Development
• Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
• Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
• Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
• Teaching and Teacher Education
• Topics in Early Childhood Special Education