Kate Zinsser

Katherine (Kate) Zinsser is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Community and Prevention Research program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Through her research Kate strives to support the social-emotional well-being and development of young children and their caregivers by conducting applied research that can benefit practice and policy. Current projects include: developing research-based tools to foster social and emotional teaching practices including child assessments, classroom observation, and professional learning strategies; exploring the ways that high-quality teachers are able to positively affect children’s social and emotional learning; and examining how organizational and ecological characteristics of educational settings – such as state education policies, quality rating improvement systems, workplace climate, and administrator practices – affect social and emotional teaching.