David Dickinson, Ed.D.
Margaret Cowan Chair and Professor of Teacher Education, Emeritus
Emeritus Member
Overview of Interests
David Dickinson is professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School of Education. He received his doctoral training at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education after teaching elementary school in the Philadelphia area five years. He has studied language and early literacy development among low-income populations, focusing on the role of oral language in literacy development and developed interventions to support language and early literacy development in preschool classrooms using professional development and curriculum-based approaches. He has authored numerous articles and co-authored books that include three volumes of the Handbook of Early Literacy Research, created tools for describing support for literacy and language learning in preschool classrooms and with Judith Schickedanz, co-authored a preschool curriculum, Opening the World of Learning published by Pearson. Currently he is developing an intervention designed to foster language learning by using book reading linked to teacher-supported play. He also is leading an effort to create an exemplary preschool in Abu Dhabi as part of an initiative by Vanderbilt University to establish a school of education in that country.
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