University/System-Wide Initiatives
Professor Gordon led university- and system-wide initiatives at the University of Illinois and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
- The Picard Center Working Groups brought together two dozen faculty from three colleges at UL Lafayette in monthly workshops to develop a research pipeline, semester plan, mentoring network, and strong external grant proposals in areas aligned with the Picard Center's signature areas of early childhood education and healthy lifespan development.
- The Education and Learning Working Group brought together faculty from across all three campuses (Chicago, Springfield, Urbana) of the U of I and multiple disciplines to connect with one another and with external stakeholders with the goal of stimulating and supporting innovative new projects that are rigorous and relevant and that build knowledge about: (1) opportunities and challenges in education practice and policy, and, (2) strategies for supporting learning across the lifespan. (2019-2021).
- The Copyright Policy Initiative brought together faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from sociology and educational policy on the UIC campus to examine institutional and legal frameworks that lead some measures to be copyrighted and sold, whereas others are not, and considering how organizational form and mission relate to the cost, quality, and adaptability of measures (2017-2019).
- The Early Investments Initiative aimed to infuse new, rigorous evidence into decision-making about early care and education. Bringing together faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from economics, human development and family studies, educational psychology, psychology, and sociology on the U of I's Chicago and Urbana campuses, the project included multi-faceted research and engagement activities aimed at better understanding the child care marketplace, the early care and education workforce, and the quality of preschool and child care classrooms (2014-2018).
Illinois Family Impact Seminars
Professor Gordon directed the Illinois Family Impact Seminars from 2006 to 2015, a series of briefings for state legislators on family policy issues that was part of the Policy Network for Family Impact Seminars based at Purdue University.
NEW Leadership Illinois
Professor Gordon collaborated with the Conference of Women Legislators (COWL) to join the national NEW Leadership network headquartered at Rutgers University. Gordon directed the first two NEW Leadership Illinois events in 2006 and 2007, hosting college juniors and seniors with women legislators and other women leaders for a week-long summer residential event at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Research-Practice-Policy Partnerships
Professor Gordon was part of one of the first Institute of Educational Sciences' Researcher-Practitioner Partnership grants, collaborating with the Washoe County School District and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning to iteratively improve a measure of students' social and emotional competency.
Dr. Gordon collaborate on Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grant from the U.S. DHHS Administration for Children and Families led by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Illinois Department of Human Services and collaborative with the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and the Illinois Head Start Association. The project built evidence to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of new policies and programs intended to increase families’ access to high quality child care and to expand the amount of high quality child care in Illinois, and particularly in low-income communities.
Dr. Gordon collaborate on Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grant from the U.S. DHHS Administration for Children and Families led by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and the Illinois Department of Human Services and collaborative with the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies and the Illinois Head Start Association. The project built evidence to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of new policies and programs intended to increase families’ access to high quality child care and to expand the amount of high quality child care in Illinois, and particularly in low-income communities.
National Service Supporting Social Policy
Professor Gordon was a member of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Science and Social Policy Committee from 2015-2021, Chair of the Science Policy Subcommittee from 2018-2021, and is past chair of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) Committee on Research, Policy, and Public Information (previously Social Policy Committee) from 2000-2006 and 2014-2018.
Professor Gordon was a member of the strategic planning and steering committees for the University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium. She chaired the planning committee for Crossing Boundaries: Public and Private Roles in Assuring Child Well-Being, co-sponsored by the Consortium and the Council on Contemporary Families.
Professor Gordon was a member of the strategic planning and steering committees for the University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium. She chaired the planning committee for Crossing Boundaries: Public and Private Roles in Assuring Child Well-Being, co-sponsored by the Consortium and the Council on Contemporary Families.
Written Policy Dialogue
Professor Gordon contributes to written policy dialogue, including through policy briefs on high stakes policy measurement, child care funding streams and food subsidies in child care and chapters of the Illinois Report about differential response in child welfare, child care quality in Illinois, social and emotional learning standards, playful learning in early childhood, and safe infant sleep practices.