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Leslie M Babinski

Research Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Sanford School of Public Policy
222 Rubenstein Hall, BOX_90545, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Leslie Babinski is a research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy and director of the Duke School Research Partnership.

Dr. Babinski is principal investigator for a study funded by the Institute for Education Sciences to examine a new model for professional development for ESL and classroom teachers. The goals of the study, Efficacy of the DCCS Program: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together with Students and Families, are to support collaboration between the ESL and classroom teachers as well as increase teachers’ implementation of high-impact instructional strategies and students’ cultural wealth to facilitate language and literacy skills for English Learners.

She is co-PI for another IES-funded study, The Targeted Reading Intervention: Investigating the Efficacy of a Web-Based Early Reading Intervention Professional Development Program for K-1 English Learners is in collaboration with Steve Amendum at the University of Delaware and Lynne Vernon-Feagans at UNC Chapel Hill.

She is also collaborating with Dr. Desiree Murray from UNC Chapel Hill on an IES study called Promoting Self-Regulation to Enhance Social, Behavioral, and Academic Adjustment in Middle School

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Research Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy · 2024 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy
Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience · 2024 - Present Psychology & Neuroscience, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy · 2015 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy

In the News


Published February 3, 2025
Celebrating Duke’s New Full Professors
Published August 20, 2021
Six Duke-Penned Books to Prep for Back-to-School
Published June 7, 2019
Leslie Babinski Named Director of Sanford’s Center for Child and Family Policy

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Recent Publications


Professional Learning for ESL Teachers: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact on Instruction, Collaboration, and Cultural Wealth

Journal Article Education Sciences · July 1, 2024 Using a randomized controlled trial, we examined the impact of a teacher professional learning (PL) program on English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers’ use of evidence-based instructional strategies for multilingual learners, collaboration with classro ... Full text Cite

Association between relative age at school and persistence of ADHD in prospective studies: an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Journal Article Lancet Psychiatry · December 2023 BACKGROUND: The youngest children in a school class are more likely than the oldest to be diagnosed with ADHD, but this relative age effect is less frequent in older than in younger school-grade children. However, no study has explored the association betw ... Full text Link to item Cite

Self-Regulation Challenges and Supports in Middle Level Education: Health Education Teachers’ and School Counselors’ Views

Journal Article RMLE Online · January 1, 2023 Adolescents are in a dynamic period of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. School-based interventions that focus on social-emotional learning, including the development of self-regulation skills, have been shown to have positive impacts on st ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


BELLA Online: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together With Children and Families

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Department of Education · 2022 - 2026

Efficacy of the DCCS Program: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together with Students and Families

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Department of Education · 2018 - 2025

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of California, Berkeley · 1993 Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley · 1988 M.A.
The University of Scranton · 1985 B.S.