Skip to main content

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 in the Center for Child and Family Policy · 2025 - Present Center for Child and Family Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy

In the News


Published March 26, 2025
The Role of the Department of Education and What to Keep in Mind Moving Forward
Published February 3, 2025
Celebrating Duke’s New Full Professors
Published August 20, 2021
Six Duke-Penned Books to Prep for Back-to-School

View All News

Recent Publications


Teaching young multilingual learners: impacts of a professional learning programme on teachers’ practices and students’ language and literacy skills

Journal Article Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · January 1, 2025 Using a randomised control trial, we evaluated the impact of a year-long professional learning (PL) programme for teachers designed to support their multilingual learners’ language and literacy skills. The PL included evidence-based instructional practices ... Full text Cite

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
View All Publications

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

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications


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