Faculty
Keywords
Early child development, education and policy, early literacy and cognitive development, parent involvement, family literacy, early writing, children’s drawings, French immersion, integrated full-day early learning.
Profile
Janette Pelletier teaches graduate courses in the MA program in Child Study and Education, geared to professional preparation of educators. She also teaches courses in Developmental Psychology and Education, geared to understanding early child development and applications to learning. Dr. Pelletier’s current research projects include: longitudinal studies of school-based family literacy interventions for diverse populations; Ontario’s Best Start early learning initiative; a case study of Toronto First Duty’s integrated full-day early learning including kindergarten, child care and parent-child centres; and kindergarten parenting and child care services; and kindergarten children children’s writing, drawing and metacognitive development.
Research Projects/Activities
·
Ontario Best Start Peel integrated full-day early learning Toronto First Duty:
See http://www.toronto.ca/firstduty integrated full-day early learning Toronto First Duty: See http://www.toronto.ca/firstduty
· Promoting Family Literacy in Diverse Canadian Contexts
· Young Children’s Theories about Print
· Kindergarten Children’s Drawings
· School Readiness for Diverse Families
·
Toronto First Duty: See http://www.toronto.ca/firstduty>
· For more information please contact Dr. Pelletier at jpelletier@oise.utoronto.ca
Research Interests
My research interests are in the area of early child development and education. I have been examining models of full-day early learning for kindergarten, child care and parent support programs in Toronto First Duty and in the Region of Peel. A related research area is the role of parent involvement and family literacy in children's learning in kindergarten and primary classes. My interest in cognitive development concerns
young children's developing understanding of print communication through writing and drawing. I am also interested in how childrens' developing metacognitive awareness relates to story comprehension and to home literacy practices. Toronto First Duty policy research describes the design, implementation and evaluation of an innovative integrated approach to kindergarten, child care and parenting supports in school -as-hub model. Ontario's Best Start research in the Region of Peel examines how schools, municipalities and community and agencies come together to provide opimtal early learning and care.
Applied/Clinical Interests
I am a former elementary classroom teacher in English and French immersion contexts and a former school psychologist. My research is carried out in and applies directly to kindergarten and primary classrooms. I am also engaged in program and policy research in the area of early learning and care.
Specialty Courses
HDP1211: Early Development & Education [see: http://hdap.oise.utoronto.ca/jpelletier/hdp1211.doc]
HDP2210: Introduction to Curriculum: Kindergarten [see: http://hdap.oise.utoronto.ca/jpelletier/hdp2210.doc]
Representative Publications
Pelletier, J., Doyle, A., & Hipfner-Boucher, K. (2010 in press). Family Literacy in Action: A Guide for Literacy Program Facilitators. Toronto, ON: Scholastic Education.
Pelletier, J. (2010 in press). New directions in integrated early childhood services in school-as hub models: Lessons from Toronto First Duty and Peel Best Start. To appear in N. Howe and L. Prochner (Eds.), New Directions in Early Childhood Care and Education in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Harper, S., Platt, A., & Pelletier, J. (2010 in press). The effect of a family literacy intervention on the early reading development of English Language Learners. Early Education and Development.
Janmohamed, Z., & Pelletier, J. (2010 in press). Implementing early learning programs in Ontario schools: Lessons from Toronto First Duty and Peel Best Start. Ontario Principal’s Council Register. Toronto, Ontario.
Arimura, T., Corter, C., Pelletier, J., Janmohamed, Z., Patel, S., & Ioannone, P. (2010 in press). Schools as integrated hubs for young children and families: A Canadian Experiment in Community Readiness: The Toronto First Duty Project. In D. Laverick & M. Jalongo (Eds.), Transitions to care and early education. Springer Science.
Zhang, J. & Pelletier, J. (2009). Assessing kindergarten children’s conceptions of print in China and Canada: A cross-cultural comparison. Hong Kong Journal of Education, Special Issue on Learning and Assessment in Early Childhood, 8(1), 6-13.
Pelletier, J. (2008). The role of parents, families and caregivers in young children's literacy development: A review of programs and research. Peer-reviewed policy paper. London, ON: The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. Available online at:www.cllrnet.ca/NSEL.
Corter, C., Patel, S., Pelletier, J., & Bertrand, J. (2008). The Early Development Instrument as an evaluation and improvement tool for school-based, integrated services for young children and parents: the Toronto First Duty Project. Early Education and Development.19(5), 1-22.
Patel, S., Corter, C., & Pelletier, J. (2008). What do Families Want? Understanding their goals for early childhood services. In M. Cornish (Ed.) Promising Practices for Partnering with Families In the Early Years (pp. 103-135). Family School Community Partnership Monograph series. Information Age Publishing.
Pelletier, J. & Lasenby, J. (2007). Writing development among young English-speaking children. L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature, Special Issue on Invented Spelling, 7(3), 81-107.
Pelletier, J., Halewood, C., & Reeve, R. (2006). Young children’s knowledge-building and literacy development through Knowledge Forum®. Early Education and Development, 17(3), 323–346.
Cleveland, G., Corter, C., Pelletier, J., Colley, Bertrand, J., & Jamieson, J. (2006). A Review of the State of the Field of Early Childhood Learning and Development in Child Care, Kindergarten and Family Support. Prepared for the Canadian Council on Learning. Toronto: Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, OISE/University of Toronto. June.
Pelletier, J. (2006). Relations among theory of mind, metacognitive language, reading skills and higher order story comprehension in L1 and L2 learners. In A. Antonietti, O.Liverta- Sempio, A.Marchetti Eds.), Theory of Mind and Language in Developmental Conexts (pp. 77-92). New York, NY : Springer Publishers.
Pelletier, J. & Corter, C. (2005). Design, implementation and outcomes of a school readiness program for diverse families. The School Community Journal, 15 (1), 89-116.
Pelletier, J. & Corter, C. (2005). Toronto First Duty: Integrating Kindergarten, Childcare and Parenting Supports to help Diverse Families Connect to Schools. The Multicultural Education Journal, Special Issue on Families and Multicultural Education, 13(2) 30-37.
Pelletier, J., & Corter, C. (2005). Integration, Innovation, and Evaluation in School-Based Early Childhood Services. In B. Spodek and O. Sarracho (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children. Third Edition (pp. 477-496). Matwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Corter, C., & Pelletier, J. (2005). Parent and community involvement in schools: Policy panacea or pandemic? In N. Bascia, A. Cumming, A. Datnow, K. Leithwood and D. Livingstone (Eds.), International handbook of educational policy (pp. 295-327). Dordrecht, the Netherlands : Kluwer.
Astington, J. W. & Pelletier, J. (2005). Theory of mind, language, and learning in the early years: Developmental origins of school readiness. In B. D. Homer & C. Tamis-Lemonda (Eds.), The development of social cognition and communication (pp. 205-230). Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum.
Pelletier, J. & Astington, J. W. (2004). Action, consciousness and theory of mind: Children’s ability to coordinate story characters’ actions and thoughts. Early Education and Development, 15 (1), 5-22.
