Atkinson Centre Graduate Student Internships
The Atkinson Centre Internships were established with the support of the Atkinson Charitable Foundation to build knowledge capacity of graduate students in early childhood policy development. The purpose of the Atkinson Internships includes providing students with stronger training and key skills to bolster their experience and to strengthen their understanding of policy implications on children and families. The internships are also expected to support opportunities for pre-employment experience.
Saba Mir
Doctoral Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern at the City of Toronto Children's Services Division
PhD Comprehensive: City of Toronto - Children's Services
Project #1: Clustering of Services and Collaborative Behaviours
As a Research Manager at Toronto Children's Services, Saba coordinates the Atkinson Centre's involvement in a study investigating service integration in the early years. Of particular interest are the current models facilitating collaboration and integration between various services. Data will also be collected from key informant interviews, community-level information (Census and other demographics data), school board data (EDI, LOI scores), and the Toronto Operating Criteria. Results will assist in informing Phase 2 of Toronto's Best Start Plan.
Project #2: 2010-2014 Child Care Service Plan
The City's Child Care Service Plan guides the funding and management of Toronto's Child Care System. Saba is also involved in the preparation of the 2010-2014 Service Plan's community engagement piece that hopes to collect information from operators, service providers, and parents regarding their views of the Plan's revised directions for the next five years.
Mahshid Azimi
Doctoral Candidate and Atkinson Centre Intern at the Peel District School Board
PhD Comprehensive: Peel District School Board
In collaboration with the Peel District School Board research team and community collaborative, Mahshid is involved in an asset mapping study for Understanding the Early Years Malton project. She developed parent and youth surveys using indicators that focus on safety, cohesion, and quality of life. As part of the research project, she will create a community report card based on the key findings of the study. Mahshid’s responsibilities include liaising with community collaborative, survey design and development, data collection and analysis, and report-writing.
Yang Cathy Luo
Doctoral Candidate & Atkinson Centre Intern at the Toronto District School Board
PhD Comprehensive: Toronto District School Board
Yang’s internship project is undertaken in collaboration with the Research Department and the Parenting and Family Literacy Centres of the Toronto District School Board. Yang is involved in Phase III of the long-term research project that examines the impact the TDSB’s Parenting and Family Literacy Centres have on young children and their parents/caregivers. Particularly, the Phase III research is intended to substantiate key findings yielded in the first two stages, and takes in-depth look at effects on student readiness for formal schooling, parent participation, and parent involvement at home, as well as gender difference in children’s response to the PFLC programs. Analyses and interpretation will be based on existing data, such as EDI, Developmental Reading Assessment Scores, report cards, attendance, and also through parent and parent worker survey, on-site observations, and informal interviews with individual centre users and focus groups. Yang’s responsibilities include interview questions and survey design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and report writing.