University of Missouri-Kansas city

About

Carolyn Barber joined UMKC as an Assistant Professor in 2007 and is currently a Professor in the School of Education, Social Work and Psychological Sciences (SESWPS)' Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Foundations. She also serves as Associate Dean over curriculum, assessment/accreditation and graduate programs for SESWPS and as the Degree Coordinator for the Ph.D. in Education. She previously served as Interim Dean of SESWPS (2022-2023) and, prior to that, served as Interim Dean (2020-2022) and Associate Dean (2017-2020) in the UMKC School of Education.

Dr. Barber’s research explores the way that schools support positive development in adolescents and young adults, and how those supports vary across a variety of social and cultural contexts. Her primary research strand focuses on the role that such contexts play in the development of civic attitudes and behaviors, while a secondary strand considers how these contexts shape how we conceptualize giftedness, creativity, and talent. She is trained in quantitative methodologies and specializes in the use of complex-sample and multilevel techniques to address these questions using large-scale survey data. Prior research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the AERA Grants Program, and the National Science Foundation.

As a faculty member specializing in educational research and psychology, she teaches coursework in developmental psychology, educational psychology, research methodology, and statistics to students across SESWPS and the UMKC campus. She advises students in the Education Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs, and previously advised students in the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Human Development, Specialization in Educational Psychology, University of Maryland-College Park
• M.A., Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation, University of Maryland-College Park
  
• B.A., Psychology and Sociology, Music minor, Johns Hopkins University

Publications

• Bellino, M., Barber, C., Ortiz-Guerro, M., Paulsen, R., & Cruz Moreno, C., (In press). The right to truth: Students’ proximity to conflict, classroom climate and opportunities for teaching about conflict and peace in Bogotá, Colombia. Comparative Education Review.
• Barber, C., & Torney-Purta, J. (2023). International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA): Civic Education Study of 1999. In F. Maggino (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (2nd ed., pp. 3591-3597). Springer, Cham. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_393-2
• Barber, C. (2021). Joining an international community of practice: Reflections on the IEA Civic Education Studies. In B. Malak-Minkiewicz & J. Torney-Purta (Eds.), The influence of IEA Civic and Citizenship Education Studies: Practice, policy and research across countries and regions (pp. 195-203). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71102-3_17
• Barber, C., Clark, C., & Torney-Purta, J. (2021). Learning environments and school/classroom climate as supports for civic reasoning, discourse, and engagement. In C. Lee, G. White and D. Dong (Eds.). Educating for civic reasoning and discourse (pp. 273-318). National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.31094/2021/2
• Barber, C., & Ross, J. (2020). Profiles of adolescents’ civic attitudes in sixteen countries: Examining cross-cohort changes from 1999 to 2009. Research in Comparative and International Education, 15(2), 79-96. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499920910583
• Maurissen, L., Barber, C., & Claes, E. (2020). Classroom discussions and political tolerance towards immigrants: The importance of mutual respect and responsiveness. Acta Politica, 55(3), 242-266. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-018-0114-0