Anne Blackstock-Bernstein

Dr. Blackstock-Bernstein teaches courses in early childhood development, cognitive development, and educational psychology. She also teaches in the graduate program. In her courses, findings from psychological and child development research are applied to the study of teaching and learning. Her research examines children’s language development in the context of school, with a particular focus on emergent bilingual students.

Her expertise spans infancy through elementary school, and her work aims to improve instructional practices based on children’s developmental needs, individual characteristics, and multilingual proficiencies. Recent research used classroom observations and direct child assessment to examine variability in children’s language use and exposure in preschool classrooms serving Spanish-English emergent bilingual children. She is interested in how teachers intentionally adapt their language use and instructional practices based on children’s individual needs and strengths.

Dr. Blackstock-Bernstein’s career has been focused on blending research, policy, and practice to meet the needs of children and families. She has worked in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms as an educator, coach, and researcher. She is a member of the Los Angeles Child Care Planning Committee, where she collaborates with researchers, providers, parents, county employees, and community representatives to increase children and families’ access to affordable, equitable, high-quality early care and education in Los Angeles. She spent several years working on Los Angeles County’s early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement System. She is currently serving as a consultant for the California Department of Education to assist in revising the Language and Literacy Preschool Learning Foundations, which guide instruction for all preschoolers in the state.