There is rising concern that American children are not achieving at their full potential, which will ultimately undermine the success of the United States in competing with other countries. Effective policies and programs aimed at what has been called America’s vanishing potential require a sophisticated understanding of the development of children’s motivation over the school years.

The mission of the Center for Parent-Child Studies is to conduct systematic research on such development. Our emphasis is on identifying how parents can maximize children’s motivation, engagement, and achievement in school, while also supporting their emotional adjustment. To this end, we study children and parents in not only the United States, but also China where children often out achieve their American counterparts.