The Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) is the preeminent resource for learning solutions that produce tested, proven, effective results through scientific research and evidence-based interventions.
Under the co-direction of April Crawford, PhD and Tricia Zucker, PhD, CLI combines data and studies from the fields of psychology, neurodevelopment, education, and child development to provide learning solutions derived from and supported by documented research. While several programs came together to form the Children’s Learning Institute in 2003 by our founding director, nationally recognized early childhood expert Susan H. Landry, PhD, our research represents work that started in the 1980s. Drs. Crawford and Zucker assumed co-direction of CLI in September 2020.
CLI’s mission is to advance learning and health outcomes for all children through research, resource development, clinical programs, and service deliverydedicated to advancing learning and health outcomes for all children through research-practice partnerships. CLI’s ongoing research efforts, development of new and innovative educational programs and initiatives, and clinical practices and programs continue to focus on the same reason for its founding decades ago: to apply cutting-edge research in child development and education to improve children's learning. As the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development, CLI has developed and scaled multiple programs focused on school readiness and early childhood quality improvement through installation and expansion of evidence-based practices.