Shayne Piasta

Shayne B. Piasta is a professor of Reading and Literacy in Early and Middle Childhood in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She also is a faculty associate with the college’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy. Her research focuses on early literacy development and how it is best supported during preschool and elementary years. Her work emphasizes the use of rigorous empirical methods to identify and validate educational programs and practices, such as experimental evaluation of specific curricula and professional development opportunities. She also identifies teacher, classroom and other factors associated with children’s literacy gains.

Piasta is known for her research that set early literacy learning standards. One of her 2012 referred journal articles shows that children who know 18 uppercase and 15 lowercase letter names by the end of preschool are more likely to have first-grade literacy success. Headstart soon adopted her alphabet knowledge benchmarks. Other local, state and national organizations did as well.

Piasta has received multiple awards recognizing her contributions to the profession over the years. In 2023, the international Society for the Scientific Study of Reading bestowed on her its first Carol Connor Mid-Career Award. The recognition was named for the renowned literacy researcher with whom Piasta studied during her doctoral program. 

Piasta also received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, a prominent United States award, as well as the Dina Feitelson Research Award from the International Reading Association. While studying for her doctorate, Piasta received the first Outstanding Pre-Doctoral Fellow Award from the Institute of Education Sciences. In 2023, she was invited by the institute to blog about how the award supported the development of her interdisciplinary research career.  

Piasta has received research funding from multiple sources, such as the Institute of Education Sciences, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

For full CV along with publications, media, presentations, and grant projects, visit Dr. Piasta's personal website

• PhD, Developmental Psychology, Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research, 2008
• MS, Developmental Psychology, Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research, 2006
• BA, Psychology (Summa Cum Laude), College of the Holy Cross, 2004

• Achievement
• Assessment
• Child Development
  • Young children's emergent literacy and reading development
• Early Childhood Education and Teaching
  • Efficacy and effectiveness of educational practices (curricula, teaching strategies, professional development) to support young children's academic development (primarily emergent literacy and early reading development)
• Educational Statistics and Research Methods
• Kindergarten/Preschool Education and Teaching
• Literacy
  • Early reading development
  • Emergent literacy development

Dr. Piasta’s research projects have included Let’s Know!2, Best Practices in Alphabet Instruction, Promoting Preschoolers’ Early Language Learning (ProPELL), the BrightStart! project, Reading for Understanding, Assessing Preschool Professionals’ Learning Experiences (APPLE), Narrative Assessment Protocol, Read It Again! in Early Childhood Special Education, and Core Knowledge in Preschool.  She is involved in additional research projects conducted with her postdoctoral and doctoral students and was a member of the Language and Reading Research Consortium.

• Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University (2021-present)
• Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University (2016-2021)

• Faculty Associate, Director, Early Literacy and Learning Lab (EL3), The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University (2013-present)

• Director of Research, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy & Schoenbaum Family Center, The Ohio State University (2013-2014)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University (2012-2016)
• Assistant Director, Children’s Learning Research Collaborative, The Ohio State University (2009-2012)
• Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University (2009-2012)
• Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Preschool Language and Literacy Lab under direction of Laura M. Justice, The Ohio State University (2008-2009)

• 2023, Carol Connor Mid-Career Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Reading
• 2023, Critical Difference Professional Development Grant, The Women’s Place, The Ohio State University
• 2023, College of Education and Human Ecology Faculty International Travel Grant, The Ohio State University
• 2022, Faculty Mentor of the Year nominee (of 27 nominees across the university) Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, The Ohio State University
• 2018, College of Education and Human Ecology Faculty International Travel Grant, The Ohio State University
• 2017, Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Japanese-German-American Symposium Participant
• 2017, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Named by President Obama
• 2015, Doctoral Graduate Award of Distinction, Florida State University Psychology Department
• 2014, Dina Feitelson Research Award, International Reading Association
• 2012, College of Education and Human Ecology Faculty International Travel Grant, The Ohio State University
• 2010, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools Editor’s Award
• 2008, Outstanding Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Fellow Award
• 2005-2008, Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training (PIRT) Fellow, Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research
• 2003-2004, Fenwick Scholar, College of the Holy Cross