Nydia Prishker, Ph.D. earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Studies from the University of North Texas.
Dr. Prishker started her education career as a Bilingual Education teacher for migrant students. She has experience working with different bilingual programs both as an early childhood and elementary school teacher and as a teacher trainer/mentor. Before joining the School of Education at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Dr. Prishker was part of a team at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development conducting research to uncover the rich language and education practices that are already present in the homes of Latine families. Learning from and with Latine families, Dr. Prishker also worked in developing new resources for early childhood education teachers, providers, and parents to enhance the practices of teachers and families that support the school readiness of young children in a culturally responsive and relevant way.
Dr. Prishker has focused her work on quality and equity issues in the early care and education of children from diverse cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. The main objective of her work is to support teachers in creating partnerships with parents to share knowledge and strategies that can improve the education and well-being of ALL young children.
RESEARCH
Selected Publications
Melzi, G., Mesalles, V., Caspe, M., & Prishker, N. (2022). Spatial language during a household task with bilingual Latine families. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 80, 101409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101409
Castro, D. C., Gillanders, C., Prishker, N., & Rodriguez, R. (2021). 2 A Sociocultural, Integrative, and Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Development and Education of Young Bilingual Children with Disabilities. In Language, Learning, and Disability in the Education of Young Bilingual Children (pp. 6-26). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781800411852-004
Halpin, E., Prishker, N., & Melzi, G. (2021). The Bilingual Language Diversity of Latino Preschoolers: A Latent Profile Analysis. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 52(3), 877-888. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00015
Melzi, G., McWayne, C., Prishker, N., & Segovia, J. (2021). Por Los Niños: Latine Caregivers’ Reflections on Parenting in the Context of Immigration. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1971085
Castro, D. C. & Prishker, N. (2019). Early Childhood Care and Education for Bilingual Children and the Road to Multilingualism. In Brown, C.P. & File, N. (Eds.), Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119148104.ch8
Kawas, V. Prishker, N. & Melzi, G. (2019, April 30). Math in Everyday Activities of Latino Families: Doing Math the Mayan Way! Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME)- Early Math Resources for Teacher Educators. Retrieved from: https://dreme.stanford.edu/news/math-everyday-activities-latino-families-doing-math-mayan-way
Prishker, N., Melzi, G., Caspe, M. (2019). Connecting Home and School Mathematics. Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME). Retrieved from: http://prek-math-te.stanford.edu/overview/connecting-home-and-school-mathematics
Barrio, B., Hsiao, Y., Prishker, N., & Terry, C.A. (2018). The Impact of Culture on Parental Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Striving for Culturally Competent Practices. Multicultural Learning and Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2016-0010
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Castro, D. C., Prishker, N., & Perez, A. (2022, May 2-4). Transnational Students as the “Other”: Experiences of Students and their Teachers in Jalisco and Texas. Paper to be presented at the 2022 SRCD Special Topic Meeting: Construction of the ‘Other’: Development, Consequences, and Applied Implications of Prejudice and Discrimination. Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, USA.
Castro, D. C., Gillanders, C., Prishker, N., & Rodriguez, R. (2021, April 8-12). A Sociocultural and Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Education of Young Bilingual Children With Disabilities. [Chapter presentation]. 2021 American Educational Research Association Annual Virtual Meeting.
Caspe, M., Melzi, G., Prishker, N., Alvarado, C. (2021, April 7-9). Las matemáticas son primordiales: Everyday Mathematics in the Homes of Latine Families with Young Children [Paper presentation]. 2021 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Virtual Meeting.
Caspe, M. Melzi, G., Prishker, N., Alvarado, C. (2020, October 26- November 1). Latine Family Math: Perceptions and Practices [Poster presentation]. Home Math Environment (HME) Conference.
Castro, D. C., Prishker, N., & Sañudo Guerra, L. E. (2019, November). Improving Education across Borders: The experiences of retornados students and their teachers in México. Paper Presented at the 27th International Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference: Borderlands and (Be)longings. October 31- November 5, 2019. Las Cruces, N.M.
Prishker, N. (2018, October). The discourse in the standards of technology application implementation and use in the education of young children: A Foucauldian analysis. Paper presented at the Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (RECE) 26th Annual Conference. October 14-18, 2018. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Prishker, N. (2017, February). Retaining Gloria Anzaldúa and the Borderlands Theory Through Children’s Literature and Testimonios. Paper presented at the Annual Louisiana State University Curriculum Camp. February 10-11, 2017. Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
Prishker, N. (2016, April). How early is too early? Implications of the introduction of mobile technologies in early childhood education. Paper presented at the Fifteenth Meeting of The American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies. April 5-8, 2016. Washington, D.C., USA.
WORKSHOPS/WEBINARS
Prishker, N. & Melzi, G. (2020, January). Everyone does math: Changing Mindsets and Transforming Practices to Support Early Math Development. Early math resources for teachers’ educator’s webinar. Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME). January 24, 2020. Online.
Caspe, M. Beltran-Grimm, S., Prishker, N., & Brenneman, K. (2019, November). Figuring in families: Family math as a path to equity. Workshop co-led at the 2019 Families Learning Conference. Nov. 4-6, 2019. Louisville, KY
Prishker, N. (2018, May). Teaching ALL Children Through Storytelling: Strategies for Preschool to Second Grade. Workshop led at the 8th Jalisco Texas Conference: Education without Borders. May 30- June 1, 2018. Arandas, Mexico.
Levingston, E., & Prishker, N. (2016, May). Prelude to a culturally-responsive pedagogy. Workshop led at the 6th Jalisco Texas Conference: Diversity in education: Think globally, act locally. May 26-28, 2016. Guadalajara, Mexico.
ED 206 – Child Psychology
ED 232 – Literature for Children and Adolescents
EDEC 301 – Curriculum and Instruction, Birth-Grade 2
EDEC 302 – Emergent Literacy: Language and Reading Development