PhD, MSW, LMSW

Assistant Professor

Education

• PhD, University of South Carolina, 2023
• MSW, The Ohio State University, 2019
• BS, The Ohio State University, 2017

Courses taught

• SW 7000
• SW 7720

Teaching interests

Social work in Schools, Helping Strategies with Children and Adolescents, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Justice and Social Policy

Research interests

• Racial Inequity in Schools
• Teacher Racial Bias
• School Social Work
• Child & Adolescent Mental Health

Research and scholarly activity

Dr. Childs’ research and scholarly activity research primarily focuses on racial inequity in schools (public PK-12 schools in the US) by examining two primary mechanisms: 1) teacher racial bias as a contributor to racial inequity and 2) school social workers as racial equity agents. Her secondary research area focuses how these mechanisms may contribute to inequities in access to child and adolescent mental health services and supports. Recently, Dr. Childs has explored teachers’ development of relationships with students who are marginalized based on their racial or ethnic identity. Dr. Childs’ goal is to develop an intervention that reduces teacher racial bias in the classroom and leverages school social workers to lead interventions in schools.

Dr. Childs is involved in developing guidance for school social work practice with minoritized, racialized, or historically excluded student groups. Her participation on interdisciplinary research teams often focuses on preparing social workers and other professionals to respond to the growing mental health needs of children and adolescents. Dr. Childs prioritizes the translation of research into practice and has also published 45% of her peer-reviewed journal articles as open-access.

Selected publications

• Childs, T.M. & Wooten, N.R. (2022). Teacher bias matters: An integrative review of correlates, mechanisms, and consequences. Race Ethnicity and Education, 26(3), 368-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2022.2122425

• Childs, T.M. & Iachini, A. L. (2023). An examination of school district reopening plans for mental health supports amid COVID-19 school reopening. Children & Schools, 45(3), 161-168. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdad012

• Childs, T.M., Brown, E., Brown, N., Iachini, A., Phillippo, K., Galib, L., Parker, A., & Fujimoto, K. (2022). A mixed method study of teachers’ appraisals of student wellness services and supports during COVID-19. Journal of School Health, 92(7), 637-645. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13186 [Open Access]

• Anderson-Butcher, D., Bates, S., Lawson, H.A., Childs, T.M., & Iachini, A. (2022). The community collaboration model for school improvement: A scoping review. Education Sciences, 12(12), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12120918 [Open Access]

View Dr. Childs’ publications on Google Scholar

View Dr. Childs’ publications on ResearchGate

View Dr. Childs’ publications on Scopus

View Dr. Childs’ publications on ORCiD

In the news