people

Tara Weatherholt

Research Analyst II

Tara Weatherholt is currently a research analyst II for the evaluations of the Multiple Response System (MRS) and Comprehensive Family Assessment (CFA) projects at the Center. Mandated by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2001, MRS is a reform effort of the entire continuum of child welfare services, including a county-level differential response system for reports of child maltreatment. CFA is a five-year demonstration project funded by the Children’s Bureau to develop and implement a comprehensive family assessment process to improve child welfare outcomes in Alamance County, N.C.

Weatherholt joined the Center from the University of Louisville, where she is a doctoral candidate in experimental psychology. Her graduate school work has centered on cognitive development research, specifically within at-risk populations due to poverty. In addition to her graduate school career, she has conducted evaluation research for technology-related education projects at the Education Development Center and for programs implemented in the Jefferson County Public School System in Louisville, Kentucky.

She successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Narrative comprehension ability in children from low-income families: Role of temperament, attention skills, and cognitive engagement” in December 2011. Her Ph.D. in experimental psychology is from the University of Louisville.

Education:

• M.A. Psychology University of Louisville - 2004
• B.A. Psychology University of Louisville - 2000

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Weatherholt, T. N. & Vanderhaar, J.E. (2010). Steps to Respect Program Evaluation. Report to the Jefferson County Public Schools: Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools..


2. Brown, D. B., Weatherholt, T. N., & Burns, B. (2010). Understanding parent reports of children’s attention behaviors: Role of children’s attention skills, temperament, and home chaos.. Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology, 6, 41-58.


3. Brown, D. B., Weatherholt, T. N., & Burns, B. (2010). Attention skills and looking to television in children from low income families.. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 330-338.


4. Vanderhaar, Judi & Weatherholt, T. N. (2010). Protecting You/Protecting Me Program Evaluation. Report to the Jefferson County Public Schools: Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.


5. Clement, C. A., Harris, R. C., Burns, B. M., & Weatherholt, T. N. (2010). An eye-tracking analysis of the effect of prior comparison on analogical mapping.. Current Psychology, 29, 273-287.