Her research focuses on how parents support the development of children’s literacy and math skills in minority communities, including low-income immigrant families in the U.S. and Latin America. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Clark University and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and project director of Un Buen Comienzo (A Good Start), a teacher professional development program in Chile. She has published in Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly, among other top scientific journals. Dr. Leyva’s work is supported by generous grants from the Brady Education Foundation and Davidson College.