Jacqueline P. Leighton

Jacqueline P. Leighton is a registered psychologist and professor of school and clinical child psychology at the University of Alberta. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology at the University of Alberta and then went on to obtain postdoctoral training at Yale University. Since she began her professional training, her research has been supported by Tri-Council grants, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).  

Recognized by the Canadian Council of Learning as a Minerva Scholar in 2007, Jacqueline’s research has increasingly focused on children’s wellbeing and achievement against the backdrop of children’s human rights. Informed by the United Nations‘ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and her own Learning Errors and Formative Feedback (LEAFF) model, Jacqueline examines children’s affective, cognitive and social variables in the learning environments in which they develop and grow. In particular, she is examining ways to increase children’s voices and participation in classroom and school matters that directly pertain to their best interests as learners. Given Jacqueline’s training in educational measurement and testing, she also focuses on ways to enhance “child-friendly” think-aloud interviews for collecting children’s thoughts and perspectives. The goal with child-friendly interviews is to minimize the adult biases that can alter these data in the process of analysis and interpretation. She has served as a member of technical advisory committees to many leading educational measurement organizations, including ACT, College Board, Educational Testing Service, and Pearson.