Marissa Castellana is a consultant at New America and a Ph.D. candidate in Developmental Psychology at Arizona State University. Her research aims to advance policies and practices that promote dual language learning children’s development and education.
Prior to her role at New America, she was a doctoral intern at the American Institutes for Research, where she conducted research on educational supports for young English Learners. As a Ph.D. student, she has led and supported projects examining the influences of dual language input—specifically caregiver speech, book text, and extratextual dialogue—on the development of children’s emerging bilingual skills. She has published her research in several journals and has disseminated findings at conferences and to local community organizations.
She holds a master's degree in Psychology from Arizona State University and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Kalamazoo College.