Thomas W. Farmer - University of Pittsburgh School of Education

Professor and Chair
Department of Health and Human Development

Dr. Tom Farmer is a special educator and developmental scientist. His research and teaching focuses on understanding the person-in-context and clarifying how experiences, opportunities, and developmental pathways of youth reflect the interplay of both proximal (e.g., family, peer, community) and distal factors (e.g., socio-political, geographic, economic). He is particularly interested in how teachers differentially contribute to students’ social experiences and patterns of school adjustment. He is also interested in data-driven approaches for leveraging natural developmental processes to support the creation and tailoring of evidence-based interventions for specific youth, classrooms, schools, and communities.

Instructional Interests

Child and Adolescent Development
Evidence-Based Interventions
Interventions and Supports for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Scholarly Interests

Culturally, Developmentally, and Ecologically Responsive Practice in Schools
Classroom and Social Dynamics Management
Tiered-Systems of Adaptive Supports
Research Practice Partnerships in Rural School and Community Settings
Developmental Cascades and Correlated Constraints Perspectives of Intervention
Prevention and Intervention for Bullying and Peer Victimization in Schools
The Role of Teachers in Children’s Social Development

Selected Grants

Principal Investigator. “Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success across the Middle School Years: The SEALS II Intervention Development Program.” Institute of Education Sciences ($1,497,389).

Principal Investigator. "Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success - Project SEALS." Institute of Education Sciences ($3,952,267).

Principal Investigator. "Aspirations and Preparation for the Transition from High School in Rural America.” Institute of Education Sciences ($3,200,000).

Featured Publications

Farmer, T. W., Bierman, K. L., Hall, C. M., Brooks, D. S., & Lee, D. L. (2021). Tiered systems of adaptive supports and the individualization of intervention: Merging developmental cascades and correlated constraints perspectives. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 29.

Chen, C-C., Farmer, T. W., Hamm, J. V., Brooks, D. S., Lee. D. L., Norwalk, K., Lambert, K., Dawes, M., Sterrett, B., & Rizzo, K. (2020). Emotional and behavioral risk configurations, students with disabilities, and perceptions of the middle school ecology. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 28, 180-192.

Dawes, M., Farmer, T. W., Hamm, J. V., Lee, D., Norwalk, K., Sterrett, B., & Lambert, K. (2020). Creating supportive contexts during the first year of middle school: Impact of a developmentally responsive multi-component intervention. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 1447-1463.

Farmer, T. W. (2020). Reforming research to support culturally and ecologically responsive and developmentally meaningful practice in schools. Educational Psychologist, 55, 32-39.

Farmer, T. W., Hamm, J. V., Dawes, M., Barko-Alva, K., & Cross, J. R. (2019). Promoting inclusive communities in diverse classrooms: Teacher attunement and social dynamics management. Educational Psychologist, 54, 286-305.

Engagement, Partnerships, and Professional Service

Consortium member of the Middle School Success: The Path to Graduation (P2G) program, of The Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN).