Faculty
Cheyeon Ha
Assistant Research Professor
Research Concentration
Educational Psychology
Expertise
Child and Adolescent Development, Psychological Methods, Individual Learning Differences, Academic Engagement, Academic Growth, Social and Emotional Development, Social Contexts
Education
Postdoctoral Research Training. Yale School of Medicine, Yale University.
Ph.D. Learning & Cognition, Florida State University.
Cheyeon Ha (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Research Professor at the USC Rossier School of Education. She is a developmental and educational psychologist who joined the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE) in the fall of 2025. Prior to joining the team, she completed her postdoctoral training at the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine and earned her doctoral degree in Learning and Cognition from Florida State University.
Her research broadly centers on positive child and youth development, emotional well-being, and equity in education. Specifically, she investigates how educational systems and school-based programs foster the social, emotional, and academic growth of children and youth. She is particularly motivated to explore the developmental mechanisms that inform student-centered approaches, with a focus on individual developmental differences and dynamic sociocultural contexts to support all children and adolescents in reaching their full potential.
Research
Cheyeon Ha (Ph.D.) has developed academic expertise through federally and privately funded projects that bring psychological science into educational practice. She has contributed as a key collaborator in multi-institution Research–Practice Partnerships (RPP) with schools and teachers across multiple U.S. states. Her work advances developmentally informed, supportive approaches that foster students’ social, emotional, and cognitive growth in K–12 educational settings. With funding from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Oak Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), she and her colleagues had conducted rigorous empirical studies and delivered actionable insights that improve classroom practice and expand benefits for all learners.
Publications
- Ha, C., McCarthy, M. F., Strambler, M. & Cipriano, C. (2025, In press). Disentangling the effects of social and emotional learning programs on student academic achievement across grades 1–12: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research. http://doi.org/10.3102/00346543251367769
- Ha, C., Ng, Z.J., & Cipriano, C. (2025). Understanding dynamics of students emotion regulation strategy selection: Using a network analysis approach. Personality and Individual Differences. 223, 112913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2024.112913
- Ha, C., Hwang, S., Baelen, R., Santos, A. C., Murano, D., Harris, J., Goren, P., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2025). Suggestions for inclusive learning: Integrating diversity in educational research and promoting inclusive social and emotional learning support for all. Learning and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102787
- Ha, C., & Cipriano, C. (2025). Trajectories of social, emotional, and academic development in early adolescents: Three-year longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2025.101831
- Cipriano, C., Ahmed, E., McCarthy, M., Ha, C., & Ross, A. (2025). Illustrating the need for centering student identity in universal school-based social and emotional learning. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 100088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2025.100088
- Ha, C., Craig, M., & Roehrig, A. D. (2025). Insights from culturally relevant reading education for underrepresented students: Building social and emotional learning environments and enhancing reading outcomes. The Urban Review. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-024-00720-w
- Ha, C., Zhang, Q., & Roehrig, A. D. (2025). Early adolescents’ motivational regulation and academic achievement: Using multi-level modeling analysis based on self-determination theory. Social Psychology of Education, 28(10), http://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-024-10013-5
- Ha, C., Pressley, T., & Marshall, D. (2025). The role of teacher autonomy in enhancing job satisfaction and mitigating burnout. PLOS One. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317471
- Ha, C., & Roehrig, A. D. (2025). The satisfaction of basic psychological needs and children’s reading growth. Educational Studies, 51(2), 156-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2022.2125288
- Rawls, E., Roehrig, A. D., Turner, J. E., Mesa, M. P., McClarey, M., Lewis, C., Ha, C., Auman, P., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2024). The Freedom Schools Way: A Model for Intergenerational Research Training Partnerships Among Universities and Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® Programs. Urban Education, 59(10), 2999-3022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859231178712
- Ha, C., & Pressley, T. (2024). Inner strength amidst pandemic: Teachers’ self-efficacy and perceived personal accomplishments. Psychology in the Schools, 61, 1944-1961. http://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23149
- Cipriano, C., Ha, C., Wood, M., Sehgal, K., Ahmad, E., & McCarthy, M. (2024). A meta-analysis of the effects of USB SEL programs and marginalized students in the United States. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy. 3, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2024.100029
- Wood, M., Ha, C., Brackett, M., & Cipriano, C. (2024). Affective experiences of US school personnel in the sociopolitical context of 2021: Reflecting on the past to shape the future. Education Sciences. 14(10), 1093. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14101093
- Ha, C. (2023). Students’ self-regulated learning strategies and science achievement: Exploring the moderating effect of learners’ emotional skills. Cambridge Journal of Education, 53(4), 451-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2023.2175787
- Cipriano, C., Strambler, M., Naples, L.H., Ha, C., Kirk Chang, M., Wood, M., Sehgal, K., Zieher, A., Eveleigh, A., McCarthy, M., Funaro, M., Chow, J., & Durlak, J. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13968
- Ha, C., Roehrig, A. D., & Zhang, Q. (2023). Self-regulated learning strategies and academic achievement in South Korean 6th-graders: A two-level hierarchical linear modeling analysis. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284385
- Ha, C. (2023). How to compare multiple intervention effects in reviews of educational research: Using network meta-analysis. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 46(1), 98-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2022.2035352
- Ha, C. (2023). How parental factors influence children’s literacy development: Inequity in education. Education 3-13, 51(3), 493-508. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2021.1981422
- Pressley, T. & Ha, C. (2022). Teacher exhaustion during COVID-19: Exploring the role of administrators, self-efficacy, and anxiety. The Teacher Educator, 57(1), 61-78. http://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2021.1995094
- Ha, C., & Roehrig, A. D. (2022). Contribution of children’s reading motivation and prosocial efficacy to reading growth. Learning and Individual Differences. 97, 102163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.102163
- Pressley, T. & Ha, C. (2021). Teaching during a pandemic: United States teachers' self-efficacy during COVID-19. Teaching and Teacher Education, 106 (103465). http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103465
- Ha, C., Durtschi, S., Roehrig, A. D., Turner, J. E., Craig, M., Mesa, M., & Funari, C. (2021). Promoting children’s reading motivation with culturally relevant reading education. Florida Journal of Educational Research, 59(1), 268-282. https://journals.flvc.org/fjer/article/view/133710
- Pressley, T., Ha, C., & Learn, E. (2021). Teacher stress and anxiety during COVID-19: An empirical study. School Psychology, 36(5), 367-376. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000468
Recent Articles
Research
New study provides evidence that social-emotional learning programs improve academic performance
January 26, 2026
Featured Faculty: Cheyeon Ha, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang