About

Zhe (Gigi) An is an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned her Ph.D. in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Kansas in 2018 and holds a Master of Education in Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Special Education from Beijing Normal University. Her scholarship focuses on supporting young children’s social-emotional development and meaningful inclusion. Her research interests include early childhood expulsion and suspension practices, social-emotional development of young children with disabilities, family-professional partnerships in early childhood special education and early intervention, and inclusive education theories and practices in the global context.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Medical education
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine
• Political Science
• Social psychology
• Pedagogy

Selected publications

• Under the Radar: Unpacking Center-based Program Providers’ Use of Informal Removals for Children with Challenging Behaviors

  Early Childhood Education Journal · 2026-03-29

  articleOpen access

  Informal removal—defined as excluding a child from the classroom without formal documentation—remains an underexamined disciplinary practice in early care and education (ECE). Using data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE), this study found that 47.7% of ECE educators reported asking a parent to pick up a child early due to behavioral issues within the past year. Rates of informal removal differed significantly by educator experience, degree type, academic major, age group served, Hispanic ethnicity, and urbanicity, revealing key factors underlying disciplinary disparities in ECE. Logistic regression analyses indicated that informal removal was significantly more likely among older educators, Hispanic-identifying teachers, and those with a degree in ECE, while educators with a two-year degree were less likely to report such practices. Programs serving infants, toddlers, or school-aged children, as well as those located in rural areas, also showed higher odds of informal removal. These findings highlight the need for stronger data monitoring, targeted professional development, and policy reforms to reduce exclusionary practices and advance equity in early education.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reconceptualizing early childhood exclusionary discipline: A critical review of two decades of research

  Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood · 2026-04-08

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Over the past two decades, early childhood exclusionary discipline has received significant public and research attention in the USA, yet its use and disproportionate application continue. Existing research lacks a critical examination of the underlying paradigms guiding current investigations, motivating the authors’ adoption of “immanent critique” to address this gap. Specifically, they conducted a comprehensive review of empirical studies on early childhood exclusionary discipline published between 2005 and 2023, and asked how early childhood exclusionary discipline has been theorized, how it has been investigated, what recommendations researchers have offered for practice, and how the issue has been conceptually framed. Using immanent critique as their analytical framework, they identified contradictions in how individual and collective studies approached theory, methods, and implications, and from these contradictions inferred the paradigms underlying the field. The findings show that functionalism overwhelmingly dominates current early childhood exclusionary discipline research, and three recommendations are offered: (1) broaden the theoretical perspectives; (2) diversify the research methodologies; (3) and challenge the field's reliance on functionalist framings.

  PublisherDOI

• Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Cultural Responsiveness in Chinese Behavioral Support Practices

  Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions · 2026-05-22

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Cultural responsiveness (CR) is a core principle of behavioral interventions and supports (BIS), yet challenges exist in operationalizing and assessing this important construct. First, there is a lack of rigorously developed, reliable, and valid measures of CR. Second, although CR is relevant to every society, little is known about how it manifests in non-Western cultural contexts. In this study, we present the development and validation of Cultural Responsiveness in Chinese Psychological Behavior Practices (CR-CPBP), an instrument designed to assess cultural competence as a foundational step toward CR in BIS in China. The development process follows the PROMIS® Instrument Development and Validation Scientific Standards and involves five phases: item development, content validation with Chinese BIS experts, content validation with Chinese parents of children who received BIS services, cognitive interviews with Chinese BIS practitioners, and psychometric evaluation. The process results in a reliable and valid 37-item self-report survey. The study has implications for research and practice, including how to use rigorous, mixed methods and involve key stakeholders to develop survey instruments and how to operationalize and assess CR within a specific cultural and social context.

  PublisherDOI

• A Comprehensive Literature Review of Interventions for Fathers of Young Children with Disabilities

  Journal of Child and Family Studies · 2025-09-05

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Introduction to the Special Issue: Inclusion for Love, Equity, and Justice

  Young Exceptional Children · 2025-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Efficacy and Social Validity of Teaching Special Educators in China to Implement Trial-Based Functional Analysis: A Multiple Probe Across Participants Design Study

  Teacher Education and Special Education The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children · 2025-10-31

  article1st author

  The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and social validity of a training and coaching intervention for Chinese special education teachers implementing trial-based functional analysis (TBFA). Four lead teachers from a special education elementary school in China participated. A multiple-probe across participants design was used to evaluate the functional relationship between the intervention and the accuracy of TBFA implementation for three teachers. Results demonstrated a functional relationship across these three participants, indicating that the intervention was effective in teaching TBFA implementation. Maintenance was assessed 1 week after the TBFA assessments, and generalization was evaluated in multiple ways, including one of the three main participants teaching a fourth teacher to conduct TBFA. Findings showed that all three primary participants maintained and generalized the skills taught. In-depth qualitative and quantitative social validity data were collected before, during, and after the intervention. The data suggested that all teachers were satisfied with the intervention and showed increased confidence in implementing the TBFA. Nevertheless, they reported feeling stressed when conducting TBFA in real classrooms. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Engaging Fathers in Early Care and Early Intervention

  Young Exceptional Children · 2025-06-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Early Childhood Teachers’ Depression and Experiences with Challenging Behaviors: Does Working with Children with Disabilities Matter?

  Early Childhood Education Journal · 2025-05-04

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Given high exclusionary discipline practices and decisions in early childhood education, it is important to understand teachers’ experiences with challenging behaviors and examine factors associated with their experiences. Depression, as a significant indicator of well-being and prevalent among early educators, is understudied in relation to teachers’ challenging behavior experiences. This study examines the association between early childhood teachers’ self-reported depression scores and experiences with children’s challenging behaviors and whether this association varies for teachers working with children with disabilities (CWD), using data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education. The analysis focused on 3079 center-based early childhood teachers. Both linear and ordinal logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed that teachers with higher levels of depression scores were significantly more likely to report higher levels of challenging behaviors in children. While working with CWD increases the likelihood of reporting challenging behaviors, it did not significantly alter the association between teacher depression and their experiences with challenging behaviors. Implications of these findings are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Head Start Teachers’ Perceptions About Problem Behaviors and Social-Emotional Competence: Is There Evidence of Systematic Differences?

  Early Education and Development · 2025-03-31

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Family–School Relationships and Exclusionary Discipline of Students With and Without Disabilities

  Remedial and Special Education · 2024-05-30 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Using data extracted from the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the 2019 National Household Education Surveys Program, this study used a series of linear probability models to examine the association between family–school relationships and exclusionary discipline. The sample included 15,360 U.S. families of K–12 non-homeschooled and non-virtual school students. Results suggest that students with disabilities experienced significantly more expulsion and suspension and that their families were less satisfied with school and received significantly more individual contact from school for negative reasons. In addition, parent satisfaction with school and individual contacts from school to parent regarding positive behaviors or schoolwork and behavior problems were statistically significantly associated with exclusionary discipline after accounting for student characteristics, such as race, age, and gender. These associations between family–school relationships and exclusionary discipline did not differ by a student’s disability status.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Eva Horn

  University of Kansas

  6 shared

• Hailey R. Love

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  3 shared

• Lauren M. Cycyk

  Oregon Department of Education

  2 shared

• Yuuko Uchikoshi

  University of California, Davis

  2 shared

• José R. Martínez

  Center for Autism and Related Disorders

  2 shared

• Richard Mason

  University of Missouri

  2 shared

• Anne L. Larson

  University of Minnesota

  2 shared

• Howard P. Wills

  University of Kansas

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  2016

• M.S., Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  2013

• B.A., Psychology

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  2011

Awards & honors

• Center for Research on Early Childhood Education Fellow, Uni…
• Child Care Research Scholar, U.S. Department of Health and H…
• School of Education Scholarship, University of Kansas, 2017
• School of Education Scholarship, University of Kansas, 2016
• School of Education Scholarship, University of Kansas, 2015