At FPG, we are committed to conducting research and evaluation studies that improve children’s lives, support families, and inform public policy. Through rigorous study design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination, we seek to identify factors that shape development from infancy to adolescence and to develop and test the effectiveness of interventions, public policies, and public programs. Many of our investigators focus on research, development of interventions, and evaluation of programs in early childhood and elementary education, especially programs for children from low-income families and children with disabilities. In addition, they conduct research on child development within children’s environmental contexts, including families, schools, and communities. Projects focus on developmental outcomes related to racial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity in support of social justice and racial equity.
Featured People
Heather Aiken, PhD, NBCT, is a research scientist at FPG and serves as the intervention director for Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI). Before beginning this role, she worked for three years as a TRI literacy coach while earning her doctorate in teacher education and curriculum at UNC-Chapel Hill. Teaching has always been central in her life, starting with earning a B.A. in history and elementary education from The College of William and Mary. After graduation, she served in the Peace Corps as a language arts resource teacher in Grenada. She went on to teach for more than 17 years in kindergarten through third grade classrooms in Chatham, Durham, and Wake counties. Find out more about Aiken and her work at FPG.
Ann Sam, PhD, is a senior research scientist, at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Her research and professional development interests are rooted in her direct experience as a public-school teacher working in preschool and kindergarten classrooms with students with autism. The primary goal of her work is to increase awareness and use of evidence-based interventions and resources designed to improve outcomes for students with autism. At the heart of her work is ensuring this access extends to professionals in underserved communities—those with fewer resources available for extensive in-person training and support.
Featured News Stories
- EMERGE study to explore language trajectories of low-income, ethnically diverse children with autism
- FPG Faculty Fellow awarded NIH R01 Grant
- Strong social connections may buffer negative experiences of discrimination
- New research explores childhood-abuse-genetic-risk interaction with lifelong depression
- ECERS-3: Assessing Disparities and Challenges in Equity project releases final recommendations for authors of the ECERS-4
- New study suggests living near green space is associated with fewer emotional problems among preschool-age children
Featured Projects
Research to Accelerate Pandemic Recovery in Special Education
The Research to Accelerate Pandemic Recovery in Special Education Collaboration with Kansas University - SWIFT Center project will support the University of Kansas in their research of the RAISE intervention to accelerate post-pandemic learning gains for students with or at risk for disabilities. The project involves implementing an evidence-based intervention on use of data to match instruction to student’s need, collecting data from participating schools, analyzing data, preparing reports and dashboards for monitoring and disseminating results. University of Kansas is the prime grantee. Overall, NIRN will co-lead the research design with University of Kansas PIs, collect all research data, collaborate on data analyses with University of Kansas PIs, and support dissemination of the research.
Project EXPRESS
Funded with a grant of nearly $700K from the U.S. Department of Education, a team from FPG recently launched Project EXPRESS: EXamining interventions to PRomote Executive function and Social Skills. Jessica Steinbrenner is the principal investigator on this five-year study evaluating two treatment programs working with adolescents on the autism spectrum. The two interventions―Program for Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), which addresses social skills, and Unstuck and On Target (UOT), which targets executive function skills—are being implemented by middle school staff in schools in North Carolina and the San Diego area of California.
More about our work
- Learn about implementation science at FPG
- Learn about technical assistance at FPG
- Learn about informing policy at FPG
