Three young children playing at a table

Early care and education provide a strong foundation for children's academic success and overall well-being. This focus area has been central to the work of the Institute since its founding more than 50 years ago. One of FPG's first and most influential projects was a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of an early care and education intervention for children from low-income households. This work continues today with research on closing the achievement gap and providing support for dual language learners.

Featured Publication

Home visiting programs are one way to ensure that children are experiencing responsive, enriching, and language-rich settings, but there are few home visiting interventions focused on early literacy. This study examined the impact of the Book Babies early literacy intervention on parents’ literacy-promoting practices and children’s early language skills compared to two control groups.

Featured Person

Lindsay Gomes, PhD, a research scientist at FPG, has extensive experience collaborating with state partners to bridge research, policy, and practice. Her work focuses on understanding the contextual factors that shape young children's social-emotional development within early care and education settings. As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with Gomes to learn more about her work at FPG. 

Current Projects

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Center For Home-Based Child Care Research
In partnership with the Erikson Institute, the University of Delaware, the Indigo Cultural Center, and the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), the Equity Research Action Coalition at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute will establish a Center for Home-based Child Care Research to support research about home-based child care (HBCC) in states, territories, tribes, and/or local community contexts through a cooperative agreement with OPRE. The purpose of the Center is to provide leadership, build research capacity in the field, and offer support in the development and facilitation of local research to improve understanding of HBCC settings and providers and access by the families who seek and utilize HBCC.
Georgia's Pre-K: Evaluation study of quality rated language and literacy endorsement
In support of efforts related to Georgia’s Quality Rated Language and Literacy Endorsement (QRLLE), we will collect information on the degree to which the Endorsement helps programs to improve their language and literacy practices, and information to advise next steps in the development and rollout of the Endorsement. This study will involve data collection, analyses, and reporting on the QRLLE related to practices observed during the upcoming school year (2023-24). The study will take place during the 2023-2024 school year and will be divided into three phases: (1) August 2023-September 2023: Preparation of data collection measures, IRB application, data collector hiring, observation refresher training, recruitment and scheduling classroom observations (2) October 2023-December 2023: classroom observations and data cleaning, and (3) January 2023-June 30, 2024: prepare report to summarize quality data and describe QRLLE programs and alignment with the LITTLE Program, convene a national expert panel on language and literacy endorsements, and summarize information gathered about QRLLE programs, endorsements nationally, and recommendations for next steps for the QRLLE.
Meck Pre-K Program Evaluation
This project intends to conduct an independent, unbiased evaluation of the MECK Pre-K program that will be longitudinal in scope, tracking cohorts of MECK Pre-K students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools through 5th grade. Given the longitudinal nature of the evaluation and the need to track multiple cohorts, it is expected that this project will span 10 years. The focus of that evaluation will cover three key areas: program characteristics; program implementation and quality; and student outcomes.
National Evaluation Partner for the Educare Learning Network Implementation Study
This project consists of planning and implementing an evaluation of The Educare Learning Network, a consortium of programs nationwide providing high quality learning environments for at-risk children from birth to 5 years. The evaluation will document the features of Educare and how implementation of the model contributes to program quality and links to child and family outcomes.
Partnership to Build Teacher Capacity to Promote Language Learning in Infants and Toddlers with and at Risk for Disabilities
This project brings together six Educare Early Learning Network schools and collaborating local evaluation partners (LEPs), UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, and the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas in partnership to demonstrate the efficacy of implementing PC TALK, an early language intervention, to support the language learning of infants and young children with and at risk for disabilities. Designed to build the capacity of early educators and parents to promote communication opportunities and the development of infants and young children, the Promoting Communication Strategies will be embedded into randomly selected Educare classrooms across participating schools.
PDG Family Child Care Home Pilot Compensation Grant Follow-Up Evaluation Study
North Carolina has an ongoing commitment to families having a mixed delivery early care and learning system including equitable access to Family Child Care Home providers. North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) started a pilot study in August of 2023 with Preschool Development Grant funds to determine if program quality would increase if Family Child Care Home providers were paid a higher reimbursement rate that was closer to the cost of care. Building on the work of the previous pilot, FPG will continue to evaluate the impact of increased reimbursement rates on quality and provider compensation and benefits.
STEMIE 2.0
This project's purpose is to expand the knowledge on the practices and supports necessary to improve access and participation within STEM learning opportunities for young children with disabilities and intersecting identities.
Understanding Mental and Behavioral Health in Head Start
The purpose of this project, in partnership with Mathematica-MPR, is to understand the landscape of program structures and supports for mental and behavioral health in Early Head Start/Head Start for children, families, and staff. To accomplish this, efforts will include engagement with experts; conceptual model development; study design and measurement development; data collection and analysis; dissemination of findings; and archiving data.