Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research

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Nationwide, children of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds are too often viewed as challenging, "at-risk," and of limited intellectual capacity. Wide disparities in achievement bear witness to the ways in which the educational and social systems have failed those most in need of support. Historic discrimination coupled with changing demographics necessitates clear and intentional efforts to support young children who are racially and ethnically diverse in achieving their personal, academic, and economic potential. A primary mission of FPG is to generate knowledge about the social context in which children of color live, establish programs that produce positive outcomes for those children and their families, and use that knowledge to prepare caregivers and teachers to provide the best possible environments for promoting development and success. Equity, diversity, and inclusion in research matters at the Institute.

Featured FPG News Story

Researchers at UCLA and FPG will co-lead a unique project to assess behavioral and neurological markers of language development in low-income children within their family settings, gathering valuable information that could lead to earlier, more targeted interventions for a population that has been largely underrepresented in autism research.

Featured Program

Working with practitioners and policymakers, the Equity Research Action Coalition will pursue research that promotes and supports the healthy development of Black children across the African diaspora and other children of color. The Coalition will focus on developing science-based evidence that can be used to inform practice and policy aimed at eradicating the impact of racism, and all its consequences, on the lives of Black and other minoritized children, families, and communities.

Featured Publication

A recent report outlines a study that aimed to investigate how a historically Black community, the Freedmen’s Town of Ironton, has weathered consecutive climate hazards and to discover the strategies residents have used to maintain cultural resilience.

Current Projects

The purpose of this project is to deploy a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and program assessment strategy to support a deeper understanding of the current landscape of disability inclusion, along with unique challenges, opportunities, perspectives and relevant factors impacting states, tribes, and territories as well as children with disabilities and their caregivers.
This project will develop an African-centered, culturally responsive practice guide with specific strategies, exemplars, and materials with connected professional learning modules to guide effective implementation. The ultimate and long-term goal is to increase Black children’s social, cognitive, and emotional skills (e.g., racial identity, engagement, learning motivation, regulation), leading to strong academic and social competence and school success.
Through collaboration with national, state and local coalitions and organizations, the Equity Research Action Coalition will identify, track and align strategies to strengthen the focus on protecting, promoting, and preserving the well being, health, wealth, access and experiences of Black families and their families through anti-racist and cultural wealth policy making framework and communication.
According to the U.S. Department of Education (2018), among students ages 3 through 21 served in special education, less than one-fifth are Black/African American (17.7 percent), but Black/African American students with disabilities account for more than one third (36.6 percent) of individuals who experienced disciplinary removal. Ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices have been found to mitigate the effects of such discrimination on children’s development. Yet, little is known about what these practices may look like for Black children with disabilities as ERS practices have typically been studied among typically developing, able-bodied children. This mixed-methods study aims to explore: 1) What types of ERS practices, and how frequent, do Black/African American parents/caregivers engage in with their children? 2) What is the relation between parents/caregivers’ ERS practices and children’s academic engagement, school disciplinary, and mental health outcomes? 3) What are the purposes and goals of Black/African American parents/caregivers engaging in ERS practices among their children with disabilities? and 4) What are some challenges that arise for Black parents/caregivers who communicate ERS practices to their children with disabilities?
The goal of this planning grant is to design a new study focused on deeper, more meaningful investments across three core domains in Head Start. It will result in a policy scan and a preliminary feasibility of an innovative program where there is a laser focus on the trifecta of health, wealth, and education, moving beyond “light touch” impact on families' lives to transformative impact on communities.
Spoken language is predictive of many positive life outcomes, such as employment, social interaction, play skills and more. But, researchers still don’t know why some children talk and others don’t, especially as it relates to historically marginalized and minoritized populations. A new study, EMERGE: Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive Language Growth in Ethnically Diverse Autistic Toddlers, seeks to change that.
In collaboration with the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and African Family Health Organization, community-based organizations that engage and educate African American and Black immigrant communities, we will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research to identify barriers and facilitators to positive birth outcomes for Black mothers with a focus on attention to health care access through focus groups and interviews and conduct causal inference analyses using extant data (i.e., Vital Statistics) to examine the effect of 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act on the birthing outcomes of Black immigrants.
The purpose of this collaboration with Boston University is to develop and disseminate various products focused on the effects of racism during infancy through early childhood (birth to age 5) for racially marginalized children and families, specifically those that are Black, Latine, Indigenous, or Asian.
This project is grounded in a science education partnership between Kidzu Children’s Museum and FPG’s STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education Center (STEMIE). The project will include sharing resources and spaces to develop and implement playgroups for pre-K children with a variety of abilities and their caregivers with specific STEM related goals and activities through the sequence of playgroups.
The goal of this project is to expand the focus and reach of the RISER Network to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other related organizations and institutions to mentor pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Fellows interested in the research-to-practice-to-policy for Black children, families, and communities will receive multi-tiered, equity-centered, culturally grounded methodological and experiential experiences to guide their future careers.
The purpose of this project is to gather perspectives from current Parents As Teachers families and parent educators. This is a developmental evaluation to understand how Parents as Teachers (PAT) could address race-based trauma and stressors and support the positive racial identity formation for young children.
The Impact Center at FPG’s Rural Church Summer Literacy Initiative Support Team supports the ongoing development and implementation of The Duke Endowment’s Rural Church – Summer Literacy Program in North Carolina.
The Impact Center at FPG’s Triple P Support Team is currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program®—System of Interventions in North Carolina.
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is partnering with EL Education to submit a proposal to the Research Partnership for Professional Learning. This project aims to implement EL Education's math professional learning to support teachers in transforming how math is taught and experienced by students, particularly students identifying as Black, Latino/a, and/or experiencing poverty.
The goal of this project is to identify opportunities and barriers to community based organizations, namely civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, The Leadership Conference, the National Urban League, NALEO Education Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), National Congress of American Indian (NCAI) in prioritizing early childhood development including access to high quality and affordable child care.