K-12 Education

five middle-school and high-school aged girls walking down sidewalk by school building

Access to a high-quality K-12 education is critical for the optimal growth and development of every child. Children who attend excellent schools benefit from a range of opportunities designed to develop their intellectual abilities and social skills. The benefits are long-lasting, as educational achievement is linked to higher lifetime earnings and better health. However, there remains a stubborn achievement gap in America's schools due to disparities in funding and teacher training. FPG's work in K-12 education aims to provide educators, public officials, and parents with the resources and tools needed to ensure that a high-quality education is accessible to students from all backgrounds and at all grade levels.

Featured Publication

FPG researchers Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD, and Doré LaForett, PhD, conducted a study that examined parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of student learning in Spanish–English Dual Language Education (DLE) programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more.

Featured Project

As a Learning Partner for the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC), the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at FPG seeks to support the cohort of Provider-Local Education Agency partnerships in their implementation and measurement efforts related to their scale-up of high-quality mathematics curricula.

Featured Person

Caryn Ward, PhD, is the director of the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at FPG. She provides intensive, informed implementation supports to state and local education systems nationally through her work as the director of the State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices Center and leadership team member for Region 7 Comprehensive Center.

Current Projects

View all projects

An Effectiveness Replication of Targeted Reading Instruction: Investigating Long-Term Student and Teacher Impacts

This replication study seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI, formerly called Targeted Reading Intervention) in helping grade 1 struggling readers make substantial gains in reading during one school year. It extends prior TRI studies by conducting an independent external evaluation of the TRI, testing long-term impacts for struggling readers into grade 3, and examining teachers’ sustained impacts for three years.

BEE Project: Bilingualism, Education, and Excellence

The purpose of this study is to examine associations between language of instruction, student engagement, academic-self-concept, approaches to learning, student-teacher relationships, and gains in academic outcomes for students attending dual language educational settings.

Comprehensive Center Region 7

The purpose of this project is to support the use of implementation science methods and practices within the technical assistance services provided by the Comprehensive Center Region 7. The NIRN team will support capacity building efforts of the TA providers and the state education agencies being served by the comprehensive center as well as the implementation of cross-state initiatives.

Math Implementation Cohort - Learning Partner

The K-12 Coherent Instructional Systems portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s U.S. Program seeks to support a cohort of provider-local education agency partnerships focused on implementing coherent instructional systems (CIS) built around high-quality middle-years mathematics curricula in contexts that serve Black, Latino, and/or English Learning-designated students, and students who are experiencing poverty. As a Learning Partner for the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC), the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at UNC-Chapel Hill's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute seeks to support the cohort of Provider-Local Education Agency partnerships in their implementation and measurement efforts related to their scale-up of high-quality mathematics curricula.

Network of New York Districts

The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) will convene, facilitate and support a network of New York state school districts to address the systemic implementation vision of high-quality math instruction. Initial partners include Buffalo Public Schools, Yonkers Public Schools, and Rochester City School. The project’s primary goal is to support a cadre of districts within the state of New York through a reflective planning process focused on implementing a system’s vision for high-quality math instruction. The project’s long-term vision is to create capacity within each respective district to sustain its systems for achieving its vision for high-quality math instruction and desired outcomes for students, instructional staff, and the community.

Project EXPRESS: EXamining interventions to PRomote Executive function and Social Skills

The purpose of this study is to evaluate two group-based treatments: (1) the Program for Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), which targets social skills, and (2) Unstuck and On Target (UOT), which targets executive function skills. The interventions are two 45-minute sessions per week across 16 weeks and will be implemented by school-based staff in middle schools in North Carolina and Southern California (San Diego area).

Promoting Seasonal and Migrant Head Start Children's Development: Program Practices That Matter

This study aims to identify unobserved heterogeneity and capture complex patterns of program and classroom characteristics to inform targeted program quality improvement and teacher professional development, and identify program quality features and instructional practices that are beneficial for the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start children’s language and literacy development.

Scaling Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI) to Serve Students Impacted by COVID-19: High-Dosage Digital Implementation of an Effective Reading Intervention

This project will train school staff who support students using pull-out reading instruction and intervention (e.g., “educators” such as reading specialists, paraeducators, instructional facilitators, tutors) to use Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI, formerly called Targeted Reading Intervention) with two adaptations: 1) a digital version of the traditionally “paper and pencil” intervention (“TRI app”) in a 2) high dosage model whereby educators provide daily reading support to multiple K-3 students not yet reading on grade level.

State Implementation and Scaling-Up of Evidence-Based Practices (SISEP) Center

Effective implementation capacity is essential to improving education. The SISEP Center supports education systems in creating implementation capacity for evidence‐based practices benefiting students with disabilities. Project funding is by the Office of Special Education Programs.

Strenghtening Education Through Equitable and Inclusive Evidence-based Teaching Practices: A systematic literature review

This project involves a systematic review of literature on evidence-based teaching practices in the K-12 education system in the United States to (1) identify practices that have demonstrated success in academic achievement for diverse students, (2) examine whether these successful teaching practices have been adopted and implemented, and (3) identify system conditions needed to adopt. The literature review will result in an open-access publication to inform the field.

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

Search this site

Featured Publication

Featured Project

Featured Person

Current Projects

Publications and Other Resources

Stay Connected

Follow Us