Projects
Research is at the heart of all we do at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. As one of the nation's foremost multidisciplinary centers devoted to the study of children from infancy to adolescence, our scientists are committed to conducting research and evaluation studies that improve children's lives, support families, and inform public policy.
Learn more about our projects—current and completed—by clicking on the links below. And to stay up to date on news and events related to our work via social media, visit our Project Digital Directory.
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The Calhoun Intermediate School District is seeking support for the capacity development of their systemic support staff and network partners in best practices of implementation science to support implementation of evidence-based practices with their participating local education agencies (LEAs). To support development of internal implementation capacity, the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) will provide virtual training, coaching, and consultation supports.
The National Implementation Research Network will support the implementation of the Healthy Places North Carolina (HPNC) initiative. Through HPNC, the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust seeks to create the conditions for initial, sustainable, and dramatic improvements in health in selected counties in North Carolina.
The CCHD is an NICHD-T32 funded program for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees engaged in the advanced study of developmental science. Key features of the program include a seminar series, regular training events, an outstanding team of mentors, and a longstanding track record of training excellent fellows who now serve in institutions around the world.
The goal of this project is to 1) conduct a prospective clinical study that focuses on client health outcomes, social determinants of health, and preferences for Whole-Person Integrated Care (WPIC), and 2) evaluate WPIC program implementation to identify potential cost-savings for the WPIC approach across a series of behavioral health clinics. As part of this project, Shannon Chaplo, PhD, will provide WPIC program evaluation and quality assurance, train clinical staff, and provide mental health wellness support for clinical staff involved in direct patient contact. She will also seek grants for future funding to sustain this clinical and research program.
The CECER-DLL was a national center pursuing a focused agenda of research and national leadership activities designed to improve the state of knowledge and measurement in early childhood research on young DLLs and their families, and to advance the evidence base for practices to support young DLLs' development and learning.
This project supports implementation of the Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting's effort to provide technical assistance in the role of state liaison and/or content specialist to state Part C early intervention lead agencies to help them meet their federal obligation to collect and report special education fiscal data as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (CSESA) is a multi-site research and development center that will develop a school- and community-based comprehensive treatment model (CTM) for high school students with ASD and conduct an efficacy study of the impact of the CTM on multiple student outcomes and transition to post-school settings.
This project addressed the child care needs and utilization patterns of Latino low-income parents and factors that influence parental choice of care.
The purpose of this project was to understand how low-income rural families use child care subsidies, the quality of care they receive, and how subsidy use is related to child outcomes and parental work conditions.
This model demonstration seeks to increase family uptake of developmental screenings and service enrollment of traditionally underserved populations by centering family and cultural voice throughout the implementation process.
This project will support the Centre for Evidence and Implementation in ensuring that the Circle of Care program in Singapore is implemented effectively through technical assistance and professional development activities in order to bring about the best positive outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their families.
Consistent with the commitment of OSEP to a focus on Implementation Science in the process of the State Systemic Improvement Plan, the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) and the State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices Center (SISEP) will collaborate to build the Implementation Science fluency of an internal NCSI Implementation Team for use in support of SEA Implementation Teams, and to track and evaluate SEA implementation capacity through the use of the State Capacity Assessment.
The purpose of this project is to serve as the overall implementation evaluation lead for an expected 10-year initiative, taking primary responsibility for designing and conducting a comprehensive implementation evaluation, while also coordinating and aggregating the evaluative activities and results of several partner organizations to ensure that data and findings are synthesized and packaged to support learning and continuous improvement.
This study examined the immediate and long term effects of two comprehensive treatment models. Using an equivalent groups quasi-experimental design, classrooms for preschool children with autism implementing the LEAP and TEACCH models and local control classrooms were matched on relevant variables. Children received a battery of developmental assessments, and observations of children's behavior in the classroom and assessments of fidelity of treatment implementation were collected.
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.
CONNECT modules are practice-focused instructional resources for faculty and other professional development providers. CONNECT modules are designed using a 5-Step Learning Cycle, an approach for making evidence-based decisions about practice dilemmas, based on the integration of multiple sources of evidence.
This consultation project assisted Wake County Smart Start (WCSS) and Wake County Human Services (WCHS) in gathering and analyzing information to determine the strengths and needs of the current child care subsidy system and to facilitate the development of strategic recommendations.
The Crosswalks project was designed to address a significant early childhood issue – the lack of preservice preparation to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children and their families.
This study will compare the gains and retention of English receptive vocabulary by preschool Spanish-speaking dual language learners (DLLs) after the implementation of a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive (CLR) shared reading intervention. Results will guide the development of evidence-based instructional strategies to improve the quality of services for young DLLs and inform policy for multicultural services to diverse children and families.
Data collected by Educare schools and provided to FPG for the Educare Implementation Study are also pertinent to the Mindfulness & Mastery Grant evaluation conducted by the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). Under data sharing/confidentiality agreements with each of the sites, these data will be shared across projects.
The purpose of the proposed project is to investigate mechanisms through which peer effects in infant and toddler settings operate using innovative computational and statistical methods. The study will involve secondary analyses of the Educare Learning Network National Evaluation longitudinal data to address questions about peer effects.
The purpose of the proposed project is to investigate patterns, factors, mechanisms, and outcomes of Head Start/Early Head Start staff turnover using a range of advanced analytic techniques such as survival analysis, machine learning, Multilevel Cox Regression Model, and Multilevel Survival Structural Equation Modeling. The study will involve secondary analyses of the Educare Learning Network National Evaluation longitudinal data to address questions about staff turnover. As a subcontractor, FPG will be involved in assisting with any required data sharing agreements, creating custom datasets, and assisting with interpretation and dissemination of findings.
The purpose of this project is to determine the extent to which higher education faculty and programs are currently incorporating an emphasis on relevant frameworks (e.g., Early Learning Foundations, Workforce Competencies) in coursework and field experiences. Higher education and community colleagues will be engaged in a process of identifying the current strengths of early childhood preservice preparation as well as areas for improvement.
The aims of this development and innovation project are to develop an interactive decision tree to inform adaptation of Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) for individual students, goals, and activities, and to develop an interactive on-line training and distance coaching model for teachers and paraprofessionals.
The purpose of this project is to further develop and evaluate a computerized assessment of executive functioning for use with preschool-aged children. A combination of Item Response Theory and Structural Equation Models will be used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the computerized battery, as well as to evaluate the construct and criterion validity of the battery.
FPG Investigators conducted work in four areas: definition of the features of an early child development program offer and evidence-based practices associated with the features; development of an implementation strategy; development of a measurement frame; and designing an information capture and documentation process.
The purpose of the Dialogic Reading Implementation Project was to create, implement, and field test a web-based module on the topic of dialogic reading. Project staff organized Doing What Works resources along with other project-developed resources into a module using the CONNECT project’s 5-Step Learning Cycle.
The purpose of this project is to establish the psychometric properties of the District Capacity Assessment (DCA). Specifically, the internal structure and test-retest reliability of the DCA will be developed and a professional paper will be published summarizing the results.
