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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This supplemental study provides preliminary information on whether culturally responsive practices are predictive of racially marginalized children's outcomes and whether teacher factors, such as partnership with families, are related to culturally responsive practices.
FirstSchool is a Pre-K through third grade approach to improving early elementary school experiences for African American, Latino, and low-income children and their families.
FirstSchool is a Pre-K through third grade initiative led by FPG and the UNC-CH School of Education to promote public school efforts to improve the early school experiences of African American, Latino, and low-income children and their families. FirstSchool is a systems-based change process designed to move schools and communities toward a seamless approach for children ages 3 to 8.
FPG's FirstSchool team will collaborate with Turning Point, Inc., to provide services to the State of Nevada under RFP 2108, “Nevada Ready – B-3.” FirstSchool will support the development of practices and systems for using data to promote effective P–3 learning communities.
FPG will develop and deploy an online course to promote inquiry and equity in PreK through third grade education. Participants in the online course will include teachers who are receiving data feedback and coaching through other FirstSchool projects as well as teachers who only take the online course.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute will provide leadership and professional development for the Department of Public Instruction's demonstration pre-k and kindergarten classrooms. FirstSchool staff will serve on the steering committee and participate in biannual professional development sessions for demonstration site teachers.
The focus of this project is to provide educators in struggling schools with lenses through which to view the experiences of their students and make informed decisions about how to improve their school experiences. In order to sustain this practice, the work will build the capacity of school leaders and the Department of Public Instruction to lead this process.
The FPG Autism Team will develop five AFIRM modules based on new evidence-based practices identified by the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence & Practice review of the literature.
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning partnered with FPG Child Development Institute to jointly evaluate a summer pre-k program and two quality improvement initiatives sponsored by the Department. FPG also provided assistance with developing and piloting a quality continuum framework for early care and education programs.
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of Georgia’s regulatory process for licensing center-based child care programs and family child care homes.
The Georgia Pre-Kindergarten Evaluation project provides an external statewide evaluation of Georgia's Pre-K Program, a universal pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds. The project is currently conducting an ongoing longitudinal study of the short- and long-term learning outcomes for children who attended Georgia's Pre-K Program as well as the quality of their preschool and early elementary school experiences from pre-k through fifth grade.
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.
The Healthy Places North Carolina (HPNC) initiative is a 10-year project funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to create the conditions for initial, sustainable, and dramatic improvements in the health of all the people who live in selected Tier 1 counties in North Carolina.
In collaboration with the University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning, the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) will evaluate outcomes related to the Hillsborough Early Learning Network (HELN) professional development program. The HELN Final Report prepared by FPG will include information about educators who participated in HELN cohorts and pathways across six school years (2018-2024).
The purpose of the IDEA Data Center is to improve the capacity of States to meet their Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) data collection and reporting requirements under sections 616 and 618 of the IDEA.
The purpose of this project is to conduct a validation study of center-based programs registered in ExceleRate Illinois as well as a child outcomes study of preschool-aged children. Through gathering of program and classroom observations; director, teacher, and parent surveys; and child assessments, results will help examine the extent to which ExceleRate Illinois meaningfully distinguishes program quality and the extent to which rating levels relate to child outcomes.
As the Geoleads for their Differentiated Assistance Region, Placer and Sacramento County Offices of Education are seeking support for the capacity development of their county office staff in best practices of implementation science to support implementation of improvement strategies within their differentiated system of support for 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 Triple P Implementation Evaluation (TPIE) supports evaluation activities related to ongoing implementation of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program system of interventions in two North Carolina counties. Triple P is an evidence-based, community-wide parenting and family support system to promote the social, emotional, health, and behavioral wellbeing of children.
This study will investigate the impact of the Advancing Social-Communication and Play (ASAP) intervention on school-aged students with ASD, and the feasibility of the ASAP intervention in elementary schools. The study is expected to provide valuable data on the effect of the ASAP intervention on elementary school students. Additionally, the study will offer important information on adapting preschool interventions for elementary school settings.
The pilot study presented in this proposal is a collaborative effort between the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The intended outcomes of this program are to positively impact inclusion in early childhood classrooms and kindergarten readiness for children with disabilities. Consisting of a 5 day, in-person, professional development (PD) opportunity and Networked Improvement Community (NIC) meetings that are targeted to meet the individual needs of the participants, we propose a three-phase process. Phase 1 includes targeted observations of inclusive STEM practices. Phase 2 includes a 5-day PD opportunity, planned and facilitated by UMBC and STEMIE. PD sessions will be designed to foster the participants’ engagement in inclusive STEM teaching. Phase 2 sessions will be developed based on observed needs of the participating teachers and support participants in using STEMIE resources (e.g. learning trajectories) within the scope of their own curriculum. A series of NIC meetings will be held focusing on areas of need identified by the participants to allow for collaborative problem solving with investigators serving as facilitators. The final phase (Phase 3) will include targeted observations of participants to assess progress.
This research will extend the use of work systems -- an evidence-based practice with school-aged children that provides visual information about what one is expected to do -- to adolescents and adults.
The National Professional Development Center on Autism (NPDC) developed a professional development model for increasing the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools. The NPDC model includes information on goal attainment scale to monitor student progress, an overview of EBPs, a process of selecting EBPs. Ann Sam, PhD, will partner with Guilford County Schools to provide training on these components. Additionally, she will provide an overview of foundational EBPs (reinforcement, prompting, and visual supports). Training will include specific practice to promote independence and adaptive/vocational skills, social communication needs of students, and promote school readiness, academics and behavior. Training will occur over a two-day period.
This collaborative project with ITTI Care at Duke Center for Child & Family Policy will work to integrate trauma-informed care practices within infant-toddler childcare settings by evaluating existing training materials and suggesting revisions as necessary and designing comprehensive instructional strategy and training curricula for both coach-the-coach and direct-to-provider professional development efforts.
The Joint Attention Mediated Learning Intervention for Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Families project is being conducted at three sites: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Indiana University, and University of Kansas. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, and the Principal Investigator is Dr. Hannah Schertz at Indiana University.
TRI will design a series of six parent workshops to build foundational literacy skills for children aged six months to five years. These workshops will be presented by community workers from El Centro Hispano. TRI will provide training for the community workers and will compile materials including books in Spanish and other educational resources (magnetic letters, activity cards) for parents to use.
University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning is seeking support for capacity development in best practices of implementation science. Specifically, the Lastinger Center is looking for a two-phase approach. In Phase 1, exploration activities to support development of a team, assessment of opportunities and needs, readiness activities, and recommendations for options are proposed to support overall readiness and identification of specific areas of focus for the Center to develop internal implementation science capacity
We are examining psychiatric and health outcomes in a 5-year follow-up of 200 well-characterized, very high-risk, maltreated and non-maltreated children. This is an ideal study in which to examine patterns of stability and change in the regulation of stress-sensitive genes over time.
The project team will research national trends and relevant models of governing and delivering early childhood special education systems, including but not limited to implementation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), quality and control measures, and innovative approaches in other states and jurisdictions that hold the potential for enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency, or accountability of the early childhood special education system in the state.
