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 Early Intervention Branch in the Women’s and Children’s Health Section of the Division of Public Health is the lead agency for services to NC children birth to three years old with developmental disabilities. This project will provide analysis of the federal required data on the family outcomes of NC Early Intervention (NC EI), as well as advise the program administrators on how to utilize the family outcome data to inform state and local program improvement.
The purpose of this project was to conduct a statewide needs and resources assessment concerning the status of children under 6 in North Carolina. The study focused on the numbers of children in various types of child care, the quality of their care, and the numbers of children not in an early childhood education setting.
The mission of NCODH was to promote the health and wellness of children, youth, and adults with disabilities in North Carolina and to address health disparities experienced by persons with disabilities across the life span.
The evaluation of the North Carolina Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Grant Transformation Zone will examine the extent to which the TZ communities have been able to enhance their capacity to improve the quality of their early childhood systems, including policy, practice, and infrastructure changes to support successful implementation of evidence-informed practice.
FPG provides support and expertise to successfully implement the North Carolina Race to the Top- Early Learning Challenge grant. FPG helps support the overall management of the grant, provides leadership on the Early Childhood Integrated Data System project and on the Transformation Zone activities and expertise about implementation science, and as well as other content expertise as needed.
This project conducted a pilot test of the proposed North Carolina school readiness assessment system with a sample of 1,000 kindergarten children and 500 elementary schools across NC. This assessment system gathered information about the condition of children as they enter school as well as schools' capacity to educate all children who enter public kindergarten.
The purpose of this project was to provide technical assistance to the 619 Preschool Coordinator in carrying out the planning and execution of state level duties necessary to carrying out the State Performance Plan.
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Nuestros Niños program on the language, literacy, math, and socioemotional outcomes of Spanish-speaking English language learners during the pre-kindergarten year and to examine the extent to which the effects of the pre-kindergarten intervention are maintained at entry into kindergarten and 1st grade.
Existing guidelines and strategies for the prevention or reduction of obesity were developed from an evidence base of research that typically excluded participation by people with disabilities. This project is using a systematic approach to develop, identify, and adapt strategies and practices supporting participation of youth/young adults with disabilities in community-based obesity-prevention programs.
The National Implementation Research Network within UNC-Chapel Hill's Frank Porter Graham Institute will support Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to develop a team of leaders and coaches' capacity to use an instructional fidelity observation tool, the Observation Tool for Instructional Supports and Systems (OTISS), to identify and align supports needed to achieve academic success for every student in every school.
The purpose of the Ohio Alternative Response Project is to: 1) seed and develop the capacity of a state implementation team to support the statewide implementation of AR and 2) develop coaching skills of child welfare supervisors and build the capacity of the state to provide ongoing consultation and training on coaching for the AR model.
The goals of this project are to develop online modules that translate EBPs for children and youth with ASD identified in a recent review of the intervention literature into engaging self-learning modules and resources, and to monitor, revise, and evaluate completed modules for use, quality, usefulness, and relevance by monitoring access by learners, reviewing evaluation by users, and soliciting feedback that can contribute to needed revisions. Access to these learning materials is free.
This research will evaluate outcomes of a center-based model of intervention for toddlers with ASD. The results will provide practical information to families of toddlers recently diagnosed with ASD as well as to service providers.
This project provided one of two interventions designed to promote children's early literacy development for the National Even Start Classroom Literacy Interventions and Outcomes study.
The Partners in Research Project conducted a Forum to help bridge the "research to policy gap" in order to improve the lives of North Carolina's youngest children. The Forum provided a strategic and systematic way for early childhood partners in North Carolina to come together to share ideas and collaborate on research.
The National Implementation Research Network is partnering with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to integrate principles and frameworks of implementation science into their ongoing technical assistance, strategic support, and evaluation and monitoring of 23 local communities implementing evidence-based home visiting models with state and federal funds.
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) is partnering with Casey Family Programs (CFP) to integrate principles and frameworks of implementation science into their ongoing technical assistance and strategic support of jurisdictions to achieve better outcomes for children and families.
The National Implementation Research Network will partner with the Division of Child Welfare to develop a process and pilot to bring predictive analytics as a practice model to address reentry of children/youth to foster care. The desired outcome of these efforts is to reduce the number of children/youth requiring subsequent child welfare involvement and/or reentry into foster care.
The Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Child Welfare has partnered with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s National Implementation Resource Network, Casey Family Programs, and Eckerd to develop and pilot a predictive analytics plus coaching practice model to address reentry of children/youth to foster care.
This project supported the Komen NC Triangle affiliate funding priority of breast cancer education, screening services, and continuum of care among women with disabilities (WWD), an under-served population.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute will conduct a rigorous evaluation of Pennsylvania's state-funded pre-k program Pre-K Counts to determine whether the program is achieving its goal of building the necessary skills and competencies that enable three- and four-year-olds in Pennsylvania to be kindergarten-ready.
The North Carolina Office on Disability and Health is partnering with the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability to support activities related to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Physical Activity for People with Disabilities Information Resource Center.
Four postdoctoral fellows will receive training in two research areas: intervention programs for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Response to Intervention (RTI) for children with special educational needs. The primary focus of the training program will be on the development and evaluation of intervention research.
The research training fellowship plan includes 6 components: an individualized research plan, postdoctoral seminar on research methodology, statistical and research design coursework as appropriate, research apprenticeship with 2 or more research grants, research internship with FPG Data Management and Analysis Core, and specialized research training off site.
This study compares the developmental trajectories of pragmatic skills, the use of language in social contexts, among girls and boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS), Down syndrome (DS), and typical development (TD) and boys with autism spectrum disorder only (ASD-O) to determine whether individual differences in conversational discourse and narrative skills relate to FXS specifically or to either mental retardation (MR) or autism in general.
The purpose of this work is to develop a comprehensive and effective PreK Monitoring System for the Integrated Support for Learning, PK-8 Division at the Vermont Agency of Education. This new monitoring system will build upon existing monitoring systems and procedures to assess the quality of the state’s early learning and development programs. It will go beyond current systems to focus on all the components of a quality prekindergarten education program across the many types of settings in which prekindergarten education is offered in Vermont.
The primary purposes of the project are to a) design and conduct a descriptive survey study the provides information about preschool special education programs and practices; b) conduct an evidence review of efficacious practices appropriate for preschool children with disabilities enrolled in special education programs; and c) design an impact evaluation study of practices that promote language, literacy, and socio-emotional skills for preschool children with disabilities.
