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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Black families of children with disabilities face additional stress and difficulties because of their multiple marginalized statuses, particularly within the intersection between racism and ableism. These parents and caregivers may be tasked with teaching and conveying messages to their children about how to navigate social settings, like school, as a Black child with a disability. 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. They are defined as verbal and nonverbal racial communication between families of color and their children about cultural heritage and pride, preparing youth for racial bias, and promoting healthy distrust of the dominant racial/ethnic group. ERS practices promote academic engagement and achievement and serve as a protective factor among Black youth amid racist discrimination. Yet, little is known about what these practices may look like for Black children with disabilities as ERS practices have typically been studied among able-bodied children.
Ultimately, findings from this study seek to serve as a resource to educators, researchers, and policy makers who work with or on behalf of Black families and their young children with disabilities to aid them in developing best practices that are rooted in anti-racism, anti-bias, and equity.
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 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.
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.
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.
This postdoctoral research program will provide postdoctoral fellows with extensive research training in special education with a focus on the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate the efficacy of interventions and instructional practices for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The overarching goal of this program is to prepare four fellows (with 2 years of training each) to conduct high-quality special education research related to children and youth with ASD.
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.
Exposure to heavy metals in utero, such as arsenic, may have negative effects on health and neurodevelopment of offspring. In North Carolina, arsenic has been found in the drinking water, making this an important public health concern. This study will be the first to examine the way in which arsenic exposure may alter the microbiome of pregnant women and their offspring.
The primary project goal is to prepare working professionals from diverse backgrounds to become interdisciplinary, collaborative leaders in early childhood special education implementing culturally responsive and evidence-based practices for facilitating the successful inclusion of young children with disabilities and their families in high need schools and community based programs.
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.
The purpose of this project is to conduct a process evaluation of North Carolina’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program that will examine service integration and coordination and collaboration among agencies serving families with young children in seven NC communities.
The NIRN will support the Permanency Innovations Initiative project by providing training and technical assistance based in implementation science and practice to refine, problem-solve, and strengthen the use of innovations to improve the safety and permanency outcomes of children and families.
This project will provide training and technical assistance to Long-Term Foster Care Grants in planning and implementing their innovative intervention strategies aimed at reducing the time in out-of-home care for long waiting children engaged in the child welfare system.
Promoting Academic Success (PAS) brought together networks of schools, communities, and families to promote systems change within local contexts to improve the academic and social-emotional outcomes of young boys. PAS focused primarily on two groups of boys, African Americans and Latinos, in systems where these groups of boys are disproportionately underperforming.
Developmental disparity exists between infants and toddlers raised in poverty and their peers growing up in more affluent families. Programs serving poor infants and toddlers typically focus on the overall level of child care quality with less attention paid to the effectiveness of specific activities taking place in the classroom. This study will develop and evaluate a set of activities for early childhood educators to use to promote the early communication and self-regulation skills of poor infants and toddlers.
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.
The purpose of this project is to develop and test an intervention to support the development of adolescents' self-regulation skills during the middle school years. The Self-Regulation Skills for Success (SRSS) intervention will adapt and integrate strategies from existing evidence-based programs guided by a theory of change that intentionally targets self-regulatory processes in need of support and development during early adolescence: immature cognitive controls, increased emotionality and stress reactivity, and responsivity to peers.
This project conducted a process evaluation and short-term outcome evaluation of Miami-Dade County's Quality Counts initiative, a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS)and professional development initiative.
The purpose of this project was to work collaboratively with Quality Counts leaders and stakeholders to revise their logic model and discuss issues related to validating Quality Counts.
This project was a randomized control trial of the Partnerships for Inclusion (PFI) model of assessment-based, individualized, on-site consultation. The evaluation study was called QUINCE (Quality Interventions for Early Care and Education). Quality consultants from 24 community agencies in five states (California, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Carolina) participated as well as 108 child care teachers, 263 FCC home providers, and 710 children.
The purpose of this collaborative partnership is to bring together the expertise of three research centers from top-tier research universities for the purpose of (a) understanding the science behind how racism impacts the lives of young children of color and (b) developing tools to communicate this impact to people who are making daily decisions on behalf of the well-being of children—their parents, educators, clinical practitioners, and policymakers.
FPG will collect data using our Snapshot tablet application during one day-long observation in fifty of the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School District’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. FPG will provide staff development for school and district personnel on the use of Snapshot data and other data for school improvement.
The purpose of this project is to provide DCDEE with expertise in research and analysis related to short- and long-term policy questions focused on young children’s education and development.
Through the Research-Policy and Practice Collaboration, FPG will develop structures to initiate working toward project goals and develop plans for expanding this work to educate/co-create learning between academia and policy practice in service of career advancement/efficacy. FPG will also review research and conduct analyses as directed by the Division to inform evidence-based decision-making at the state level, educate the public, and guide future efforts designed to support young children and families. Finally, FPG will provide coordination support for the B-3 Interagency Council and the B-3 Interagency Council planning team.
This project will continue a previously established formal research-policy and practice collaboration between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) and the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (FPG). FPG will develop structures to initiate working toward the project goals and to develop plans for expanding this work to educate/co-create learning between academia and policy practice in service of career advancement/efficacy.
The purpose of this multi-organization partnership is to leverage existing collaborations, expertise, and work to bolster all three partnering organizations’ activities to mitigate the impacts of this double pandemic – COVID-19 and racism – on Black families with children, birth to age 5.
The San Diego County Office of Education is 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. The National Implementation Research Network will provide a hybrid model of onsite and virtual training, coaching, and consultation supports for identified San Diego County Office of Education staff comprising an implementation team.
