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 California Abundant Birth Project (CA-ABP) is a guaranteed income program for pregnant people at greatest risk of birth inequities in five California counties (San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Riverside, and Los Angeles), funded by the State of California, municipal governments, and philanthropic funding. The California Abundant Birth Project will provide unconditional, monthly income supplements during pregnancy and postpartum to randomly selected participants, with the goal of curbing financial stress and promoting healthy pregnancy outcomes. The goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of this guaranteed income program on birthing outcomes, maternal and child health, and children’s early outcomes.
The current study will be the first to examine the influence of early toxic stress, including the distal effects of living in poverty as well as the proximal factors of negative parenting and household chaos, on the development of gut microbiome diversity and maturity across 15, 24, 26, and 54 months.
This project involved multiple tasks including the provision of intensive, implementation-focused technical assistance to promote the scaling-up of evidence-based practices to improve child and family outcomes post-permanency, and a program evaluation to assess implementation fidelity and outcomes.
This collaborative project will design and deliver a comprehensive professional development system of support for infant and toddler teachers, anchored in an online associate's degree program for English and Spanish-speaking professionals serving infants and toddlers.
The Impact Center at FPG’s Rural Church Summer Literacy Initiative Support Team supports the ongoing development and implementation of The Duke Endowment’s Rural Church – Summer Literacy Program in North Carolina.
The Impact Center at FPG’s Triple P Support Team is currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program®—System of Interventions in North Carolina.
The Impact Center at FPG's Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of Triple P System of Interventions in North and South Carolina.
This project will provide support for a process to enhance the curriculum at Terra Community College by incorporating evidence-based and competency-based practices and content. The work will include developing opportunities for coursework and practica with an emphasis on young children who are culturally, linguistically, and ability-diverse and their families.
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) will partner with The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) to build the capacity of Results First States to integrate implementation science into their evidence-based policymaking approaches.
This project will use secondary data analysis of two longitudinal datasets to test if childcare provider language prospectively predicts child executive functions (EFs) directly or indirectly through child language. We will also examine if different ways of measuring preschool teacher language quality are differentially predictive of child language and subsequent EFs.
The purpose of this project is to assist the State of Alaska Early Intervention/Infant Learning Program (ILP) to coordinate the final revisions and dissemination of its revised State of Alaska ILP regulations, State Policies and Procedures, forms, on site monitoring tools, and monitoring and database manuals, and a new request for proposals for local early intervention providers to ensure they comply with the new federal Part C regulations as well as Alaska state laws.
The purpose of this project was to examine the effectiveness of the Targeted Reading Intervention professional development program in helping rural kindergarten and first-grade classroom teachers in low-wealth schools implement evidence-based, individualized reading instruction for the children in their classrooms who are struggling in learning how to read.
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of an early reading professional development program, the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), on young English learners' reading achievement.
This validation study of North Carolina's tiered quality rating and improvement system (TQRIS) included two phases. Phase I involved collection of data to inform the development of alternative TQRIS models. Phase II involved the conduct of classroom observations, director interviews, surveys of teachers, and child assessments to examine whether the test model developed in Phase I is related to program and classroom quality and to child outcomes. Findings will inform possible revisions to NC's TQRIS.
This project tests the efficacy of an innovative group-based model of intervention for Toddlers and Families Together to target the early core features of ASD with the goal of improving maternal health and child developmental outcomes. Specific aims include examining the effects of TAFT on caregiver outcomes of stress, coping, support and interaction style; examining the effects of TAFT on children's engagement, behavior regulation, joint attention and play; and examining caregiver and child characteristics affecting optimal treatment outcomes.
The Trohanis Technical Assistance Projects group is dedicated to improving the availability and quality of services, and ensuring optimal outcomes, for very young children with, or at risk for, disabilities and their families. We assist states and local agencies that provide early intervention and early childhood special education.
In collaboration with the Lastinger Center, FPG proposes to evaluate the effects of a literacy matrix (LM) for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years. This project will evaluate educator data as measured by metrics collected as part of the Flamingo LMS. In addition, should student data be made available, these data will be examined to determine student growth following educators' completion of the LM.
The University of Montana’s Center for Children is seeking support to develop capacity in best practices of implementation science to support sustainability of their implementation of PAX Good Behavior (PAX GBG) in relevant staff in participating centers, and regional and local education agencies. To support development of internal implementation capacity, the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) will provide virtual training, coaching, data collection, and consultation supports.
The DCFW Implementation Support Project for the DHHS Child Behavioral Health Leadership Team and its component projects proposal creates an implementation science, practice-based approach in support of a multi-tiered policy/governance, program (e.g., EBP) support, and delivery system across North Carolina. The Impact Center expects to work alongside and receive directions from DCFW Leadership, embed implementation science best practices within the team, its projects, and support system partners where directed.
The DCFW Implementation Support Project for the DHHS Child Behavioral Health Leadership Team (federally funded component) and its projects continues to build on the existing partnership that the Impact Center has with the CBH team at DHHS. The partnership creates an implementation science, practice-based set of activities and capacity building efforts in support of a multi-tiered policy/governance, program (e.g., EBP) support, and delivery system across North Carolina.
Beginning July 01, 2023, the Impact Center will continue to work alongside and receive directions from DCFW Leadership, embed implementation science best practices within the Team, its projects, and support system partners where directed.
This project builds on the existing partnership that the Impact Center has with the DHHS Child Behavioral Health team. The partnership creates an implementation science, practice-based set of activities and capacity building efforts in support of a multi-tiered policy/governance, program (e.g., EBP) support, and delivery system across North Carolina. Beginning July 01, 2024, the Impact Center will continue to work alongside and receive directions from Division of Child and Family Well-Being (DCFW) leadership, embed implementation science best practices within the team, its projects, and support system partners where directed.
The goal of this project is to validate the Early Communication Indicator for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ECI-ASD) using a robust and representative multi-site sample of well-characterized children with autism spectrum disorder to determine the psychometric features of this instrument and its ability to detect change over time.
We are partnering with MDRC to conduct a quality study that will address important early childhood education (ECE) research and policy by addressing questions about which aspects of ECE quality have the largest impacts on child outcomes and the extent to which those aspects of ECE quality can be improved through intervention.
Through the Vermont FirstSchool Partnership, FirstSchool staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will help educators in Vermont make substantial gains in understanding and implementing the content and process of the FirstSchool approach to transforming PreK-3rd grade.
This research project evaluated the effects of a social skills training package comprised of group teaching strategies, applied behavior analysis, and video-based instruction delivered to adolescents with autism.
Virginia's Evidence-Based Practice Initiative is seeking support for capacity development in best practices of implementation science. Multiple agencies within the state of Virginia are collaborating in their efforts to foster and facilitate the use of evidence within their local communities. The collaborating state agencies include the Office of Children Services (OCS), Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Education (VDOE), Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services (DBHDS), and Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS). A state leadership team comprised of representation from these various state agencies has been formed to design and lead the initiative. The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN; http://nirn.fpg.unc.edu) and partners within the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute propose providing a blended model of training, coaching, and consultation supports to support the implementation of the Virginia Evidence-Based Practice Initiative through a Transformation Zone approach. Equity will be centered and explicitly attended to in all aspects of services provided.
