At FPG, we are committed to sharing the information we generate with the public and to supporting professionals’ understanding and use of evidence-based practices. Like other top-tier research organizations, our work is published in the most respected journals in our field. What sets us apart is our effort to ensure that parents, educators, and other professionals who support children and families benefit from our work in a timely manner. In fact, over the years, people from more than 180 countries have relied on our publications and resources to support their work.
In the last fiscal year, FPG investigators, specialists, staff, and faculty fellows have produced more than 65 new publications including books and book chapters, journal articles, online learning publications, reports and policy briefs, technical assistance guides, and many other resources. FPG’s dedication to both research and outreach is embodied in our motto: Advancing knowledge to transform children’s lives.
For a full listing of our publications, see: fpg.unc.edu/publications
Letter from the Director
Dear colleagues, donors, and friends,
For almost six decades, the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) has been a leader in generating knowledge, informing policies, and supporting practices to promote positive developmental and educational outcomes for children of all backgrounds and all abilities from the earliest years. As one of the largest pan-campus centers and institutes at UNC, we are home to more than 150 scientists, specialists, and scholars currently working on more than 60 projects looking to make a positive impact on children and families throughout North Carolina, the nation, and around the world.
As I shared here last year, I spent several months deeply exploring FPG’s research, evaluation, technical assistance, and implementation science portfolios, and getting to know the people driving the work within them. From this I devised a roadmap—FPG Next—to guide the next three years of work at the Institute.
I’m excited to introduce you to FPG Next and I’m pleased to provide a sampling of what we’ve been working on over the last year. The following pages highlight just a few of our pivotal publications, projects, and people. In this year’s report, you will learn about a new resource aimed at addressing the national crisis of recruiting and retaining teachers serving young children with disabilities; you will find out how green spaces might improve young children’s mental health; you will see how engaging
diverse critical perspectives can lead to better supports and positive outcomes for children with disabilities and their families; you will meet some of our early career scientists and specialists; and more.
Everyone at FPG has a shared goal—advancing knowledge to transform children’s lives. We do this through innovative work that represents the research to practice to policy continuum. To highlight that, we’re including icons (see the visual key below) that indicate where along that continuum this year’s stories—and the work they reflect—sit.
Finally, as I mentioned these pages reflect only a few examples of what we do and who we are, so I encourage you to visit our website, fpg.unc.edu, to take a deeper dive into our Institute.
Best regards,
Brian A. Boyd, PhD Director, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education
Boyd sets roadmap for FPG
In February 2023, when a colleague asked Brian Boyd, PhD, why he took on the role of interim director of FPG, his response was immediate and heartfelt. He did so because of a longstanding connection and respect for the Institute and its mission, and he was drawn to join FPG’s scientists, specialists, staff, and students in going about the science of doing good.
Today, his sentiment remains the same. “I care deeply about FPG, its mission, and its people,” says Boyd. “I am both thrilled and honored to continue going about the science of doing good here in service to children and families in North Carolina, our nation, and around the world.”
Boyd, the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education in the UNC School of Education, was named director of FPG after serving as interim director for 14 months. During that time, he thought a lot about the future of the Institute. He
spoke to colleagues at FPG and across campus. He looked at the Institute’s full project portfolio, learning about the work happening at FPG and getting to know the people doing it.
From this, Boyd envisioned FPG Next, a roadmap to guide the next three years of work at the Institute. “I created this initiative to leverage our strengths, and to grow and expand our project portfolio,” says Boyd. “I’m also looking to foster even more collaboration throughout FPG— across and among our research and evaluation, implementation science and technical assistance groups—and across the UNC campus.”
“I care deeply about FPG, its mission, and its people. I am both thrilled and honored to continue going about the science of doing good here in service to children and families in North Carolina, our nation, and around the world.” – Brian Boyd
What is FPG Next?
FPG Next centers around three priorities: 1) four strategic initiatives (see bullets below); 2) state engagement; and 3) community connections— both within FPG and extending to the broader UNC campus.
• Language and literacy in early development
• Innovative technology and data science in education (e.g. AI, wearable sensors)
• Cultural resilience and wealth of marginalized and underserved communities
• Life course perspective on developmental disability and mental health
To ensure the success of this initiative, the Institute launched six catalyst planning groups, one for each strategic initiative and one for each of the other two priorities. Each group is led by two co-chairs and has up to 10 team members— comprised of a combination of people from within FPG and other units at Carolina.
Research Scientist Heather Aiken, PhD, and Senior Research Scientist Ximena FrancoJenkins, PhD, co-chair the language and literacy in early development planning group. Senior Technical Assistance Specialist Megan Vinh, PhD, and FPG Data Management and Analysis Core Director Sabrina Zadrozny, PhD, co-chair the innovative technology and data science in education planning group. FPG Faculty Fellow and Equity Research Action Coalition Founder Iheoma Iruka, PhD, and FPG Faculty Fellow Simona Goldin, PhD, co-chair the cultural resilience and wealth of marginalized and underserved communities planning group. Senior Research Scientist Ann Sam, PhD, and FPG
Faculty Fellow Desiree Murray, PhD, co-chair the life course perspective on developmental disability and mental health planning group. Senior Research Scientist Sandra Soliday Hong, PhD, and Implementation Associate Stephen McKinney, MA, co-chair the state engagement planning group. And Senior Implementation Specialists, Will Aldridge, PhD, Jessica Reed, MS, and Interim Associate Director for Research Noreen Yazejian, PhD, co-chair the community connections planning committee.
FPG Next is an integrative framework; these planning groups have worked individually on their specific strategic initiative or priority, and they’ve also collaborated as a larger body to develop strategic directions for the Institute.
For the last several months, each of the catalyst planning groups has conducted a landscape analysis to help identify research and collaboration opportunities and forward-looking trends. This summer, they shared their findings with Boyd, and
Boyd brings together new External Advisory Board at FPG
Catherine Bradshaw, PhD, MEd
Amy Stephens Cubbage, JD
Leann Smith DaWalt, PhD
James E. Ford, PhD
David J. Francis, PhD
Alfred Mays, MS
Koraly Pérez-Edgar, PhD
Byron Powell, PhD
James M. Rehg, PhD
Michelle Sarche, PhD
Natalie Slopen, ScD
Nicole Patton Terry, PhD
Dan Tetreault, MEd
Dan Wuori, PhD
Emeritus Members
Kenneth A. Dodge, PhD
Marvin H. McKinney, PhD
James (Jim) M. Perrin, MD, FAAP
now continue to work on new project proposals to submit for possible pilot funding.
Setting the stage for success
Boyd believes the role of a leader is to put supports and structures in place to help people succeed. And so far, he has done just that, taking a thoughtful and measured approach to leading FPG.
In addition to formulating the FPG Next initiative, he spent time selecting experts and thought leaders to form a new external advisory board. The charge of this board is to serve in a consultative capacity providing expertise and counsel relevant to the Institute’s work, with a special focus on FPG Next’s four strategic research initiatives. It will also contribute to the Institute’s North Carolina state engagement efforts.
While addressing future projects within FPG, Boyd also considered the space in which that work is done. Working with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the University, Boyd helped facilitate the relocation and consolidation of FPG into one building that is much closer to campus. This relocation will not only help foster community and increase opportunity for collaboration within the Institute, but also with the larger UNC community.
“This past year, launching FPG Next, setting up the new external advisory board, and facilitating our move to the Spangler building—I see that as scaffolding to help ensure our continued success here at the Institute,” says Boyd. “I am excited to see how FPG Next unfolds and for the new projects, collaborations, and opportunities that will arise from it.”
FPG and NC DCDEE hold key pre-K summit
To kick off the upcoming development of state-wide resources on math, literacy and social emotional learning for North Carolina pre-K providers, leaders from FPG co-hosted the “Embracing Joy in pre-K Literacy, Math, and Socioemotional Learning NC pre-K Summit.” This event—created in partnership with the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE)— brought together 200 NC pre-K educators who teach 4- and 5-year-old children, for a morning of learning with and from each other.
After opening remarks via video from Governor Roy Cooper, FPG researchers facilitated small group listening sessions to gain input from pre-K teachers on two questions. First, what is working well in NC pre-K to support children’s language, literacy, math, and social emotional learning development? And second, what are some unmet needs required to support children’s development in these areas?
The goal was for FPG to learn what educators are doing, what professional development may be needed, and how FPG can build upon educators’ existing strengths. This summit, part of an ongoing collaboration between FPG and DCDEE on professional development for pre-K teachers, allowed pre-K teachers to have their input and perspectives included. This is one way that our Institute is partnering with the educators who are most impacted by and will benefit from these interventions.
Sandra Soliday Hong, PhD, a senior research scientist at FPG, says that while pre-K teachers do great work, there are gaps in resources available to support them. “Professional development reform is often communicated to teachers from a deficit perspective,” she says. “We are starting from the expertise of the teachers. Resources that we develop will evolve from their desires, with an
emphasis on joyful implementation that is culturally sensitive and relevant.” She notes that the resources developed will be applicable in classrooms with a range of pedagogical and curricular approaches.
The summit launched a new phase of FPG’s ongoing research, policy, and practice collaboration with DCDEE. FPG has been providing DCDEE with policy briefs and other support for their work at the state level. The work is now moving from a policy collaboration to more broadly incorporate and solicit the feedback and perspectives of the provider community.
Next steps for FPG researchers include conducting a landscape analysis of professional development opportunities. After identifying where there is access and gaps, the team will make recommendations on professional development for math and literacy to supplement what already exists. FPG will also co-create with DCDEE a professional development training series.
This project exemplifies how FPG operates in the research, policy, and practice space. DCDEE, the funder of this work, designs professional development for pre-K teachers and supports and advocates for them. FPG provides the research lens with knowledge of best practices in supporting children’s learning and development. And pre-K teachers are practice leaders who ground the work by sharing how best to address their challenges.
Noreen Yazejian, PhD, interim associate director for research at FPG, is the co-principal investigator for this grant, of which Soliday Hong is the principal investigator. She notes that this project is just one example of how FPG partners with state agencies. “Part of UNC’s mission is to serve the state and people of North Carolina,” she says. “This is just one way that FPG helps fulfill that mission.”
Addressing a national crisis
While personnel shortages negatively impact all young children and their families, there is a disproportionate impact on young children from historically marginalized and underserved communities, including communities of color, those experiencing poverty, and those with disabilities. To address the national crisis of recruiting and retaining teachers serving young children with disabilities, members of the Trohanis Technical Assistance (TA) Projects at FPG recently released the resource “Recruitment and Retention of Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Personnel: A Synthesis of Innovative Practices.”
Drawn from research and innovations from states and local programs, these strategies show promise in helping recruit and retain early intervention/ early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) practitioners and leaders. In addition, the team is hosting a national personnel learning solutions community of practice that is focusing on this topic to support state work to address shortages.
The work is being led by TA Specialists Jani Kozlowski, MA, and Paula Grubbs, PhD, who formed a diverse technical working group that includes Allyson Dean, EdD, who is now an inclusion and disabilities specialist in the federal office of Head Start; leaders from professional
organizations representing occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology; representatives of the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children; leaders working in early childhood special education at the state and national levels; and representatives from other national centers doing similar work; family members of children with disabilities; and the teacher of the year—an early childhood teacher in Montana.
Together, the group identified priorities, and solutions implemented by various states and localities, and compiled the findings to create the synthesis. Kozlowski emphasizes the diverse channels the team utilized to gather innovations from the field and across the country, noting that the group not only looked at strategies published online but also used an online form through which community members could share innovations.
Trohanis leaders regularly hear from those in the field how difficult staff recruitment and retention is in the early childhood space. Seeing a gap, since there had been no focus on personnel who support early intervention and early childhood special education, Grubbs and Kozlowski began this project to explore EI and ECSE exemplars and pull relevant strategies from other sectors that could work for EI and ECSE. The leaders are committed to positive child and family outcomes and believe this is best served when children with and without disabilities learn together in an inclusive environment.
This synthesis is only phase one of this work; phase two will include organizing the identified strategies and making them available in a searchable database. This database will curate updated strategy examples on an ongoing basis, include tags to help users find what they need, and
help leaders in the field think carefully about the strategies most likely to be successful given the context in which they work.
Kozlowski and Grubbs, who hope that their work helps states learn from one another, organized the innovations by building on “Attract, Prepare, Retain: Effective Personnel for All initiative,” a framework created by the federal Office of Special Education Programs. Grubbs stresses that the synthesis includes short-, medium, and long-term strategies, many of which do not require extra funding.
The Early Childhood Personnel Solutions Learning Community, led by Grubbs and TA consultant Ted Burke, provides an opportunity for state leaders to get together to discuss the strategies in the synthesis and continue to learn from one another.
The project leaders emphasize the importance of drawing a link between personnel workforce shortages and issues around inclusion of kids with disabilities. They see inclusion as a potential solution to some of these challenges.
“Throughout the synthesis, there are strategies for how leaders can recruit and retain staff who will best meet the needs of the children they serve,” says Kozlowski. “For example, in Head Start programs where children are primarily Spanish speaking, leaders know that it is critical that they hire teachers who are also Spanish speaking. For many reasons, staff are most effective when they represent the communities that they serve.”
Grubbs agrees, saying, “It’s important to think about the ways in which we can help folks select strategies that can intentionally diversify our workforce because we know that makes long-term positive differences in child and family outcomes.”
Fostering campus collaborations
As a pan-campus institute, FPG fosters collaboration with Carolina colleagues in a variety of ways—especially with our faculty fellows such as Brianne Tomaszewski, PhD.
Tomaszewski, who has a background in human development and family studies, is an applied developmental scientist and assistant professor at UNC’s TEACCH Autism Program. And while her research portfolio includes a wide range of projects, a focus on supporting the autonomy of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is central to all her work. Tomaszewski’s current federally and foundation-funded projects focus on employment, post-secondary education, and the transition to adulthood.
Tomaszewski loves being part of the community at FPG, where she completed her postdoc under the mentorship of Senior Research Scientist Samuel Odom, PhD. She says Odom and the FPG autism team helped her learn about school-based research, which is similar to the community-based work she does. Seeing how strong interdisciplinary teams work together provided Tomaszewski with a model she works to emulate.
That positive experience continues in her current role as an FPG faculty fellow, which offers her broader perspectives on research and collaborations. And Tomaszewski names FPG resources and people such as the Data Management and Analysis Core and the instructional design of Senior Implementation Specialist Wendy Morgan, PhD, as critical to her work.
As principal investigator of “North Carolina Community Collaboration for Employment,” a project funded by the Administration for
Community Living, Tomaszewski worked to create a community-based collaboration model working with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, local and state-level policymakers, and service providers. Morgan, who helps shape the direction and design of communityfocused professional development and technical assistance, has worked closely with Tomaszewski. “Co-creation and iterative development are crucial to FPG’s instructional design strategy,” says Morgan, “so collaborating with Brianne is a pleasure—every learning product and resource we create is reviewed and revised by the very community it is designed to serve.”
WorkTogether NC, for which Tomaszewski is also PI, is a community-based project funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living within the Department of Health and Human Services. FPG Implementation Specialist Yolanda Perkins, EdS, works with Tomaszewski on Work Together NC, which is aimed at improving competitive integrated employment (CIE) opportunities for individuals with IDD. Competitive integrated employment allows people with disabilities to work in the community alongside coworkers with and without disabilities, be paid at or above minimum wage, and receive the same benefits as others in similar jobs.
The project team supports the state with updating their CIE strategic plan, engaging stakeholders in the strategic plan processes, developing a procedure and tools for CIE assessment and career development, and providing training and technical assistance to employment providers. Perkins uses her skills as an implementation specialist to support the team in creating and monitoring a work plan that outlines the steps needed to operationalize the state’s CIE objectives and goals.
“One of my favorite aspects of the work is facilitating an employment advisory committee composed of employment providers, health care organizations, advocacy agencies, and adults with IDD to get their input on the CIE strategic plan and processes,” says Perkins. “Overall, collaborating with Brianne on this project provides me with the opportunity to do two things that I am passionate about: 1) working with and learning from individuals with disabilities and 2) supporting organizational teams with utilizing effective practices to make positive societal change.”
Tomaszewski also leads Heels UP, an immersive and inclusive college opportunity for students with IDD to take summer session courses on UNC’s campus. Heels UP, along with HEELS Prep, and HEELS Week Away, are part of the HEELS 2 Transition (H2T) program, which is administered through the Department of Health Sciences within the UNC School of Medicine.
These programs are dedicated to promoting functional outcomes for individuals with IDD
and preparing them for adulthood by focusing on self-management, life skills, career development, mental health, and community safety, and combining interactive group instruction and oneto-one coaching to help participants understand their roles, rights, and responsibilities.
Faculty Fellow Dara Chan, ScD, CRC, Tomaszewski and the H2T team—including FPG Educational Consultant Victoria Waters, MEd—are working to expand HEELS Prep into online modules and resources to reach a broader audience. With nearly a decade of experience designing, developing, and testing high-quality modules for AFIRM—Autism Focused Intervention Resources & Modules—and expertise in digital accessibility, Waters wants to ensure the program’s resources are accessible, visually inviting, and easy to use.
“I’m pleased to share my expertise through this collaboration,” says Waters, “and help make HEELS Prep engaging and effective for individuals with IDD, fostering a smoother transition into independent living.”
Green spaces may improve young children’s mental health
Children who live in areas with natural spaces (e.g., forests, parks, backyards) from birth may experience fewer emotional issues between the ages of 2 and 5, according to a study funded by the NIH Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.
While research has suggested that time in nature is important for mental health, studies examining the effects on young children are limited. A group of ECHO investigators, including FPG Research Scientist Nissa Towe-Goodman, PhD, who led the research, addressed this gap by analyzing
information from parents about the behavior of their children from ages 2 to 11. They combined this data with the family’s residential address when the child was born and satellite data on live vegetation density around their homes.
What researchers found in their analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, was that higher levels of green spaces up to three-fourths of a mile from a child’s home were linked with lower anxiety and depression symptoms from ages 2 to 5 years. The association persisted even after researchers factored
“Our research supports existing evidence that being in nature is good for kids. It also suggests that the early childhood years are a crucial time for exposure to green spaces.”
– Nissa Towe-Goodman
in the child’s sex, parent education, age at birth, and neighborhood socioeconomic vulnerability. Researchers did not find a significant association between green space around the home and mental health symptoms in later childhood years from ages 6 to 11, when children spend more time at school.
“Our research supports existing evidence that being in nature is good for kids,” says Towe-Goodman. “It also suggests that the early childhood years are a crucial time for exposure to green spaces.”
Most research so far has been limited to studying one or a few cities at a time and focused on adult health. Because the ECHO Program collects data nationwide, researchers were able to examine data from children in 199 counties across 41 U.S. states, exploring the connection between exposure to green spaces from birth and anxiety, depression, aggression, and other symptoms during early or middle childhood.
The study included children born between 2007 and 2013 and whose parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist, a common survey to rate a
child’s emotional and behavioral symptoms. The 2,103 children included in the study ranged in age from 2 to 11, spanning early and middle childhood. Green space exposure was measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, a widely used metric for quantifying vegetation density using sensor data.
“In the future, researchers could look into what kinds of experiences in nature are connected to kids’ early mental health,” says Towe-Goodman. “Also, we should study how creating or preserving natural areas around homes and schools might make a difference in a child’s mental health.”
Towe-Goodman lead this collaborative research in JAMA Network Open. FPG Advanced Research Scientist Margaret Swingler, PhD, who was site PI for the Family Life Project – Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (FLP-ECHO) at UNC, also contributed to this work and is an author on the paper.
“Bringing together scientists here at FPG and the broader ECHO community on this research has been an incredible experience,” says Towe-Goodman. “This work is truly a labor of love for me!”
People Spotlight: Early Career Investigators at FPG
FPG is well known as a welcoming community in which early career researchers, scientists, and specialists can thrive. At the Institute we know that welcoming new talent means welcoming new ideas and perspectives. This also gives our midand senior career investigators the opportunity for new collaborations and even mentorships—which ultimately can present a learning and growth opportunity for all involved. Read on to get to know a few of our early career investigators.
Danielle Allen
Danielle Allen, PhD, is a project director for FPG’s Equity Research Action Coalition. Her research interests include the role of Black faith communities in advocating for and providing high quality educational opportunities for students and families as well state-level efforts to address equity within education. Allen is also a qualitative researcher at the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina within the Department of Public Policy at UNC.
national home visiting model. She is also leading the qualitative design for a new R01 grant, Project REACH, which is examining racism and resilience among Black autistic children and caregivers.
“What I love about my work at FPG,” says Allen, “is that the projects are in various stages, so every day looks different.”
Currently, Allen lead two projects—one on African-centered teaching in early learning environments, and another on cultivating healthy racial identities in young children through a
Allen also appreciates the colleagues she gets to work with and the mentorship she receives from Iheoma Iruka, PhD, the founding director of the Coalition. “The team Dr. Iruka has brought together at the Coalition,” says Allen, “is amazing and the culture that she’s established is unmatched—she is an invaluable mentor who wants nothing more than to see everyone at the Coalition succeed, and the same goes for FPG’s director, Dr. Brian Boyd.”
Jessica Amsbary
Jessica Amsbary, PhD, a technical assistance specialist, engages in research and development related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) innovations for young children with disabilities and supporting provider and family use of evidence-based practices for toddlers with autism. Her primary research is focused on family support initiatives related to very young children with autism and other developmental delays and applying principles of implementation science to ensure early interventions are meeting the needs of families and their children.
“I think what I like most about my work at FPG is the support that surrounds me at every turn. I am so lucky to be working with many teams consisting of strong and successful mentors, all of whom seem to be interested in supporting me in my early career stage of academia.”
– Jessica Amsbary
A typical workday for Amsbary finds her developing presentations, manuscripts, and resources for practitioners and families to support inclusive STEM. She also works on modules for early intervention providers to learn and use evidence-based practices with toddlers with autism and families they serve. Outside of FPG, she coordinates the master’s degree for
experienced teachers program in early childhood intervention and family support in the UNC School of Education. “I really enjoy that aspect of my job,” says Amsbary, “teaching and mentoring early childhood practitioners to purposefully embed family-centered, culturally responsive, and highquality inclusive practices in their work is very rewarding!” Amsbary, in turn, also appreciates the mentoring she receives at FPG saying, “I think what I like most about my work at FPG is the support that surrounds me at every turn. I am so lucky to be working with many teams consisting of strong and successful mentors, all of whom seem to be interested in supporting me in my early career stage of academia.”
Megan Bookhout
As a research scientist with the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at FPG, Megan Bookhout, PhD, works in implementation science, which involves studying and working to understand how to best promote the uptake and use of evidence-based practices, such as interventions or educational programs. For example, in an educational context, Bookhout and her colleagues might seek to understand what types of implementation strategies are most useful in the uptake of an educational curriculum; what contextual factors relate to variability in capacity to implement a curriculum or staff’s perception of its use; or how district leaders’ behaviors or thoughts around a curriculum impact teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum and students’ outcomes, among many other questions.
As a research scientist with a strong statistical background, Bookhout’s work is often focused on research design, data collection, statistical analysis, and the reporting of results. When asked what she enjoys most about her work at FPG, Bookhout immediately pointed to the opportunity to learn new things daily while also contributing to work that improves the lives of others. “Implementation research happens in the real world, which often leads to complex challenges as the environment is not carefully controlled,” says Bookhout. “In each environment where we work, differences in aspects such as contextual factors, data systems, laws and regulations, and more can impact how we go about implementing new practices and conducting research. On the
research side, this often means that we are learning new procedures—such as harmonizing data or addressing complex missing data patterns—to best address this. This offers a lot of opportunities to learn new things.”
In addition, Bookout likes how her work within NIRN, which bridges the research-to-practice gap, furthers the mission of FPG. “Implementation facilitates the use of evidence-based programs that can bring change in multiple facets of youth and families’ lives,” says Bookhout. “The best programs in the world can’t make change if they are not used, so bridging the research-to-practice gap to encourage the uptake of programs by practitioners is integral to actually making a difference.”
Kylie Garber
Kylie Garber, PhD, joined FPG as a first-year doctoral student in 2016 and worked on a series of projects until she graduated in May 2022. After a brief time working on Capitol Hill in Washington DC as a Society for Research in Child Development postdoctoral fellow, Garber returned to FPG in January 2024, as a research scientist with the pre-K evaluation team under the mentorship of Sandra Soliday Hong, PhD.
“I love having the opportunity to translate research into effective policies and practices.”
– Kylie Garber
Her current work focuses on evidence-based practices that support the early care and education workforce.
“Every day is different, which is what I love about this job,” says Garber. “My primary project is to conduct a landscape analysis and provide recommendations for the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education regarding services for child care providers that support children’s social and emotional development.” Garber loves the collaborative nature of working with the pre-K evaluation team, provides support for the other projects they’re working on, including report writing for state government agencies and policymakers.
Her work furthers FPG’s mission through ongoing research collaborations with state agencies. She and her colleagues are able to shift their research to meet the evolving needs of state agencies and see the impact of their work on children, families, and the workforce. “I love having the opportunity to translate research into effective policies and practices,” says Garber. “This is what grounds my work as a research scientist and this balance of research and policy work is something that I hoped for in my career.”
Stephanie Kennedy
Stephanie Kennedy, MSW, MPH, is an implementation specialist with NIRN. With her colleagues, Kennedy helps provide implementation support on a variety of initiatives across education, health, and human service settings to improve outcomes for children and their families. On any given day, Kennedy might be meeting or traveling on site with project partners, designing professional learning sessions, collaborating with colleagues on implementation tools and resources, and reading up on current innovations in the field.
“I often get to work on something different every day because each of my projects require a different combination of my skills and knowledge,” says Kennedy. “There are so many different components to implementation, and it’s fun to figure out how to apply them in different contexts. I also love learning from my colleagues every day!”
Each of the projects Kennedy is currently working on contributes to FPG’s mission. “They aim to make a positive difference in the lives of children,” says Kennedy, “whether that’s improving the way math curricula are taught to become more accessible, enjoyable, and culturally responsive, or helping health clinics implement an evidence-based program to promote early childhood literacy via wellness visits, or transforming the way a state system serves youth with complex behavioral health.”
To learn more about these and several other early career investigators at FPG and their colleagues, visit the “News” section of our website (fpg.unc.edu/news) and look for our FPG Profile series stories.
Building foundational literacy skills for bilingual/bicultural students
In line with their commitment to communityled research, FPG researchers worked with El Centro Hispano in Durham, NC, on a kindergarten readiness project the nonprofit wished to expand. The FPG team designed a series of parent workshops to build foundational literacy skills for children aged 6 months to 5 years. FPG Research Scientist Heather Aiken, PhD, was the principal investigator of this project, “Kindergarten Readiness for Bilingual/Bicultural Students.”
Research shows that when young children develop phonological awareness, that awareness of sound within the spoken language in one language will
transfer over to another tongue. Aiken and her colleagues added research-backed content to Leyendo con El Centro (Reading with El Centro), an already-established program offered by El Centro Hispano, designed for preschoolers and younger children. The FPG project focused on activities that parents can do in Spanish that build skills that transfer to English as children start school and start learning their second language.
Using a train-the-trainer model, Aiken and her colleagues Linda Soto, BA, and Teresa Taylor, MEd, presented a series of workshops to nine El Centro community health workers who have
developed trusting relationships with families. During these workshops, the workers gained knowledge about new content they could share with parents. In addition, the FPG team purchased 15 different books, written in Spanish by Latino authors, to give to each family to read with their children at home. Aiken says that her group was intentional in choosing books originally written in Spanish that would ideally become favorites for a wide age range of children.
“I hope that we are empowering parents to feel that they can make a difference in their children’s education, even if the parents don’t speak English,” says Aiken. “We are trying to build on the cultural capital and strengths that these parents and the community already have.” She notes that while there is extensive research about building English literacy skills with non-English speaking children, there is not much research about strengthening those literacy skills while working in the home language of children.
The workshops offered activities that the trainers can use with parents, such as talking about what is pictured in photos and clapping out the syllables in words depicted to build phonological awareness. Since the researchers chose words based on English phonological awareness, El Centro is helping the researchers update the word lists to better reflect common Spanish vocabulary
“I hope that we are empowering parents to feel that they can make a difference in their children’s education, even if the parents don’t speak English. We are trying to build on the cultural capital and strengths that these parents and the community already have.”
– Heather Aiken
and/or the learning goals. Aiken says that the feedback from the community health workers also helped researchers revise other activities and the presentation of information to better meet the needs of the participating families.
She believes that this project is a perfect fit for FPG as the Institute continues to embrace addressing needs identified by communities. Before writing the grant application—funded by the Morgan Creek Foundation—Aiken and her colleagues asked the leadership of El Centro Hispano about their needs, which were different from what the FPG team envisioned. “Doing what the community wants, since they know the true needs, is a really powerful way to approach our work,” she says.
Engaging diverse critical perspectives
In her role as a senior technical assistance specialist for FPG’s Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center, Sherri Britt Williams, MPH, led a year-long process of engaging diverse critical perspectives in the development of competencies for equity and inclusionfocused leadership. This process was driven by requests for assistance from state and entity leaders of early childhood systems throughout the country on how to be more intentional in making changes to address disparities in how diverse groups of children and families receive supports and experience positive outcomes through their state or entity Part C (Early Intervention) and Part B, Section 619 (Preschool Special Education) programs. The result is a resource featuring “Equity- and InclusionFocused Leadership: Attitudes and Actions” and a leadership coaching program intensive technical assistance (TA) cohort.
The process of creating the resource began with asking the question, “Who else?” Britt Williams and the ECTA Center planning team first considered the perspectives that are most impacted by barriers to equity and inclusion in early childhood systems and then sought people who identify with those perspectives and are involved with leadership or leadership development. Seventeen people throughout the country became the technical working group that led the process of developing the early drafts of the resource and weighed in throughout the iterative process as revisions and refinements were made to create the version used for usability testing with a cohort of state and entity leaders. Britt Williams emphasized the importance of providing multiple ways and opportunities for technical working group members to be heard and to authentically co-develop and refine this resource.
“All of this work is for the purpose of supporting young children with disabilities and their families, especially those who are most impacted by barriers to equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes.”
– Sherri Britt Williams
Members of the technical working group also asked the question, “Who else?” and developed a list of key groups with which to share a draft in the fall of 2023. The extensive feedback among the groups, the planning team, and the technical working group helped Britt Williams and colleagues refine and revise the competencies developed for the work.
The result of this work—the launch of the Leadership Coaching Program (LCP) Intensive TA Cohort, which is being co-led by Britt Williams, ECTA TA Specialist Catasha Williams, MEd, and TA Associate Sonia Sabater, MSW.
Participants in the program will receive one-to-one leadership support with a personal leadership coach in addition to regular group and peer-to-peer coaching with other leaders in the cohort. They will use the equity- and inclusion-focused leadership actions as they consider their current work as well as the areas they would like to strengthen. This intensive TA cohort is designed for state Part C and Part B, Section 619 leaders to strengthen their leadership in co-developing and leading equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes for children and families served through state early intervention and early childhood special education programs. The cohort will meet for two years, through May 2026. The first 18 months will include monthly virtual one-to-one coaching sessions along with bi-monthly cohort meetings. The final six months of the program will involve updating action plan progress and providing information and feedback to complete cohort evaluation activities.
“All of this work is for the purpose of supporting young children with disabilities and their families, especially those who are most impacted by barriers to equitable and inclusive access, experiences, and positive outcomes,” says Britt Williams. “We want states and entities to be intentional about authentically partnering with families in every aspect of planning, implementing, and evaluating the services and resources intended to support them. This means going beyond inviting parent representatives to meetings or just sharing program data with parents. We want leaders to truly partner with families and communities to analyze data, identify barriers and solutions, and make decisions relating to program improvements so children with disabilities and their families have access to the support they need to thrive. It also involves acknowledging that families and their communities have strengths and information critical to improving programs that serve young children with disabilities.”
Britt Williams and her colleagues continue to ask, “Who else?” and invite feedback from anyone with ideas for supporting leaders of early childhood programs to identify and remove barriers for children with disabilities and their families when it comes to equitable access to inclusive environments and experiences. Britt Williams says, “If we all work together and acknowledge the strengths and wisdom of families and their communities by joining them as partners in this work, just imagine the impact we can have.”
New project will examine racism and resilience among Black autistic children and caregivers
Racial disparities continue to exist in autism research, negatively impacting Black autistic children. They are misdiagnosed, receive access to inferior quality services, and are almost twice as likely as white autistic children to have a cooccurring intellectual disability.
To examine this void, the National Institute of Mental Health funded the “Racism and Resilience among Black Autistic Children and Caregivers” project. This multiple principal investigator and R01-funded project was launched in April 2024. FPG Director Brian Boyd, PhD, serves as the project’s lead principal investigator (PI). The other PIs are FPG Faculty Fellow Iheoma Iruka, PhD, and Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick, PhD, co-Investigator at Drexel University. Community partner Camille Proctor, founder and director of The Color of Autism Foundation—a nonprofit organization committed to educating and assisting African American families affected by autism—brings her perspective as a mom of a Black autistic son and a fierce advocate to this project.
The researchers understand that race is a social determinant of health and that Black communities are disproportionately affected by adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Yet the team also knows that race is a social construct, and the underlying driver of disparity is often due to racism, such as inequitable identification and access to services and support. There has not yet been a thorough examination of the interaction between race and disability within autism even though there are evident and persistent racial
disparities. The consequence of this chasm in research is that racism and its associated consequences are potentially having deleterious effects on Black autistic children’s longer-term outcomes and prognosis.
“We can no longer ignore that Black autistic children and their caregivers are having a different experience,” says Boyd. “Through this project, we are seeking to partner with the Black and African American community to better understand their autism journey and ensure their voices are heard and represented throughout the research process.”
During this project, the team will examine the heterogeneity of Black families with autistic children by stratifying the sample based on families who live above versus at or below the federal poverty threshold. This will separate the effects of race and class, which has not been done in most prior research on Black families of autistic children. The researchers will use a sequential explanatory mixed methods research design—in which qualitative data are used to help interpret quantitative findings—with 300 Black parents of autistic children, ages 3 through 9.
The project’s aims are to understand the impact of racism on the well-being of Black parents of autistic children; examine whether parents’ experiences with racialized trauma adversely affects child behaviors and development; and determine cultural capital factors, such as parents’ social networks, that moderate the impact of racism on parental well-being.
This study builds on decades of research that have established that parenting matters to the growth and development of young children. Race and culture play a role in parenting and are associated with differences across racial groups in factors that promote resilience or increase risk. For example, Black parents use racial-ethnic socialization practices, such as promoting racial pride and preparation for racial bias, which have been shown to have positive outcomes for children. At the same time, Black parents also have a culturally unique experience that affects their own wellbeing and parenting because of both microlevel exposures to racially discriminatory encounters and the macrolevel impacts of systemic racism (e.g., segregation, poverty, social exclusion).
Persistent exposures to discrimination, and the resulting racialized trauma, negatively affect the
quality of life and health of Black Americans. For Black parents of autistic children, the intersectional identities of being Black and a parent of a child with autism/disability cannot be divorced. Both must be considered when examining the relationship between parenting and child outcomes.
Project researchers know that a race-focused approach is needed in autism to understand the effects of racism and disability on Black parents and their children. But they do not want to focus solely on disparities. Instead, they are also examining the cultural capital and assets these parents leverage to support themselves and their children. With the long-term goal of developing culturally tailored interventions and/or service delivery models for Black autistic children, the team is committed to understanding the strengths of Black families and communities.
NIRN releases research & evaluation agenda
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) at FPG helps lead the way in best practices and science of implementation, organizational change, and system reinvention, with the goal of improving outcomes across the human services spectrum. To strengthen this commitment, NIRN developed a new research and evaluation agenda designed to advance implementation research that focuses on integrating implementation science research and practice.
While NIRN has long been known as a leader in implementation practice, the center recognizes the value of being more consistent with its implementation research and evaluation agenda. With the extensive amount of data generated through its projects, NIRN’s leaders can contribute innovative practice-based research insights, demonstrate the value of implementation practice, improve the rigor of evidence generated through practice-based research, and increase scholarship and policy outputs. With the agenda, NIRN is responding to calls from the implementation science community for an increased focus on practice-based and community-defined evidence. The agenda supports NIRN in creating a more systematic approach to compile and disseminate practice-based findings to advance implementation science, thereby expanding NIRN’s footprint as a leader in this space.
The agenda details principles that should be incorporated into research and evaluation efforts: a commitment to engaging critical perspectives in relevant aspects of the research; a focus on using data to refine and improve practices for participating communities and populations; the use of rigorous yet pragmatic evaluation and/or research methodologies that minimize biases and maximize equity; a commitment to flexibility in
approach; and the integration of multidisciplinary expertise. Through this agenda, NIRN looks to “strengthen its role as a national player in implementation research for education, early childhood, child welfare, public health, healthcare, and other human services fields.”
Senior Research Scientist Melanie Livet, PhD, led the creation of the agenda, with the assistance of a special committee of which Senior Research Scientist Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD, was a member. Livet and Franco-Jenkins were named codirectors of NIRN earlier this year. With decades of combined experience at NIRN, including active roles on the leadership team, Livet and FrancoJenkins are well seated to guide the NIRN team. Their complementary roles on the leadership team—Livet served as both implementation research lead and public health/healthcare lead and Franco-Jenkins acted as childhood portfolio lead—enable them to bring their varied skills and knowledge to the work.
Franco-Jenkins notes that, “As co-directors, we are proud to lead a diverse team. Our expertise spans various areas, including scholarship and working with diverse populations” she says. “We approached our work with an equity lens, which is integral to NIRN’s mission.”
Livet also sees the new leadership structure and research and evaluation agenda as an opportunity, saying it’s a favorable time for NIRN to “learn and think about our role within the field, making sure that we bridge implementation research and implementation practice within one center. Based on its focus on practical implementation, NIRN is well positioned to make significant contributions to continue advancing the field of implementation science.”
ECTA implements distributed leadership model
FPG’s Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center recently implemented a distributed leadership model, which was inspired by a report from the Building Movement Project, Structuring Leadership: Alternative Models for Distributing Power and Decision-Making in Nonprofit Organizations written by Caroline McAndrews, Frances Kunreuther, and Shifra Bronznick.
According to the report, for this type of alternative model of leadership to work certain themes first must be present in the organization. These include high levels of trust, an investment in learning and development for all staff, and shared organizational values—all of which the ECTA team has.
What attracted the team to this model is that it promotes shared power and decision-making across the leadership team and within the organization. ECTA staff embrace the benefits of decentralizing power and authority and adopting values-based leadership, including promoting diverse ideas, leveraging leader expertise, increasing sustainability by sharing responsibilities, and increasing responsiveness to internal and external needs. This new model also reflects ECTA’s continued commitment to innovation, leadership development, and equity.
The leadership team retained its organizational structure of associate directors, with FPG Senior TA Specialist Megan Vinh, PhD, serving as director. (*Note, Vinh and FPG Senior TA Specialist Christina Kasprzak, MA, previously served as co-directors.) To support the transition on logistical questions and innovative ways to operate, Kasprzak, who retired in September, served as an associate director under the new
model working with Vinh and ECTA’s other associate directors, TA Specialist Laura Curtis, MEd, MAT, TA Specialist Schatzi McCarthy, MA, MAPA, Senior TA Specialist Katy McCullough, MA, TA Specialist Thomas McGhee, MSW, Senior TA Specialist Sherri Britt Williams, MPH, and TA Specialist Catasha Williams, MEd.
The ECTA leadership team is operationalizing the new model by using the core infrastructure areas of expertise needed to meet the demands of a national TA center of ECTA’s scope and size. The six core areas are: strategic planning and budgeting; TA deliverables and activity planning; organizational structure, professional development, and teaming; communications, marketing, and product development; outreach, partnerships, and collaboration; and evaluation and reporting.
To implement this model successfully, the ECTA team established clear roles and responsibilities, confirmed decision-making processes, and created a structure to include all aspects of the work. Topic teams, work groups, and core infrastructure teams will continue to carry out their work with their respective leaders and teams. Individuals are trusted and empowered to continue to make clear and transparent decisions within their domains, relying on staff and leadership for input.
“Distributed leadership has brought energy to the breadth and depth of our work as a large national TA center,” says McCullough. “We have aligned core areas with our individual strengths as leaders. This allows us to be more nimble in our decisionmaking and has pushed us to be more transparent in those processes.”
Are diagnostic rates of autistic females increasing?
The proportion of females diagnosed with autism in the state of North Carolina has increased steadily over a 20-year period, which likely reflects greater societal knowledge of how autism may manifest differently in females. This is a key finding of a recent report, “Are the diagnostic rates of autistic females increasing? An examination of state-wide trends,” published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
The study was conducted by a team of UNC researchers led by FPG Faculty Fellow Clare Harrop, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences, and member of the UNC TEACCH Autism Program.
Autism has historically been considered a predominantly male diagnosis. But more recently,
there has been consensus that autistic females are underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Suggested reasons for this variation in diagnostic rates include the presence or absence of co-occurring intellectual disability (ID), since females diagnosed with autism in childhood have been found to have higher rates of ID compared with males. In addition, there is debate over whether diagnostic practices and assessment, which have used males as the norm for decades, are suitable for females.
The study examined sex and age-related diagnostic trends in more than 20 years of statewide data from UNC TEACCH diagnostic clinics to address whether the rate of females diagnosed with autism have increased over the past two decades and whether the age of diagnosis for females has changed during this period.
“Our statewide data shows that more females are making their way into our clinics, however their age of diagnosis remains higher, suggesting more work needs to be done. One reviewer described this dataset as ‘precious’ and it truly is—our team has begun to look at profiles of males and females in our dataset and we hope to continue to look at diagnostic trends over time.” – Clare Harrop
The team found a steady increase in the proportion of females being diagnosed with autism, with a faster increase in females relative to males over the same period. But females were consistently diagnosed, on average, 18 months later than males and were more likely to be “late diagnosed,” which the team defined at age 13 or older. As the authors note, while the increase in diagnostic rates for females is encouraging—and suggests an increase in both social and clinician knowledge of autism in females—younger females are consistently not diagnosed at the same rate as males.
The team also cautions that clinicians need to be aware of gendered norms and expectations when assessing females who have been referred for an autism diagnosis. This is needed to ensure access
to appropriate supports and a sense of identity are available to females with autism. Many treatments have been created focusing on males with autism, but these approaches may not consider the needs of females. The team encourages future research into the data to interrogate whether the behavioral profile of females receiving a diagnosis has changed over time.
“Our statewide data shows that more females are making their way into our clinics, however their age of diagnosis remains higher, suggesting more work needs to be done,” says Harrop. “One reviewer described this dataset as ‘precious’ and it truly is—our team has begun to look at profiles of males and females in our dataset and we hope to continue to look at diagnostic trends over time.”
2024 McKinney Scholars reflect on eight-week program
This year, the Marvin H. McKinney Scholars Program in Research, Practice, and Policy at FPG welcomed two stellar undergraduate students—Zairen Jackson from Bennett College and Sydney Shepherd from North Carolina A&T State University.
The paid internship offers students the chance to engage in significant project-related work that aligns with their career goals and professional interests. The scholars are supported by mentors and program staff who, together, work to deepen the scholars’ comprehension of the significance of research, practice, and policy, as well as the interconnections and pathways between each of these areas of work. All participants in this year’s program were especially excited to take part since it marked the first time welcoming the students in-person.
Just before the conclusion of the 2024 summer program, Jackson and Shepherd took time to reflect on their experiences. They discussed what initially drew them to the program, what they’re taking away from the experience and how it might impact their future career path and goals, and what research questions they might pursue in the future.
Jackson’s application to the program was motivated by the research opportunities and the overall learning experience, including the diverse educational paths available in the program. For Shepherd, it was the combination of research and policy work that was appealing.
McKinney Scholars Program
After completing the internship program, Jackson feels more optimistic about a career in education, appreciating the firsthand research experience and its potential impact. Shepherd also found new avenues in education beyond classroom teaching thanks to the diverse roles in research, implementation, and technical assistance she observed.
Both highlighted their coding experience with the EMERGE team and the importance of completing a positionality sketch to understand personal biases. In addition, Shepherd valued the mentoring and diverse backgrounds of professionals she met and worked with at FPG.
Looking to the future, Jackson shared that she would explore how home and school environments affect youth development and education. Shepherd would focus on inclusion in special education. She was inspired by what she learned while working with the EMERGE team about demographic differences in autism, rates and diagnosis, and how Black children were not getting the same level of treatment.
For prospective McKinney Scholars, Jackson and Shepherd recommend being open to new experiences and not putting pressure on yourself to be an expert from the start. “You might think your mind is made up—and that you know exactly what you want to do,” says Jackson. “But then you’ll get here and be exposed to so much … You’ll just learn so much more!”
2024 implementation interns reflect on summer program
This past summer, FPG held its fifth annual Summer Graduate Internship Program in Implementation Practice, a paid opportunity for master’s and doctoral students that offers a challenging and meaningful professional experience by exposing interns to implementation practice and research across various fields and settings.
The 2024 summer implementation interns were Alden Parker, who is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work and a Master of Arts in Child Development at Sarah Lawrence College, and Tori Wierzchowski, who earned her Master of Public Health in health behavior from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in May 2024. They were mentored by FPG Implementation Associate Alana Gilbert, MPH, and FPG Implementation Specialist Rebecca Roppolo, MPH.
The interns collaborated on a joint project titled “Triple P Implementation: Facilitators and Barriers to Capacity Development.” This qualitative analysis project was designed to explore the implementation capacity of the Impact Center at FPG’s Implementation Capacity for Triple P projects, which are a collaborative effort aimed at supporting communities in North Carolina and South Carolina in the successful and sustainable implementation of the evidence-based Triple P—Positive Parenting Program—system of interventions.
Parker and Wierzchowski examined the ability of different regional sites of Triple P to conduct implementation efforts and the skills and resources site employees need for these efforts.
In addition, they explored which functions and forces outside of implementation affect implementation efforts, both positively and negatively. They are preparing a manuscript on their research, which they will submit to Implementation Science and the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research.
When reflecting on their internship experience, Parker noted that she learned how to organize ideas and data comprehensively for stakeholder review, despite the challenge of identifying common themes. This project provided her an opportunity to work with open-ended survey responses and gain broad knowledge in implementation science, community outreach, research accessibility, and ethics.
Wierzchowski added that she learned about policy aspects and the importance of frameworks such as CFIR in structuring research. She emphasized the value of obtaining detailed feedback through qualitative data, which offers insights not possible with multiple-choice surveys.
Both interns highlighted the benefits of direct feedback from qualitative analyses in implementation science, citing how it aids in recognizing what works well and identifying barriers.
They encourage future applicants to apply for this internship program, emphasizing the supportive and educational environment at FPG and the opportunities to engage with experienced professionals and build relationships.
SCRIPT-NC receives $1 million to continue work with early childhood community college programs
Supporting Change and Reform in Preservice Teaching in North Carolina (SCRIPT-NC) works with community college faculty in North Carolina to better prepare preservice early childhood educators to meet the diverse needs of children in their community.
SCRIPT-NC, under the leadership of Chih-Ing Lim, PhD, and Camille Catlett, MA, has garnered an Associate Degree Preservice Program Improvement Grant to Support Personnel Working with Young Children with Disabilities (CFDA number 84.325N)
from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. This significant funding will enable SCRIPT-NC to further its collaborative efforts with community colleges, ensuring that early childhood professionals are confident and competent in working with young children with disabilities and intersecting identities.
Now in its third iteration, SCRIPT-NC is expanding its transformative initiatives across the community college landscape in North Carolina, with a particularly attentive focus on minority-serving
“Over the next five years, our project will continue to revolutionize how we deliver intensive technical assistance, alongside professional development opportunities, for faculty members, supervising teachers, and community stakeholders.” – Chih-Ing Lim
institutions. The overarching mission remains steadfast: to enhance early childhood coursework and practica experiences, thereby empowering early childhood educators to create inclusive and equitable learning environments that cater to every child and family within their communities. This mission takes a special emphasis on children with disabilities and other multiple and intersecting identities.
Lim, a senior technical assistance specialist at FPG, is principal investigator and co-director of SCRIPT-NC. Upon notification of the award, she expressed her gratitude and excitement, stating, “Over the next five years, our project will continue to revolutionize how we deliver intensive technical assistance, alongside professional development opportunities, for faculty members, supervising teachers, and community stakeholders. We are also thrilled to welcome FPG Technical Assistance Specialists Jessica Amsbary, PhD, and Hsiu-wen Yang, PhD, two early career investigators who are joining our team, as well as Sharon Little, an external consultant whose extensive experience in leading community college programs brings invaluable expertise to our efforts.”
SCRIPT-NC Co-Director Catlett, also a senior technical assistance specialist at FPG, added, “We are able to do this work well because of sustained and collaborative partnerships with partner programs, agencies, and organizations, especially NC ACCESS. Elevating the quality of early childhood teaching and learning within North Carolina’s community colleges is essential to maintaining the early childhood ecosystem.”
Beyond its immediate impact, SCRIPT-NC is deeply committed to disseminating evidencebased resources and enriching course enhancement tools. The project’s influence transcends the boundaries of North Carolina, reaching both national and global audiences.
The SCRIPT-NC team envisions a future where all children, regardless of their abilities or identities, are nurtured within inclusive and empowering educational environments. With this latest round of funding, that vision takes a significant stride forward.
New projects propel our mission
As one of the nation’s foremost multidisciplinary centers devoted to the study of children from infancy to adolescence, our researchers, implementation scientists, and technical assistance specialists are committed to conducting work that improves children’s lives, supports families, and informs public policy. This past fiscal year, our investigators received new funding for 19 projects in service to this mission.
• ACF Office of Child Care Disability Inclusion in Child Care Principal Investigator: Iheoma Iruka; Co-Principal Investigator: Catasha Williams | Funder: Guidehouse
• Blended FBA/BIP professional development
Principal Investigator: Wendy Morgan | Funder: Macomb Intermediate School District
• Dataset Preparation Support for Innovative Approaches to Peer Effects in Early Care and Education Research: A New Paradigm for Understanding Peer Effects During Infancy And Toddlerhood and Their Implications for Policy, Research and Practice Principal Investigator: Noreen Yazejian | Funder: University of Oklahoma
• Georgia’s Pre-K: Evaluation study of quality rated language and literacy endorsement
Principal Investigator: Sandra Soliday Hong | Funder: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning
• HELN (Hillsborough Early Learning Network) Evaluation Study Principal Investigator: Sandra Soliday Hong | Funder: University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning
• The Impact Center at FPG’s Rural Church Summer Literacy Initiative Support Team
Principal Investigator Will Aldridge; CoPrincipal Investigator: Capri Banks | Funder: The Duke Endowment
• The Impact Center at FPG’s Triple P Support Team Investigator Jessica Reed; Co-Principal Investigator: Tamara Robertson | Funder: The Duke Endowment; NCDHHS Division of Social Services
• Inclusive STEM: Professional Development Series for Head Start Teachers in Maryland Principal Investigator: Chih-Ing Lim; CoPrincipal Investigator: Megan Vinh; CoPrincipal Investigator: Hsiu-Wen Yang | Funder: University of Maryland at Baltimore (UMB)
• Minnesota DOE Capacity Development Principal Investigator: Rebekah Hornak; CoPrincipal Investigator: Ximena Franco-Jenkins | Funder: Minnesota Department of Education
• NIRN Validity Study of the RIVET PL Scoring and Evidence Guide Principal Investigator: Melanie Livet; Co-Principal Investigator: Ximena Franco-Jenkins | Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Parent’s ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) practices among Black children with disabilities Principal Investigator: Noreen Yazejian | Funder: American Psychological Foundation (APF)
• Promoting Seasonal and Migrant Head Start Children’s Development: Program Practices That Matter Principal Investigator: Hsiu-Wen Yang | Funder: DHHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
• Racism and Resilience Among Black Autistic Children and Caregivers Principal Investigator: Brian Boyd; Co-Principal Investigator: Iheoma Iruka | Funder: NIH National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• RISER Network Principal Investigator: Iheoma Iruka | Funder: Boston University
• A Robust Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the Florida Reading Corps Program Principal Investigator: Iheoma Iruka | Funder: Reading and Math Inc.
• Supporting Early Care and Education Providers In Early Intervention To Implement Evidence Based Practices for Toddlers with Autism and their Caregivers Principal Investigator: Jessica Amsbary | Funder: Foundation for Child Development
• Transforming Implementation Practice in Early Childhood through the Development of a Professional Learning Program to support Practitioners’ Implementation Capabilities Principal Investigator: Melanie Livet | Funder: Fidelity Foundation
• Unlocking the Potential of EL Education’s Math Approach to Create Equitable, Capable, and Courageous Math Communications for All Principal Investigator: Ximena FrancoJenkins | Funder: El Education, Inc.
• Using Implementation Science in Supporting NC’s Division of Child and Family Wellbeing Child Behavioral Health Team Principal Investigator: Robin Jenkins; Co-Principal Investigator: Lena Harris; Co-Principal Investigator: Cassie Koester | Funder: North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS)
McFayden receives Joanne Erwich Roberts Early Career Award
Congratulations to Tyler McFayden, PhD, awardee of the Joanne Erwich Roberts Early Career Award, which was created to support the early career development of researchers and honor Joanne Erwich Roberts, PhD, a distinguished researcher and professor with a long and dynamic career at UNC-Chapel Hill and FPG. McFayden is a UNC Carolina Institute in Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) postdoctoral fellow and member of the Harrop Lab in the Department of Health Sciences at UNC.
In a letter of recommendation for the award, Clare Harrop, PhD, a research assistant professor in UNC’s Department of Allied Health Sciences, a faculty fellow at FPG, and McFayden’s primary mentor, stated that she is exceptionally worthy of award, saying McFayden possesses excellent analytical and methodological skills, which enable her to address important and ambitious questions across different populations.
Upon being notified of the award, McFayden said, “I am thrilled to be named the 2023 awardee! As a current CIDD T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, my research strives to understand predictors of language development by studying groups with differences in verbal communication: Deaf signers, pre-verbal infants, and autistic youth.”
McFayden continued, “In the spirit of Dr. Roberts’ dedication to multidisciplinary research, I strive to combine expertise across and within disciplines to answer questions about neurodevelopment.”
Not only is Harrop confident in McFayden’s current work—she sees a bright future for the postdoc as well. “Tyler is one of the most promising trainees I have ever encountered and someone who is clearly destined for an impactful career,” says Harrop. “She is a thought provoking and committed researcher, who is a pleasure to mentor ... I have little doubt she will be a leader in our field in the near future.”
“In the spirit of Dr. Roberts’ dedication to multidisciplinary research, I strive to combine expertise across and within disciplines to answer questions about neurodevelopment” – Tyler McFayden
Congratulations
to our award winners
Abecedarian Award
Hsiu-Wen Yang
Joanne Erwich Roberts
Early Career Award
Tyler McFayden
James J. Gallagher Dissertation Award
Julia Mackessy
Honors and accolades
FPG Director Brian Boyd, PhD, was appointed president-elect of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), a professional society that aims to engage in research and research-related activities in autism.
FPG Faculty Fellow Iheoma Iruka, PhD, joined the Department of Maternal and Child Health in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in August as a tenured full professor. In addition to her new appointment, Iruka will remain a faculty fellow at FPG and will continue her work as director of FPG’s Equity Research Action Coalition.
The National Implementation Research Network at FPG—with Senior Research Scientist Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD, (PI)—in partnership with Capital City Public Charter School and EL Education, has been awarded one of eight grants by the Research Partnership for Professional Learning to enhance the knowledge base of professional learning in equitable math HQIM that supports Black, Latine, Native American, and students experiencing poverty.
FPG Faculty Fellows Clare Harrop, PhD, Dara Chan, ScD, CRC, and Laura Klinger, PhD, are recipients of a National Institute of Mental Health (R21) grant, allowing them to study the associations between social connections and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in older adults with autism.
STEMIE’s My STEM Adventure app was named as a 2024 EdTech Awards Cool Tool Finalist in the STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) solution category. Organized by EdTech Digest, this awards program is the world’s largest for recognizing the biggest names—and those who soon will be—in education technology.
TA Specialist Jessica Amsbary, PhD, and Senior TA Specialist Chih-Ing Lim, PhD, have been awarded a COIL Curriculum Development Award from UNC Global Affairs for spring 2025 and their instruction of UNC course EDMX 710: Early Childhood Education Leadership.
Brian Boyd and Senior Research Scientist Sam Odom, PhD, were appointed to a 15-person committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which is conducting an independent analysis of the Department of Defense’s Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration in accordance with Section 737 of Public Law 117–81.
FPG Advanced Research Scientist Alison De Marco, PhD, and FPG Faculty Fellow Simona Goldin, PhD, have both been selected by the Institute of African American Research’s initiative for Student Learning to Advance Truth and Education (SLATE) to be teaching fellows for Spring 2025.
Chih-Ing Lim and Senior TA Specialist Megan Vinh, PhD, were honored to be invited to speak at the prestigious Zero Project Conference, a global gathering of innovators within the disability inclusion space, held at the United Nations Offices in Vienna, Austria.
Iheoma Iruka and Simona Goldin received an award from the Department of Homeland Security for their project, Weathering the storm in Freedmen’s Towns: An exploration of residents’ cultural resilience through defiance.
The Autism Focused Intervention Resources and Modules (AFIRM) project has reached an incredible milestone—350,000 (and counting!) users now rely on AFIRM for evidence-based practices that can help learners with autism.
Iheoma Iruka and FPG’s Equity Research Action Coalition Project Director Danielle Allen, PhD, and Graduate Research Assistant TK Musa received the Best Article Award from Theory into Practice for their article, “African-Centered Education (ACE): Strategies to Advance Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Equitable Learning Opportunities for Young Black Children.”
The James J. Gallagher Award is presented annually to two FPG employees in recognition of exemplary attitude and commitment to the FPG community. Program Assistant Barbara Lowery and Senior Research Scientist Ann Sam, PhD, were recognized this past year for their outstanding service to the Institute.
Senior TA Specialist Camille Catlett, MA, received the Visionary Award for leading-edge spirit and creative approaches to every pursuit from the Associate Degree Early Childhood Teacher Educators –ACCESS to Shared Knowledge and Practice (ACCESS), a national, non-profit membership association.
Remembering Frances Campbell
Frances Campbell, PhD, a former longtime senior scientist at FPG and an internationally recognized expert on the transformative impact of early childhood education, died August 25, 2024, at 91.
Campbell began her career as a clinical psychologist and came to FPG to help lead and evaluate the Abecedarian Project, one of the oldest and most oft-cited early childhood education programs in the world. Campbell, who remained at FPG until her retirement at 88, was an essential part of FPG’s history and growth, and her body of work is an enduring example of the influence FPG has on the lives of children and families in North Carolina and beyond.
For the Abecedarian Project, Campbell and a group of investigators began a randomized trial with around 100 children from low-income families born between 1972 and 1977. One group of children was exposed to a high-quality childcare setting five days a week for five years, from birth to school age. And the control group received material support, such as formula and diapers, but not childcare.
The Abecedarian Project followed the participants throughout their lives, assessing them at age 5, 8, 12, 15, 21, and 30, as well as in their mid-30s, recording at each interval findings that continue today to demonstrate that important, long-lasting benefits are associated with the high-quality early childhood program. Recipients
of the early education curriculum were more likely to attend a four-year college or university and more likely either to be in school or to have a skilled job, and they were less likely to be teen parents or to report depressive symptoms, when compared to individuals in the control group.
Donna Bryant, PhD, a senior research scientist at FPG, knew Campbell for 45 years. Bryant came to FPG to work on the Abecedarian Project in its fourth year. Together, Bryant and Campbell also conducted a five-year study of Head Start Transition to School practices.
“It was clear right away that she knew all the ins and outs of conducting research with children and families and the practices one was expected to follow at FPG,” said Bryant. “She was a wonderful colleague and also became a good friend. Hers was a life well-lived.”
The impact of Campbell’s work was significant for FPG and for the study of child development, and she continued to evaluate Abecedarian Project findings and publish new developments over the next four decades.
FPG areas of work
Autism & Developmental Disabilities
Child Health and Development
Child Welfare
Early Care and Education & Pre-K Education
Early Intervention & Special Education
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research
K–12 Education
Prevention Science
We make an impact through our areas of work by using the information gleaned from our research to enhance policy and improve practice; we are committed to sharing the information we generate with the public and to supporting professionals’ understanding and use of evidence-based practices. Help us continue to make an impact by supporting one of these funds:
• The Barbara Davis Goldman Award Fund
• Equity Research Action Coalition
• FPG Child Development Institute Distinguished Speaker Series
• FPG Child Development Institute Inclusion Fund
• The James J. Gallagher Dissertation Award Fund
• The Joanne Erwich Roberts Memorial Fund
• The Marvin H. McKinney Scholars Program
• The Richard M. Clifford Fund for International Collaboration on Early Learning Environments
• The Thelma Harms Early Childhood Education Fund
• National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice
Learn more at: fpg.unc.edu/about-fpg/support-us
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
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At the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, research + application = impact.
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We generate knowledge, support practices, and inform policies to promote positive developmental and educational outcomes for children of all backgrounds and abilities from the earliest years. Look for these icons throughout the report to see how our work spans the research to practice to policy continuum.
