Celebrating 50 Years of Child Development Research: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives

For more than fifty years, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute has conducted groundbreaking research that revolutionized the field of early childhood care and education. Based on presentations made at FPG's 50th anniversary symposium, this essential reference looks back on the Institute’s trailblazing history, analyzes contemporary issues in child development, and recommends critical new research directions.

More than a dozen high-profile contributors thoroughly examine the three themes of the anniversary symposium: early care and education, diversity, and children with disabilities and their families. Readers will learn from in-depth chapters on:

• understanding the social, cultural, educational, and political forces that affect children’s outcomes
• meeting the challenge of serving diverse populations as U.S. demographics shift
• preparing practitioners to work with young dual language learners
• improving connections between the knowledge base and professional practice
• strengthening the early childhood workforce through effective professional development
• analyzing decades of research and policy and examining ways to support continuous improvement

A celebration of progress and a compelling call to action for the next generation of professionals, this important volume is a must for researchers, policy makers, and faculty. Whether used as a textbook or a reference, this book will help shape the future of the early childhood field—and improve outcomes for tomorrow's young children and families.

W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D., is founder and Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. His research includes studies of the economics of early care and education including costs and benefits, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children’s learning and development, and the distribution of educational opportunities. Dr. Barnett earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan. His best-known works include: reviews of the research on long-term effects, benefit-cost analyses of the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian programs, and evaluations of large-scale public preschool programs.

Barbara T. Bowman is a pioneer in the field of early childhood education. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for young children, applying knowledge about child development to her work integrating policy and practice. She is a founder and past president of Erikson Institute and has held local and national leadership positions in public education and professional organizations. She is currently on the faculty of Erikson Institute.

Barbara T. Bowman is a pioneer in the field of early childhood education. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for young children, applying knowledge about child development to her work integrating policy and practice. She is a founder and past president of Erikson Institute and has held local and national leadership positions in public education and professional organizations. She is currently on the faculty of Erikson Institute.

Barbara Hanna Wasik, Ph.D., William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a clinical/school psychologist who has devoted her career to the study of children with social/emotional difficulties as well as language and literacy difficulties, and their families. A Ph.D. graduate of Florida State University in psychology, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University then joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina where she held a professorship in the School of Education as well as a research position with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG). She taught masters and doctoral students in the School Psychology Program and held administrative positions in the UNC Graduate School, the School of Education, and FPG. She was one of the directors of Project CARE, a randomized study of child care and home visiting and served as an investigator on the longitudinal outcomes of both Project CARE and the Abecedarian Project. She was co-director for curriculum in the national study for low birth weight infants, the Infant Health and Development Program. Bringing together her interests in children and families, she is the developer of a comprehensive preschool and home intervention for preschool children and their families.

She served as President of the North Carolina Psychological Association, a member of the APA Council of Representatives, Chair of the APA Board of Educational Affairs and Chair of the APA Committee on Early Childhood Education. She was one of the three co-chairs of the National Forum on Home Visiting and has served on numerous national boards. She was an invited participant to the White House Conference on Child Care and served as a member of the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy of the National Academy of Sciences that produced the study Eager to Learn – Educating Our Preschoolers. Her professional interests include the observational study of children, social and emotional behaviors, problem solving, parenting, language and literacy, and home visiting. The author of over 100 publications and five books, she continues her professional involvement as a fellow of the FPG Institute.

Samuel L. Odom, Ph.D., is the former Director of the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute where he remains as a Senior Research Scientist. Prior to his work at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Odom served in faculty positions at Indiana University and Peabody College/Vanderbilt University. Dr. Odom received a master's degree in special education in 1976 and an educational specialist degree in educational psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1979. He earned his doctorate in 1982 in education and human development from the University of Washington.

Throughout his career, Dr. Odom has held positions as a preschool teacher, student teaching supervisor, program coordinator, teacher educator, and researcher. Dr. Odom's research interests include interventions and teaching approaches that promote social competence of young children, effective intervention approaches for children with autism, and early childhood curricula that promote children's school success. He is the author or co-author of over 175 journal articles and book chapters and has edited 10 books on early childhood intervention and developmental disabilities. His current research is addressing treatment efficacy for children and youth with ASD in elementary and high school grades. Also, he is the Co-Director of the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice at FPG. Dr. Odom is an associate editor for Exceptional Children and is on the editorial board of Journal of Early Intervention, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. He received the Special Education Outstanding Research Award from the American Educational Research Association Special Education Special Interest Group in 1999, the Merle Karnes Contribution to the Field Award from the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in 2001, and the Outstanding Special Education Research Award from CEC in 2007. In 2013, he received the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize awarded for career achievement in research on social inclusion and child development from the Theordor Hellbrugge Foundation in Munich, Germany. In 2016, he received an honorary doctoral degree from Stockholm University. He is currently a visiting professor at Stockholm University and San Diego State University.

Dr. Donna Bryant, Ph.D., began her professional career at FPG in 1978. She has led dozens of research projects including several Head Start consortia studies, NC’s Smart Start initiative, a 5-state study of a professional development consultation model, home visiting interventions, and evaluations of state QRIS systems. Current efforts include three studies within the Educare Learning Network of high-quality birth-5 schools.

Natasha J. Cabrera, Ph.D., is Professor of Human Development at the University of Maryland. She conducts research on father involvement and children’s social and cognitive development; adaptive and maladaptive factors related to parenting and cultural variation in ethnic minority families; and, the mechanisms linking early experiences to children’s school readiness. Dr. Cabrera has published in peer-reviewed journals on policy, methodology, theory and the implications of fathering and mothering behaviors on child development in low-income minority families. She is the co-editor of the Handbook of Father Involvement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 2nd Edition (Taylor & Francis, 2013) and Latina/o Child Psychology and Mental Health: Vol 1 and 2 (Praeger, 2011). Dr. Cabrera is an Associate Editor of Child Development and the recipient of the National Council and Family Relations award for Best Research Article regarding men in families in 2009. In 2015, the National Academy of Sciences appointed her to its committee on parents of young children; in 2016, she was a Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar; and, in 2017 she was a DAAD visiting scholar, University of Ruhr, Germany. She is co-PI at the National Center for Research on Hispanic Families and Children co-directing the fatherhood and healthy marriage focus area.

Judith J. Carta, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist in the Institute for Life Span Studies, Professor of Special Education, and the Interim Director of the Juniper Gardens Children's Project at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on developing strategies to minimize the effects of poverty on children's outcomes, designing practices that teachers and parents can use to promote children's early learning and social-emotional development, methods for monitoring the progress of young children, and strategies for promoting family engagement in early intervention programs. She has been the PI of several multi-site research projects and centers funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Educational Sciences, and the Administration on Children and Families. She currently co-directs an IES-funded project to develop the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model, a three-tiered model to promote social-emotional outcomes for infants and toddlers, based on the TPITOS. She was a member of the Federal Advisory Panel on Head Start Research and Evaluation, Division of Early Childhood’s Commission on Recommended Practices, and served as the Editor of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education as well as the boards of numerous scientific journals. She received the Mary E. McEvoy Service to the Field Award from the Division for Early Childhood.

Mary Ruth Coleman, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist, Emeritus at the FPG Child Development Institute, UNC-Chapel Hill. She directs U-STARS PLUS, a strength-based approach to supporting educationally vulnerable children PreK-4th grade. Dr. Coleman is a past president of the Council for Exceptional Children, and co-author of Education Exceptional Children, 14th Edition with James J. Gallagher.

Linda Espinosa, Ph.D., has had experience as a preschool teacher, child care center director, elementary school principal, central office administrator, State program director, and corporate Vice President of Education. Her practical experience and research interests focus on the design and evaluation of optimal learning environments for young children who are at risk for school failure. Dr. Espinosa has worked extensively with low-income Hispanic/Latino children and families throughout the state of California. She completed her B.A. at the University of Washington, her Ed.M. at Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Chicago.

Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Ph.D., is an Advanced Research Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Her research focuses on factors that promote children’s language, and literacy development, particularly among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. In particular, Dr. Gardner-Neblett’s work examines the oral narrative, or storytelling, skills of African American children and the implications for literacy development and educational practice. Her work also examines professional development programs for early childhood educators to promote children’s early language and communication development.

Ron Haskins is a Senior Fellow and holds the Cabot Family Chair in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he co-directs the Center on Children and Families. Haskins was appointed by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to co-chair the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission. He is the co-author of Show Me the Evidence: Obama’s Fight for Rigor and Evidence in Social Policy (2015), Creating an Opportunity Society (2009) and the author of Work over Welfare: The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law (2006).

Gov. Jim Hunt (1977-1985, 1993-2001) served four historic terms as governor of North Carolina. Under his leadership, North Carolina public schools improved test scores more than any other state in the 1990s, according to the Rand Corporation. Hunt focused on early childhood development and the improvement of quality of teaching. His Smart Start program received the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Marilou Hyson, Ph.D., is a national and international consultant in early childhood development and education. Formerly Associate Executive Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Marilou's professional work and publications have focused on social and emotional development, children's approaches to learning, and early childhood teacher education. Marilou was an SRCD Fellow in the US Department of Education and Professor and Chair of the University of Delaware's Department of Individual and Family Studies. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Child Development.

Iheoma Iruka’s research focuses on determining how early experiences impact poor and ethnic minority children’s learning and development, and the role of the family and education environments and systems. She is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of low-income, ethnic minority, and immigrant children, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. In particular, she has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, public policies, and publications geared towards early education practitioners and policymakers. She serves on numerous national boards and committees, such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees.

Craig Ramey, Ph.D., is the creator and founding director of the Abecedarian Project and its replicants including Project CARE and the Infant Health and Development Program. His program of research centers on the role of early experience, especially education – across the human lifespan - in the development of competence and robust health. His approach relies largely on experimental interventions in education, psychology, and pediatrics that provide rigorous tests of plausible developmental mechanisms of stability and change within dynamic, multilevel ecologies.

Patricia Snyder, Ph.D., is a Professor and the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She is the founding director of the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies. Dr. Snyder has worked for more than 40 years in the interdisciplinary field of early childhood studies. Her research interests focus on embedded instruction for early learning; social-emotional foundations of early learning; professional development, including practice-based coaching; and early childhood assessment and measurement.

Rud Turnbull is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1959), University of Maryland Law School (Ll.B., 1964), and Harvard Law School (Ll..M., 1969). With his wife Ann, he co-founded and was co-director for Beach Center on Disability, and is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas. He specializes in disability law and policy.

Pamela J. Winton, a Senior Scientist at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, has been involved in research, outreach, technical assistance, professional development, and scholarly publishing related to early childhood for the last three decades. Winton has directed multiple national TA centers over the last two decades including the National Center on Professional Development on Inclusion (NPDCI), whose purpose was to work with states to create a cross-agency system of high quality professional development (PD) for early childhood teachers; and CONNECT, bringing an evidence-based practice approach to professional development in key early childhood content areas. Winton has published numerous books, articles, chapters, and curricula on topics related to professional development, collaboration, systems change, family-professional partnerships, and inclusion. She has served on national, state and local advisory boards, review panels, and been recognized by local, state and national awards.

Marlene Zepeda is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. A former preschool and elementary school teacher, Dr. Zepeda’s scholarship focuses on dual language learning in Spanish speaking preschool children and child development in Latino infants and toddlers. She also has authored a number of publications focused on workforce development including a set of teacher competencies for Dual Language. Dr. Zepeda is a member of the Campaign for Quality Early Education, a California advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of Dual Language Learners and currently is a member of Los Angeles', First Five Commission.