2011 - 2012 Grants Awarded
Figuring It Out for the Child: Promoting Co-parenting Alliances Among Expectant Unmarried African
American Parents: $276,910 over two years
Figuring It Out for the Child is a novel intervention designed to help expectant, unmarried, non-co-
resident African American mothers and fathers build an awareness and commitment to: 1) co-parent,
2) develop skills needed to support this, and 3) co-create a personal co-parenting plan for their baby.
The goal is to increase the likelihood that both parents will be participants in daily activities that promote
early brain development, socio-emotional adjustment, and preschool readiness. Community stakeholders
in Pinellas County, Florida partnered with university researchers to author, review, and adjust this new
curriculum. The Principal Investigator is Dr. James McHale of the University of South Florida St.
Petersburg Department of Psychology and Family Study Center.
2010 - 2011 Grants Awarded
East Durham Children's initiative Evaluation: $100,000 over two years
The
East Durham Children's Initiative (EDCI) was formed in 2009 to provide a
comprehensive continuum of supports that address the challenges of
chronic and inter-generational poverty. The goal is to offer a conveyor
belt of services from infancy through high school to support children's
social, emotional, and academic growth. The EDCI model is based upon the
Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) in New York City. Researchers from the
Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University will measure
program efficacy and ensure continuous quality improvement for two EDCI
interventions: The Hill Early Literacy Program (HELP) and The Hill
Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP). They will also begin to build a
comprehensive, longitudinal database for all EDCI programs.
Educare Randomized Control Trial Year 1: $100,000
Grounded
in research, Educare is a full-day, full-year early care and education
program for low-income children birth to five. It is focused on
narrowing or closing the achievement gap by kindergarten entry as a
foundation for success in school and in life. Using a randomized
clinical trial design, researchers from the Frank Porter Graham Child
Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
will measure children's cognitive, language, social-emotional, and
executive functioning outcomes.
A Unified Assessment System to Inform Early Care and Education (ECE)
Professional Development and Instructional Practices in New York City
(Phase I): $35,000
Phase
I of this project will search for a common metric that links across all
ECE child assessment instruments currently being used by New York City
agencies to track children's progress and inform classroom instruction.
By co-developing a common child assessment metric system that feeds back
into the professional development systems across all City agencies, New
York City will have a tool to improve school readiness and work to
close the achievement gap before children reach kindergarten. The
Principal Investigator is Dr. LaRue Allen of the Department of Applied
Psychology at New York University.
Family Academy: Researchers and Practitioners Improving Outcomes for 0-3 Year Olds: $365,000 over three years
This
three-year longitudinal project will study the promising
family-centered Family Academy model and test its efficacy using a
randomized wait list control group design. This unique model was
developed through a grassroots community-engaged process with
participants, practitioners and researchers. Located in Minneapolis, MN,
the Family Academy is the early childhood parent education component of
the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a zone-based approach to building
a continuum of educational and social support for children, birth to
age 18, and their families, ensuring that all children in the NAZ are
college-ready. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Lauren Martin in the
Center for Early Education and Development at the University Research
and Outreach/Engagement Center (CEED@UROC) of the University of
Minnesota.
Educare Randomized Control Trial: $100,000
The
Educare Model was developed by the Ounce of Prevention Fund (Ounce) in
Chicago and is a promising strategy for closing the achievement gap at
school entry. The Brady Education Foundation joins the Buffet Early
Childhood Fund, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation in funding the Start-Up Phase of the Randomized Control
Trial to be conducted by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development
Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Public Montessori Preschool Outcomes in a Low-Income Community: $400,000 over three years
This
three-year longitudinal study will follow 3-6 year olds in two
high-fidelity Montessori magnet schools and a randomized control group
of 3-6 year olds in business-as-usual schools located in Hartford, CT.
The principal investigator, Dr. Angeline Lillard of the University of
Virginia, conducted a pilot study published in Science in
2006, showing that children at a public Montessori in Milwaukee had
significantly better outcomes than lotteried-out counterparts at other
Milwaukee area schools. Like the prior one, this new project will test
for a range of social, behavioral and academic outcomes.
