During the COVID-19 global pandemic, early intervention (EI) practitioners experienced an unexpected shift to providing tele-intervention services to support children and families using virtual platforms. Because this shift occurred across the field, it is important to understand the perspectives of those who experienced it under exceptional…

This study focused on middle school and high school teachers in an independent school to explore their experiences and perceptions of overparenting in the classroom. The problem addressed by this study was the lack of understanding concerning middle and high school teachers' experiences and perceptions of overparenting in an independent school.…

The experiences of a child in the foster care system rely heavily on the preparedness of the foster parent. For decades, researchers and practitioners have written about the challenges that foster children face while in the foster care system and discussed ways to assist them. This research discusses another way to improve the preparedness of a…

With the increasing sophistication of online survey tools and the necessity of distanced research during the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of online questionnaires for research purposes has proliferated. Still, many researchers undertake online survey research without knowledge of the prevalence and likelihood of experiencing survey questionnaire…

The resources that federal financial aid, state financial aid, and federal public benefits programs provide, when they operate effectively, are critical to older students and students with children. This report seeks to shed light on how these programs are functioning by analyzing data and policies across four states--Colorado, Missouri, North…

Agricultural and environmental literacy are essential public goods, but associated education efforts struggle to reach broad audiences. Understanding learner backgrounds and lived experiences can help address this challenge. We assessed the relative importance of demographics, parent views of agriculture, interactions with farmers and parents, and…

Since the pandemic began, parents have been less satisfied with existing school systems, and they want to see greater transparency and education customization that meets students where they are. Nearing the final deadline to obligate remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding, state and local policymakers can take…

This paper describes the development of the Guilford Parent Academy (GPA), which is a school district-community collaboration developed to promote parent engagement and to assist families by providing online and face-to-face access to resources to help raise a successful and healthy child. Evaluation results over a four-year period suggest that…

Curriculum adoption and implementation is not a onetime event for districts and schools. It is a multi-year process involving district leadership in multiple units (e.g., curriculum office, finance office, superintendent office, student services), school leadership, instructional staff, students and their caregivers, and other relevant community…

Home visiting connects expectant parents, new caregivers, and their young children with a support person, called a home visitor. The home visitor meets regularly with the family, develops a relationship with them, and supports them to achieve their goals and meet their needs. To reach the thousands of additional families who could benefit from…

For parents of children with an Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), high quality, easily accessible information and a strong peer network can be the key to raising a happy, healthy child, and maintaining family well-being and emotional resilience. This article reports the findings of an anonymous survey examining the information source preferences for…

In this dissertation, I study the relationships between financial aid, student characteristics, persistence, and completion in three separate chapters. In all three chapters, I use detailed, student-level administrative data from the UNC System beginning in the Fall 2013 semester. The first chapter is entitled "Tuition Reduction and Student…

There are many unmet needs among parents of children with autism for parent respite and social time for their children. The use of undergraduate student volunteers is a potential strategy for meeting some of these needs. Separate focus groups for parents and for undergraduates were convened to assess feasibility, comfort, reservations, and mutual…

The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill (FPG) partnered with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Child Development and Early Education (NCDHHS DCDEE) to assess a pilot implementation of the NC Preschool Pyramid Model (Pyramid Model). This social-emotional coaching program is…

This study examines the role of condom use knowledge and attitudes, and parent-teen communication about sex and relationship quality on reports of condom use self-efficacy among rural, African American youth. Participants were 465 North Carolinian youth (10-14 years). Results indicated that greater condom use self-efficacy was predicted by greater…