Investigators

France Campbell

Frances Campbell, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator of the Age-21 and later follow-up studies
Senior Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

During her time with FPG, Frances Campbell has been an integral part of FPG’s history of serving as an objective, knowledgeable force for social change to enhance the lives of children and families. She has continued to gather information on the positive influences of early intervention. Her work with the Abecedarian Project, which began with a group of infants in 1972, has followed these children as they have aged into adulthood.

Craig Ramey

Craig Ramey, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator of the original study
Professor and Distinguished Research Scholar, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute;
Professor, Psychology, Virginia Tech; Professor, Pediatrics, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

“My program of research centers on the role of experience–across the human lifespan–in the development of competence. My research relies largely on experimental interventions in education, psychology, and pediatrics that provide rigorous tests of plausible developmental mechanism of change. I engage both epidemiological and longitudinal datasets to provide a broad contextual framework for identifying the multiple, inter-related conditions that influence biopsychosocial risk…”

Joseph Sparling

Joseph Sparling, Ph.D
Co-developer of the “LearningGames” curriculum
FPG Senior Scientist Emeritus; Honorary Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education;
Director, 3A (Abecedarian Approach Australia) Project

Joseph Sparling’s 3A Project provides professional development for Aboriginal child and family services to assist them in implementing the Abecedarian Approach. This work is supported by state governments and non-governmental organizations in Australia and is occurring in Victoria, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Sparling also continues to work with provincial governments and non-governmental organizations serving First Nations peoples in Canada. The most recent randomized evaluation of the Abecedarian Approach was initiated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 2012.

Isabelle Lewis

Isabelle Lewis
Co-developer of the “LearningGames” curriculum

With Joseph Sparling in 1978, Isabelle Lewis first published the Abecedarian curriculum as the LearningGames® book series—the first scientifically validated infant and toddler curriculum. Today, the Creative Curriculum LearningGames® series still comprises 200 games in five volumes and finds wide use in preschools, group daycares, family daycare homes, parent groups, and home visitations.

Key Researchers Later Joining the Project

Margaret R. Burchinal

Margaret R. Burchinal, Ph.D.

Margaret R. Burchinal has been a leading researcher and statistician in child care research and a widely recognized applied statistician. She has authored or co-authored over 150 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, including Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Science. As a researcher, she has demonstrated that quality child care may be especially important in reducing racial and economic gaps at entry to school.

Elizabeth Pungello

Elizabeth Pungello, Ph.D.

Elizabeth Pungello’s research focuses on early care and education environments and school readiness skills of at-risk children. Her current work includes the exploration of the associations among race, income, parenting, child care quality, and language development and school readiness, as well as the investigation of factors that influence why and how parents search for and select child care.

Lynne Vernon-Feagans

Lynne Vernon-Feagans Ph.D.

Over the last 30 years, Lynne Vernon-Feagans has focused her interest on children at risk–especially African-American children who live in poverty. As part of the Abecedarian Project, she led a study on children’s use of language in their home neighborhood and in their classrooms at school. Her resulting book helped educators and practitioners understand the disconnect between the children’s neighborhood language and culture and the school’s language and culture.

Barbara Wasik

Barbara Hanna Wasik, Ph.D.
FPG Fellow
Professor Emeritus, UNC’s School of Education

Throughout her career at UNC, Barbara Hanna Wasik collaborated with researchers at FPG on Project CARE and the Infant Health and Development Program as well as on longitudinal studies of the Abecedarian Project. She conducted research on home visiting, family support, and early childhood interventions. She also studied family literacy programs and implemented interventions on parent problem-solving skills. She has co-authored five books on home visiting, family literacy, and early childhood education.

The Carolina Abecedarian Project