Research Topic

K-12 Education

CCFP researchers examine how education policies and programs, learning environments, and other factors impact student and school success. Our teams partner with school districts, schools and teachers to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative strategies to support student success. Through the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, CCFP provides researchers and the broader policy community with ready access to the data that they need for policy-oriented research.

Latest Research

Working Papers

Gesture as an Education Tool: Effects of Gesture and Teacher Race on Word Learning

This paper explores gestures as a learning aid for children ages 4-8 finding that students were more likely to correctly recall the fact learned in the affect + gesture condition than in the control and affect only conditions.

learn more about Gesture as an Education Tool: Effects of Gesture and Teacher Race on Word Learning
Journal Articles

Teaching Young Multilingual Learners: Impacts of a Professional Learning Programme on Teachers’ Practices and Students’ Language and Literacy Skills

This study evaluated the impact of a year-long professional learning (PL) program for teachers designed to support their multilingual learners’ language and literacy skills. The findings from this study show positive impacts of a teacher professional learning program on teachers’ practices and young MLs’ literacy growth. Video summary available.

learn more about Teaching Young Multilingual Learners: Impacts of a Professional Learning Programme on Teachers’ Practices and Students’ Language and Literacy Skills
Research Brief

NC PreK has School-Wide Benefits

This study found that as the percentage of NC Pre-K graduates in individual elementary schools increases, teachers report better working conditions and reduced teacher and principal turnover. These changes contribute to greater stability within elementary schools.

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Journal Articles

Multilingual Students Benefit When Grade-Level and Specialist Teachers Collaborate

The BELLA (Bridging English Language Learning and Academics) professional learning program (bellapd.org) aims to enhance teachers’ practices and accelerate multilingual learners’ language and literacy growth by bringing together ESL and grade-level teachers in a yearlong, job-embedded professional learning experience.

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Experts

Experts

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Whitney McCoy

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Leslie Babinski

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Sarah Komisarow

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Katie Rosanbalm

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Kenneth Dodge

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Helen Ladd

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Philip Cook

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Reducing Structural Barriers in a School-Based System of Food Assistance to Reduce Inequality in Food Security and Child Outcomes

Project Description In the U.S., food insecurity (FI), or the inconsistent access to food of the quantity or quality needed to fuel a healthy life, is an important source of socioeconomic and racial inequality in youth outcomes. Decades of research finds that FI undermines youths’ physical, socioemotional, and cognitive development, and their academic outcomes as…

learn more about Reducing Structural Barriers in a School-Based System of Food Assistance to Reduce Inequality in Food Security and Child Outcomes
learn more about Reducing Structural Barriers in a School-Based System of Food Assistance to Reduce Inequality in Food Security and Child Outcomes

Property Sales and Residential Displacement of Black and Hispanic Children in the American South: Implications for School Mobility and Educational Inequality

This project looks at the impact of rental housing sales on children’s residential mobility, school switches, and school performance.

learn more about Property Sales and Residential Displacement of Black and Hispanic Children in the American South: Implications for School Mobility and Educational Inequality
learn more about Property Sales and Residential Displacement of Black and Hispanic Children in the American South: Implications for School Mobility and Educational Inequality

Evaluation of NC Community Schools Coalition

Project Description The North Carolina Community Schools Coalition aims to improve the academic, mental, and physical health of North Carolina students through the development of Full-Service Community Schools across the state. Full-Service Community Schools prioritize partnerships between schools and the community to promote the overall success and well-being of children and families. The community schools model…

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learn more about Evaluation of NC Community Schools Coalition

BELLA Online: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together With Children and Families

Project goal is to design, develop, and test an online professional development program called Bridging English Language Learning and Academics (BELLA) for improving teacher and student outcomes for working with English Learners (ELs).

learn more about BELLA Online: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together With Children and Families
learn more about BELLA Online: ESL and Classroom Teachers Working Together With Children and Families
October 18, 2024
Working Papers

The Long-Term Effect of North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten is Larger in School Districts with Lower Rates of Growth in Academic Achievement

This study examined whether the effect of NC Pre-K funding exposure is moderated by the educational environments children subsequently experience during elementary and middle school. The NC Pre-K effect on
student reading and math achievement in eighth grade was found to be larger in school districts with lower rates of growth in academic achievement.

learn more about The Long-Term Effect of North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten is Larger in School Districts with Lower Rates of Growth in Academic Achievement
August 20, 2024
Journal Articles

Pre-K Enrollments and Teaching Environments in North Carolina Elementary Schools

This study examines one of the mechanisms through which North Carolina’s statewide pre-K program (NC Pre-K) may generate such benefits: improvements in the teaching environments of the elementary schools in which NC Pre-K graduates enroll.

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August 1, 2024
Journal Articles

The Diasporic Tellings of Black African Refugee-Background Youth through the Lens of Critical Ubuntu Literacy

Through a thematic analysis, we found that renegotiation of individuality and collective identity was fostered through (a) collective resistance to challenge assumptions; (b) individuality within a collective community; and (c) collective identity that transcended borders.

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