1. ObjectivesThe objectives of Core A are to a) facilitate the conduct and productivity of the overall program project and b)provide proper oversight of fiscal management and institutional communication to ensure timely responses tothe needs of each investigator, project, and core.The data in this program project is collected by two primary sites: the Department of Pediatrics at the UTHSCH,and the Department of Psychology and Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University,Tallahassee, Florida. Each site also maintains relationships with other professionals within the institution (e.g.,educators, teacher trainers) and with the schools, Head Start, and child care programs in Houston andTallahassee where eligible are ascertained and participants are recruited.Core A will ensure that the resources essential for each project and core are available in a timely manner.This will include oversight and prompt delivery of subcontracts to Florida State University (Dr. Lonigan), theUniversity of California at Berkeley (Drs. Starkey, Klein, and Wakely), the University of Guelph (Dr. Barnes),Arizona State University (Dr. Eisenberg), and Smith College (Dr. deVilliers) as well as overall fiscalmanagement of the program project, including hiring of personnel and ordering of materials. Fiscalmanagement is facilitated by the on-line budgeting capabilities of the University of Texas-Houston. All aspectsof the budget will be broken down by project, core, and subcontract. Any expenditures are entered andrecorded on-line through a computer network, providing instant access to current information on personnelencumbrances and expenditures, supplies, travel, and other expenses. Investigators at all sites will beprovided monthly accountings of the status of their budgets. Subcontract expenditures will be managedthrough the invoicing arrangements in place as part of the collaborative fiscal agreements arranged acrossinstitutions.Administrative support for fiscal management is provided to the PI by Kevin Mersmann, administrative servicesofficer for the Division of Developmental Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas-Houston. Mr. Mersmann is an experienced grants administrator who has worked closely with Dr. Landry forthe past 5 years. Mr. Mersmann's sole responsibility is the Division of Developmental Pediatrics of which Dr.Landry is the Chief. The efforts of Mr. Mersmann are paid from departmental funds and his effort is notchanged to the grant. Mr. Mersmann has years of experience overseeing the allocation of funds, includingsubcontracts and the management of finances, including numerous NIH grants. He has a close and effectiveworking relationship with the grants and contracts office as well as other key administrative departments thatare essential in managing NIH grants.Dr. Landry together with Drs. McManis and Lonigan will be responsible for the programmatic functions andscientific issues of the program project. Dr. McManis is a critical member of Core A as the full-time ProgramProject Coordinator. Dr. McManis has worked closely with Dr. Landry and Ms. Granbery and Mr. Mersmannon multi-site projects and will play a major role in Core A in assuring close communication and overseeing thescientific integrity across the 5 projects and Core B. As Projects 1 and 2 require implementation of two multisitelarge complex interventions, Dr. McManis will assist Drs. Landry and Lonigan in assuring that allcomponents (e.g., recruitment, staff training, teacher training, randomization procedures, assessment) areconducted according to schedule and in comparable ways across the two sites. She will work closely inweekly meetings and conference calls with the coordinators of Projects 1 and 2 at both sites. Together Drs.Landry, McManis, and Swank have conducted large scale classroom based studies with effective outcomes.This team of researchers has found that weekly meetings are essential for keeping on top of the manychallenges that occur with this type of study. This is a critical time for problem solving, communication acrosscomponents of the projects, and discussions and examination of the data that is being collected. This weeklymeeting in Houston will include Drs. Landry, Swank, McManis, Dietrich, and Assel, as well as April Crawfordwho will oversee the training, implementation, and reliability checks for all fidelity measures. In Florida, themeeting will include Drs. Lonigan and Hassler and the Project 1 and 2 coordinators. The focus of theseweekly meetings will be to track the progress of the study with respect to tasks and schedules. The projectcoordinators will use spreadsheets to track, update, and maintain progress. Comparability across sites will bemaintained by a constant system of checks and balances around the protocols and procedures of the study.This information will be shared and utilized during each weekly meeting.Every fourth week (or sooner when needed) the teams across both sites will have a scheduled conference callto discuss progress, including productivity, planning of analyses, and writing of manuscripts. The ProjectCoordinator from Houston will ensure that the following occurs: each monthly call be accompanied by anagenda based on priority and input from the two sites, the minutes of these meetings with decision points andaction items be shared across the two sites in a timely manner, and a central document be developed andmaintained housing all of the minutes and other relevant information such as e-mails, notes from telephonecalls, spreadsheets, etc. related to conducting the study and its productivity. After each major phase (e.g.,recruitment, staff training, teacher training, randomization, assessment, implementation) a debriefing reportwill be prepared and shared across sites by the Project Coordinators.With respect to the writing of manuscripts, the Executive Committee will develop and follow a set of policiesand procedures to assure and expedite publications to the scientific community and address such issues asdecisions about primary, secondary, and other papers; accuracy and objectivity; assignment of authorship;responsible review of manuscripts; and maintaining and distributing publications and presentations as needed.To problem solve around unanticipated complications in the intervention, we also will hold bi-weeklyconference calls between the Program Project Coordinator (McManis), and each program project coordinatorfor Projects 1 and 2 to review progress and resolve problems. When particular problems are identified thatrequire the input of collaborators from Projects 3, 4, or 5 or the Bilingual Consultants on Core A they also willbe part of the call. Conference calls will be followed by emails from Houston summarizing the decisions andassigning tasks to appropriate personnel for resolution. After initial training, classroom intervention staff willreceive biweekly supervision at each site including the review of their classroom coaching videotapes. Issuesraised in the site specific meetings will be brought to the conference calls by the program coordinators. Fourtimes across the year, the intervention staff across the two sites will have satellite conference discussions toshare experiences in the classroom. This will assure that systematic differences that could occur across sitesin implementation are quickly recognized and addressed. Weekly project meetings will occur at each site.Mr. Mersmann, Ms. Granbery, and the Executive Committee will assist them. The Scientific AdvisoryCommittee also will be consulted on a regular basis for programmatic and scientific issues. Ms. Granbery willassist with coordination of communications related to the scientific research goals and will participate in on sitemeetings and satellite conferences to facilitate close coordination of the research efforts across the fiveprojects. Dr. Swank will head Core B and will work closely with Dr. Landry, thus enhancing the administrativecohesion of the program project.Dr. Landry is an experienced researcher and research administrator. Her contributions to research onchildren's development are well known (see Biographical Sketch). Dr. Landry also has extensive experiencewith grants at the ROIand P01 level. Dr. Landry has been the Principal Investigator of numerous NIH andDepartment of Education Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) funded projects. She has also been Co-Principal Investigator on other NIH R01's and is a P.I. on one of four projects in a P01 which Dr. Jack Fletcheris the P.I. This NICHD funded program project (P01 HD 35468, Spina Bifida: Cognitive and NeurobiologicalVariability) has completed its fifth year and has recently been refunded. She is PI on a project funded by theInteragency Educational Research Initiative (NSF). This group proposal is like a program project in that itsupports multi-site projects, involving a web based early childhood professional development program andintervention across three states. Dr. Landry is also working together with senior researchers, Borkowski,Warren, and the Rameys on a multi-site study on the prevention of neglect through responsive caregiving.This collaboration along with her collaboration with Dr. Fletcher provided Dr. Landry not only with experience inwriting program project grants, but also with experience in the management of long distance, multi-institutionalcollaboration. Dr. Landry has successfully conducted a 13 year NIH funded longitudinal study of theenvironmental influences on full-term and preterm children's development. Over 40 publications have comeout of this study. This multi-site study has provided Dr. Landry with extensive experience in conducting multisitestudies and maintaining cohorts of children and families from low SES backgrounds with low attrition ratesafter 12 years of follow-up (27% lost to follow-up from birth to 12 years).In addition to the administrative functions required by these grants, Dr. Landry has other experience inresearch administration. In 2000, Dr. Landry was appointed the Chief of the Developmental Division in theDepartment of Pediatrics at the UTHSC-H Medical School. This Division has shown incredible growth inresearch support from NIH, NSF, and IES over the last 4 years. Dr. Landry works closely with Dr. Sparks, theChairman of Pediatrics, on his executive council to promote departmental research activities. In the past 5years, the Department has seen an increase in external funding of 394% and is now in the top 20Departments of Pediatrics in NIH funding. Within the University of Texas Medical School, the Department ofPediatrics is second in absolute research funding levels and first in funding per faculty member. TheDepartment receives an award from the Children's Miracle Network Telethon to support the research activitiesof the Department.Dr. Landry is the Director of the Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education(CIRCLE) at the UTHSC-H. This center has research activities closely linked to the goals of this proposedproject across Texas and numerous other states. Recently (2002) the U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices recognized the effectiveness of the CIRCLE Early Childhood Professional Development Model byrequesting that it be implemented in a trainer of trainer Head Start School Readiness Initiative (Project STEP)across the United States and Puerto Rico to 3000 trainers. This program has also provided Dr. Landry withinvaluable experience in managing a large scale training effort in federally subsidized early childhoodprograms. Last spring, the governor of Texas named CIRCLE as the Texas State Center for Early Childhoodwith Dr. Landry as its director. The Center was named in a recent state senate bill to advise the Texaslegislators regarding advancing the quality of state and federally funded early childhood programs.She serves on ad hoc review groups for the NIH, the Department of Education, and IES within the Departmentof Education. Finally, Dr. Landry served for four years on the review committee previously known as HumanDevelopment and Aging - 3 at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Thiscommittee reviewed R01's as well as other types of applications on factors influencing growth anddevelopment.Dr. Chris Lonigan has a strong history of grant administration, having been the P.I. on a number of projectsfunded with federal research grant funding. Dr. Lonigan is experienced in administering grants within andacross sites. Since 1998 Dr. Lonigan has served as Principal Investigator and Project Director on six largefederal research grants including a study examining the effectiveness of early literacy curricula in publicschools and Head Start settings. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator on several federal grants including alarge scale intervention in classroom settings funded by the National Science Foundation: InteragencyEducational Research Initiative. As with the proposed research, these projects involved complicated sets ofactivities, with complicated data-collection and challenging intervention schedules in public schools and HeadStart programs that involve the a) cooperation of principals, teachers, parents, and students, b) collaborativework across investigators within and across institutions, and c) careful supervision of staff. On all of hisresearch projects, Dr. Lonigan has successfully met projected timelines and effectively disseminated highquality research findings. Dr. Lonigan has numerous review committee commitments for NIH and the U. S.Department of Education. He has been an invited expert on numerous panels for NIH, HHS, and theDepartment of Education on early childhood assessment, educational standards, and literacy instructionalapproaches in the Head Start and public school pre-K classrooms.In addition to the administrative functions required by these grants, Dr. Lonigan has other experience inresearch administration. He is currently the Associate Director of the Florida Center for Reading Research atFlorida State University. Dr. Lonigan's contributions to intervention and assessment research on youngchildren with at risk for reading difficulties are well known (see Biographical Sketch). He received her Ph.D. inclinical psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with Dr. Graver Whitehurst, the firstand current Director of the IES. For many years, he has studied the effects of classroom-based assessmentand instructional methods for children from high risk backgrounds; most of his research has relied onrandomized controlled trials in schools and Head Start programs. His work often has been located in thePublic Schools such as Los Angeles Unified School District; so, he knows how to get large-scale researchprojects involving randomized field trials implemented in this setting. Dr. Lonigan also has developed efficient,effective working relationships with fellow investigators as well as all project staff.
| Merz, Emily C; Landry, Susan H; Zucker, Tricia A et al. (2016) Parenting Predictors of Delay Inhibition in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Preschoolers. Infant Child Dev 25:371-390 |
| Lonigan, Christopher J; Phillips, Beth M; Clancy, Jeanine L et al. (2015) Impacts of a Comprehensive School Readiness Curriculum for Preschool Children at Risk for Educational Difficulties. Child Dev 86:1773-93 |
| Merz, Emily C; Zucker, Tricia A; Landry, Susan H et al. (2015) Parenting predictors of cognitive skills and emotion knowledge in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. J Exp Child Psychol 132:14-31 |
| Merz, Emily C; Landry, Susan H; Williams, Jeffrey M et al. (2014) Associations Among Parental Education, Home Environment Quality, Effortful Control, and Preacademic Knowledge. J Appl Dev Psychol 35:304-315 |
| Eisenberg, Nancy; Duckworth, Angela L; Spinrad, Tracy L et al. (2014) Conscientiousness: origins in childhood? Dev Psychol 50:1331-49 |
| Landry, Susan H; Zucker, Tricia A; Taylor, Heather B et al. (2014) Enhancing early child care quality and learning for toddlers at risk: the responsive early childhood program. Dev Psychol 50:526-41 |
| Silva, Kassondra M; Spinrad, Tracy L; Eisenberg, Nancy et al. (2011) Relations of Children's Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality to School Attitudes in a Low-Income Sample. Early Educ Dev 22:434-460 |
| Eisenberg, Nancy; Eggum, Natalie D; Di Giunta, Laura (2010) Empathy-related Responding: Associations with Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Intergroup Relations. Soc Issues Policy Rev 4:143-180 |
| Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Eggum, Natalie D (2010) Self-Regulation and School Readiness. Early Educ Dev 21:681-698 |
| Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Sulik, Michael J (2009) How the study of regulation can inform the study of coping. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2009:75-86 |
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