Two new leaders have been appointed to head up the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center at the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Lynne Kahn will serve as the center’s director and Dr. Dean Fixsen will be the new co-director. Both will serve as co-principal investigators.
The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. It serves as national resource for states on implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, particularly the early childhood provisions.
Kahn is a 23-year veteran of the center and has served as interim director since July 2007. She is the architect of its intensive state systems change technical assistance model. In her role as chair of the center’s quality assurance team, she has specialized in evaluation and accountability policies and practices for state early childhood programs. She also is the director of technical assistance for the FPG’s Early Childhood Outcomes Center (ECO).
Fixsen has spent his career developing and implementing evidence-based programs, initiating and managing change processes, and working with others to improve the lives of children, families and adults. In addition to co-authoring nearly 100 publications, he has advised local, state and federal governments. Prior to accepting this position, Fixsen was research professor at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. He is also the co-director of both the National Implementation Research Network and State Implementation of Scaling-up Evidence-based Practices Center at the Florida Mental Health Institute.
FPG Child Development Institute contact: Tracy Zimmerman, (919) 966-0867, zimmerman@mail.fpg.unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu