A Mixed-Methods View of the Carolina Abecedarian Project: Applying Educators’ Voices to Explaining Adult Outcomes

• In Event: Untold Lessons from History: Teacher Interviews and Archival Records from the Perry and Abecedarian Projects

Abstract

Objectives
We expand on ABC literature by applying educators’ retrospective oral histories of program implementation to analyze how gains in early skills mediated the program’s effects on education and income at age 30.
Theoretical Framework
We followed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, where conclusions from qualitative analyses inform our subsequent quantitative approach.
Methods
Qualitative: From 2014 to 2018, 15 (of 27) former Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) staff involved in the ABC trial—including program directors, teachers, and classroom support staff—provided retrospective accounts of intervention implementation. Triangulation validated findings across primary source interviews with ABC educators and researchers who frequently observed FPG classrooms, and comparisons with secondary documents.
Deductive coding applied 14 a priori components described as the “Abecedarian Approach” to identify those consistently implemented throughout the intervention. Next, primary sources were examined via inductive thematic analysis to identify integral practices from the perspective of ABC educators.
Quantitative: The sample included 57 treated ABC participants, with 52 followed-up at age 30 years. Participants received early care from 6 weeks to kindergarten. Qualitative findings guided quantitative analysis: t-tests assessed cognitive outcomes at ages 5 and 8, followed by path analyses for indirect effects on adult education and income. Effect sizes, bootstrapping, and sensitivity analyses were reported.
Data Sources
Qualitative: Primary sources included recorded notes from semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Secondary sources included contemporaneous FPG Annual Reports, ABC progress reports, historical records from UNC’s Wilson Library Special Collections, highly-cited ABC research (Ramey et al., 1976; Ramey et al., 1982), and the book Abecedarian: The Focus, the Approach, and the Findings (Ramey et al., 2012).
Quantitative: Verbal ability was measured at age 5 years in the ABC study with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. At age 8, the Memory for Digit Span assessment from WISC-R captured Working Memory, while the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery Tests of Achievement examined reading and math. At age 30, ABC’s follow-up study captured income and final education degree.
Results
Teacher interviews revealed overwhelming consensus that ABC prioritized verbal skills from infancy through age 5, where educators engaged in conversations with children to improve language and scaffold problem-solving skills. Teachers received regular coaching from program directors/researchers about the importance of adult-child language interactions in the physical environment. While infants and toddlers participated in adult-child “Learningames,” there was no structured curriculum for preschoolers. Seven of 14 Abecedarian Approach components were consistently implemented, including Lead teachers with bachelor’s degrees, Full-day care, and Low adult-child ratios. Mediation analyses indicate that verbal skills at school entry were the primary mechanism for ABC impacts on adult education and income.
Significance
This study uniquely uses implementation data to test how ABC’s early focus on verbal skills led to adult impacts. We argue that ABC remains relevant 50 years later specifically for the fact that in contemporary preschools, early academic skills are a focus and teacher-led instruction occurs with groups of 10-12 children. In contrast, ABC’s 1:6 teacher-child ratios and child-centered active learning may better support enduring gains.

Authors

• Kylie L. Garber, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Sylvi Kuperman, University of Chicago