PfL Developers
The Partners for Literacy Curriculum
is based on more than thirty years
of collaborative research
by Barbara H. Wasik, Ph.D.
and Joseph Sparling, Ph.D.
Barbara Hanna Wasik, Ph.D., a William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor at The University of North Carolina, is a clinical/school psychologist. A professor in the School of Education, she is also a fellow at the FPG Child Development Institute and Director of The Center for Home Visiting. Dr. Wasik has conducted extensive research in early childhood and elementary classrooms related to children's academic and social competence. She is the principal investigator on the Partners for Literacy project which has developed a curriculum for children age three to five and their parents. This curriculum has been designed to enhance school readiness of young children through a focus on language, literacy, and social and emotional development, and addresses all components of family literacy programs. Dr. Wasik was a co-director of Project CARE, an experimental study of the effects of center-based child care and home-based interventions on children's school success, and the Infant Health and Development Program, a national study focused on the development of low birth weight infants. She has participated on many national and international boards and committees, including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy. Dr. Wasik is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, served as president of the North Carolina Psychological Association, and as chair of the Board of Educational Affairs of the American Psychological Association.
Joseph Sparling, Ph.D., an early childhood educator and former schoolteacher and principal, has developed educational resources for parents and teachers of very young children. He has been a co-principal investigator on three longitudinal intervention studies: The Abecedarian Project, Project CARE, and The Infant Health and Development Program. He is currently an investigator on Partners for Literacy, a national intervention study of Even Start programs. Sparling is the first author of LearningGames, The Abecedarian Curriculum; Partners for Learning; LiteracyGames; and Conversation Books: educational resources that have been used widely in the USA and abroad. In addition to publishing books and scholarly articles, Dr. Sparling has written for popular magazines including Redbook and Parents. He is a Fellow at the FPG Child Development Institute of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is Research Professor at Georgetown University Center on Health and Education. In addition to his work in the USA, Dr. Sparling has done curriculum development, training, and intervention in orphanages in Romania.
