The Effect of INSIGHTS on Developmental Trajectories of Children’s Self-Regulation
Rudasill, K. M., Reichenberg, R. E., Eum, J., Barrett, J. S., Wilson, E., Joo, Y., & Sealy, M. A. (2024). Early Childhood Education Journal, 54, 13–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-024-01784-9.
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examining133Students, gradesK-1
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: April 2026
- Single Study Review (findings for INSIGHTS)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a cluster randomized controlled trial with low cluster-level attrition and individual-level non-response.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS): Child-Teacher Closeness |
INSIGHTS vs. Business as usual |
-9 Months |
Full sample;
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4.55 |
4.32 |
No |
-- | ||
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders self-regulation assessment |
INSIGHTS vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
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52.22 |
49.74 |
Yes |
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Leiter-3: Attention sustained subtest |
INSIGHTS vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
10.54 |
9.90 |
Yes |
|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 51%
Male: 49% -
Rural
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Midwest
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Race Two or more races 4% White 96% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 4% Not Hispanic or Latino 96% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 21% No FRPL 79%
Study Details
Setting
The study was conducted in 30 kindergarten classrooms and 31 first-grade classrooms within 18 rural elementary schools in the Midwest region of the United States.
Study sample
The study assigned 10 schools to the intervention condition and 8 schools to the comparison condition. At the start of the study, students were 5 to 6 years old and in kindergarten. The teachers in the study were all female and White. Their average age was 40 years old, and they had 14 years of teaching experience on average.
Intervention Group
INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament (INSIGHTS) is a professional development intervention designed to improve children’s social and emotional outcomes, including self-regulation, attention, and inhibitory control. Classroom teachers, working with facilitators, implement weekly sessions, which use puppets, videos, and vignettes. Teachers aim to maximize the fit between students and their classroom environment by understanding each student’s temperament, helping students build self-regulation by understanding their own and other students’ temperaments, and using strategies that match each child’s temperament to encourage positive behavior. Teachers and facilitators show students how to use a stop-and-think strategy when they encounter a dilemma, in which they identify a potential solution informed by their own and others’ temperament and test it out. Sessions lasted 30 minutes weekly for 10 weeks in kindergarten and again for 10 weeks in first grade.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison group received business-as-usual instruction. Teachers in the comparison schools did not receive training or professional development on the INSIGHTS intervention.
Support for implementation
Before implementation of INSIGHTS, the program developer trained teachers in the intervention schools for 12 hours over two Saturdays. Trained facilitators, who were former classroom teachers, helped classroom teachers implement the intervention. In each of the 10 weeks of intervention implementation, the teachers and facilitators also met for 30 minutes to review intervention content and discuss student behavior and problem-solving strategies. The intervention was provided at no cost to the schools and teachers were compensated for participating in training and coaching sessions.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Rudasill, Kathleen Moritz; Reichenberg, Ray E.; Eum, Jungwon; Barrett, Jentry Stoneman; Joo, Yuenjung; Wilson, Emily; Sealy, Martinique. (2020). Promoting Higher Quality Teacher-Child Relationships: The INSIGHTS Intervention in Rural Schools. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health v17 Article 9371.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, statistical significance, and sample size of the findings within a domain, the WWC assigns effectiveness ratings as one of the following: Tier 1 (strong evidence), Tier 2 (moderate evidence), Tier 3 (promising evidence), uncertain effects, and negative effects. For more detail, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).