Project Activities
Researchers will develop two interventions for preschool teachers to use with English- and Spanish-speaking children from low-income backgrounds. They will refine and expand on an existing intervention, develop new content and activities, and conduct a pilot study to examine the promise of the interventions for improving children's social behavioral, math, and literacy skills.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place in Head Start programs in Oregon.
Sample
In Years 1 and 2, 12 teachers will participate in the development of the interventions. In year 3, 18 teachers and 180 children and parents will participate in the pilot study.
Intervention
The research team will develop two interventions, self-regulation games (SR) and self-regulation games with embedded math and literacy content (SR + Math and Literacy). Each intervention will include 24 sessions. The intervention sessions will focus on aspects of self-regulation (attentional flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control), early math (counting and cardinality, numeral knowledge, and geometric reasoning), and literacy (phonological awareness and print knowledge) that are associated with school achievement. Researchers will implement the intervention over the course of 12 weeks (two 20- to 30-minute sessions/week). The intervention will consist of teacher-administered circle time games that are easily integrated into the typical preschool day.
Research design and methods
The researchers will develop, implement and evaluate the promise of two interventions. In Year 1, they will conduct focus groups with teachers and refine the self- regulation intervention. The existing self-regulation intervention includes 16 sessions that were developed and implemented by researchers. The researchers will modify the existing sessions and develop 8 additional sessions focused on self-regulation. They will conduct an initial field test and make revisions to the intervention. In Year 2, the researchers will develop the math and literacy content for the self-regulation plus math and science intervention. They will work with the same group of teachers, collect qualitative and quantitative data about the usability and feasibility of the intervention, and use teacher feedback to refine the intervention. The research team will conduct a second field test, collect data to examine feasibility and fidelity of implementation, refine the intervention, and finalize fidelity measures. In Year 3, researchers will recruit teachers, parents, and children to participate in the pilot study. The research team will randomly assign classrooms to SR, SR+Math and Literacy, or business as usual groups, train teachers in the two intervention conditions to implement each intervention, and collect pre- and post-test data. In Year 4, the researchers will finalize the intervention materials and develop a mobile application (app) containing the circle time games and training manuals. In addition, the research team will conduct data analyses and disseminate the study findings.
Control condition
In the pilot study phase of the project, researchers will randomly assign some classrooms to a business-as-usual control group.
Key measures
Primary measures include direct assessments of children's self-regulation and executive function skills, including the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders measure, the Executive Function Scale, working memory subtests from the Executive Function Battery, the Day-Night Stroop, the Print Knowledge and Phonological Awareness subtests from the Test of Preschool Early Literacy, and the Child Math Assessment. Teachers will use the Child Behavior Rating Scale to rate children's self-regulation skills.
Data analytic strategy
In Years 1 and 2, researchers will use thematic analysis to interpret the qualitative data collected during focus groups. The research team will identify common themes and use those themes to refine the intervention materials. Researchers will analyze quantitative data from fidelity and feasibility surveys to inform the development and refinement of intervention and training materials. In Years 3 and 4, the research team will use multilevel modeling to evaluate the impact of the two interventions on children's social behavioral and early academic skills.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Researchers will produce two fully developed interventions to address self-regulation, math and literacy skills for preschool-aged children from low-income backgrounds. The research team will also produce peer-reviewed publications.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
McClelland, M. M., Tominey, S. L., Schmitt, S. A., and Duncan, R. (2017). SEL Interventions in Early Childhood. The Future of Children, 33-47.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Bridget Hatfield (Oregon State University), David Purpura (Purdue University), Sara Schmitt (Purdue University), Karen Thompson (Oregon State University), and Shauna Tominey (Yale University)
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
