TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting Children's Social-Emotional Skills in Preschool Can Enhance Academic and Behavioral Functioning in Kindergarten
T2 - Findings From Head Start REDI
AU - Nix, Robert L.
AU - Bierman, Karen L.
AU - Domitrovich, Celene E.
AU - Gill, Sukhdeep
N1 - Funding Information:
projects funded by the Interagency School Readiness Consortium, a partnership of four federal agencies (the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Administration for Children and Families, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services in the U.S. Department of Education). The projects funded through this partnership were designed to assess how integrative early interventions for at-risk children could promote learning and development across multiple domains of functioning. In addition, the projects were charged with examining processes of change and identifying mechanisms of action by which the early childhood interventions fostered later school adjustment and academic achievement.
Funding Information:
This project was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant Nos. HD046064 and HD43763. We thank the REDI research and clinical staff members; our Head Start partners; and all of the parents, teachers, and children who made this study possible. Celene E. Domitrovich is an author of the Preschool PATHS curriculum; has a royalty agreement with Channing Bete, Inc.; and receives income from PATHS Training, LLC. All potential conflicts of interest have been reviewed and managed by the Individual Conflict of Interest Committee at Pennsylvania State University.
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Research Findings: This study examined processes of change associated with the positive preschool and kindergarten outcomes of children who received the Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) intervention compared to usual practice Head Start. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial (N = 356 children, 42% African American or Latino, all from low-income families), this study tests the logic model that improving preschool social-emotional skills (e.g., emotion understanding, social problem solving, and positive social behavior) as well as language/emergent literacy skills will promote cross-domain academic and behavioral adjustment after children transition into kindergarten. Validating this logic model, the present study finds that intervention effects on 3 important kindergarten outcomes (e.g., reading achievement, learning engagement, and positive social behavior) were mediated by preschool gains in the proximal social-emotional and language/emergent literacy skills targeted by the REDI intervention. It is important to note that preschool gains in social-emotional skills made unique contributions to kindergarten outcomes in reading achievement and learning engagement, even after we accounted for concurrent preschool gains in vocabulary and emergent literacy skills. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the importance of fostering at-risk children's social-emotional skills during preschool as a means of promoting school readiness.
AB - Research Findings: This study examined processes of change associated with the positive preschool and kindergarten outcomes of children who received the Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) intervention compared to usual practice Head Start. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial (N = 356 children, 42% African American or Latino, all from low-income families), this study tests the logic model that improving preschool social-emotional skills (e.g., emotion understanding, social problem solving, and positive social behavior) as well as language/emergent literacy skills will promote cross-domain academic and behavioral adjustment after children transition into kindergarten. Validating this logic model, the present study finds that intervention effects on 3 important kindergarten outcomes (e.g., reading achievement, learning engagement, and positive social behavior) were mediated by preschool gains in the proximal social-emotional and language/emergent literacy skills targeted by the REDI intervention. It is important to note that preschool gains in social-emotional skills made unique contributions to kindergarten outcomes in reading achievement and learning engagement, even after we accounted for concurrent preschool gains in vocabulary and emergent literacy skills. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the importance of fostering at-risk children's social-emotional skills during preschool as a means of promoting school readiness.
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U2 - 10.1080/10409289.2013.825565
DO - 10.1080/10409289.2013.825565
M3 - Article
C2 - 24311939
AN - SCOPUS:84885100698
SN - 1040-9289
VL - 24
SP - 1000
EP - 1019
JO - Early Education and Development
JF - Early Education and Development
IS - 7
ER -