The principal aim of the proposed research is to improve low-income preschool-aged children's school readiness by decreasing their risk for behavioral problems through a set of classroom-based interventions. The following studies will determine whether emotionally- and behaviorally-focused interventions in preschool have a significant long-term impact an children's academic achievement in 1st grade (as measured by standardized tests. school records, and teacher reports) as well as on short-term language, pre-literacy, emotional, and behavioral outcomes, in the preschool and Kindergarten years. In the proposed research, eight Head Start sites in Chicago, IL (with 640 children enrolled in 32 classrooms) will be randomly assigned to four conditions of varying levels of treatment intensity. Classrooms' current use of an emotions-based curriculum offers a low-intensity """"""""control"""""""" condition against which mare programmatically intensive interventions will be tested. In a second, moderate-intensity """"""""teacher training/classroom quality"""""""" intervention condition, teachers will receive extensive training in effective management of children's disruptive behaviors, while also learning the skills support lower-risk children in developing emotional and behavioral self-control (Webster-Stratton, at al, 2002). In a third, high-intensity """"""""cumulative stress/mental health consultation"""""""" intervention condition, mental health consultants will be placed in Head Start classrooms for two days a week, so that children's risk of emotional, behavioral, and academic difficulty can be reduced through appropriate service delivery, support and referral within early educational settings (Donahue, at al. 2000). A fourth, lower-cost, """"""""teacher's aide"""""""" control condition will also be included in the proposed study design, to more conservatively estimate the impact of mental health consultation from the additional staffing that such a model offers. In addition, it is expected that the intervention's effect sizes will be substantially affected by two moderating influences, including 1) family and community levels of cumulative risk, and 2) the degree to which programs are implemented, conceptualized as """"""""dosage"""""""" of treatment administered in each setting. In short, which of these intervention approaches represents the best investment in young children's chances for later school success? Which offers the largest long-term benefits to young children's emotional and behavioral adjustment and later school readiness? The studies outlined in this application will answer these pressing empirical questions using direct assessments of children's emotional and behavioral adjustment, language and pre-literacy skills. This project's use of direct child assessments will be complemented by the inclusion of parent and teacher report, children's grades, use of special services, and standardized achievement test scores from preschool through 1 grade.
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