This randomized intervention study will determine whether raising the quality of subsidized childcare programs for 2 and 3-year old children living in poverty will promote greater readiness for pre-Kindergarten (pre-K). We will target language, early literacy, social, and math development by adapting an approach that our research has proven effective with helping low income parents and teachers support young children's development. The study will include 60 classrooms in subsidized childcare settings that serve 2 and 3 year olds and will be carried out in the Houston, TX and Tallahassee, FL areas. Classrooms will be randomized to one of three conditions;1) """"""""business as usual"""""""" control, 2) School Readiness Curriculum with Responsive Practices, 3) School Readiness Curriculum with Responsive Practices plus an explicit social curriculum. Examining the added benefit of a social curriculum will address the ongoing debate regarding whether children need to be taught social skills in addition to responsive caregiving. For each classroom, eight children will be randomly chosen for assessment providing a total sample of 480 children across the three conditions across the five year project. We will determine the intervention impact by examining growth in teacher responsive strategies and use of well-specified curricula and in children's development three times across the intervention and at a 1 yr follow-up (end of pre-K). Using growth modeling analyses, with data from four assessments we will examine for differences in level (intercept) and rate of change (slope), and changes in the rate of growth (curvature) related to the intervention conditions. The importance of responsive teaching techniques for understanding more optimal development will be examined through mediation models and moderators of intervention efficacy also will be determined. Examining the extent to which Project 1 children are more advanced at the end of pre-K when compared to those in Project 2 that did not receive an enhanced early program will further determine the efficacy of the Project 1 intervention.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01HD048497-05
Application #
7879956
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2009-07-01
Budget End
2010-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$312,312
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
Department
Type
DUNS #
800771594
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77225
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Silva, Kassondra M; Spinrad, Tracy L; Eisenberg, Nancy et al. (2011) Relations of Children's Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality to School Attitudes in a Low-Income Sample. Early Educ Dev 22:434-460
Eisenberg, Nancy; Eggum, Natalie D; Di Giunta, Laura (2010) Empathy-related Responding: Associations with Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Intergroup Relations. Soc Issues Policy Rev 4:143-180
Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Eggum, Natalie D (2010) Self-Regulation and School Readiness. Early Educ Dev 21:681-698
Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Sulik, Michael J (2009) How the study of regulation can inform the study of coping. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2009:75-86

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