Head Start Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social Skill Promotion (Head Start CARES)

MDRC

Status: Completed

Conditions: Teacher Practice; Child Social-Emotional Development

Treatments: Behavioral: Tools of the Mind; Behavioral: Preschool PATHS; Behavioral: Incredible Years Teacher Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02257814

HHSP23320072909YC

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study was to deepen the evidence base for interventions that support the social-emotional skills that underlie children's engagement and attention to learning tasks by schools (learning behaviors) and their social interactions with teachers and peers (social behaviors). The study tested three theoretically-distinct approaches to enhancing children's social-emotional development, along with a comprehensive coaching and training model, on a large scale within the Head Start system.

Enrollment: 2,670 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 4 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Grantees had to have at least 4 centers with a similar racial/ethnic composition
• An equal number of classrooms with full-day or part-day programs
• And a similar mix of four-year-old-only and mixed-age (three-and four-year-old) classrooms.
• Children had to speak English and Spanish.

Exclusion criteria

• A grantee was excluded from the sample if it: only ran early Head Start programs
• Only served migrant children
• Was located in a U.S. territory
• Only or mostly provided family child care or home services
• Was more than 100 miles from a "primary airport,"
• Operated fewer than 4 centers with two classrooms each
• Had been in operation for less than 2 years
• Was not in compliance with Head Start Standards
• They were already systematically implementing a social-emotional curriculum or participating in another evaluation study.

Trial design

2,670 participants in 4 patient groups

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Control group

Incredible Years

Experimental group

Description:

incredible years intervention

Treatment:

Behavioral: Incredible Years Teacher Training

Preschool PATHS

Experimental group

Description:

Preschool PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Preschool PATHS

Tools of the Mind

Experimental group

Description:

Tools of the Mind

Treatment:

Behavioral: Tools of the Mind