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Promoting Academic and Social‐Emotional School Readiness: The Head Start REDI Program
Author(s) -
Bierman Karen L.,
Domitrovich Celene E.,
Nix Robert L.,
Gest Scott D.,
Welsh Janet A.,
Greenberg Mark T.,
Blair Clancy,
Nelson Keith E.,
Gill Sukhdeep
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01227.x
Subject(s) - head start , psychology , intervention (counseling) , developmental psychology , literacy , vocabulary development , social emotional learning , vocabulary , promotion (chess) , early head start , child development , social skills , emotional intelligence , medical education , applied psychology , pedagogy , teaching method , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , psychiatry , politics , political science , law
Forty‐four Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to enriched intervention (Head Start REDI— Re search‐based, D evelopmentally I nformed) or “usual practice” conditions. The intervention involved brief lessons, “hands‐on” extension activities, and specific teaching strategies linked empirically with the promotion of: (a) social‐emotional competencies and (b) language development and emergent literacy skills. Take‐home materials were provided to parents to enhance skill development at home. Multimethod assessments of three hundred and fifty‐six 4‐year‐old children tracked their progress over the course of the 1‐year program. Results revealed significant differences favoring children in the enriched intervention classrooms on measures of vocabulary, emergent literacy, emotional understanding, social problem solving, social behavior, and learning engagement. Implications are discussed for developmental models of school readiness and for early educational programs and policies.