Raver et al.
Abstract: CSRP improved low-income children’s self-regulation skills (as indexed by
attention/impulse control and executive function) from fall to spring of the Head Start year.
Analyses also suggest significant benefits of CSRP for children’s preacademic skills, as
measured by vocabulary, letter-naming, and math skills. Partial support was found for
improvement in children’s self-regulation as a hypothesized mediator for children’s gains in
academic readiness.
Reden voor CSRP: poverty poses significant threats to young children’s emotional and
behavioral development, as well as for their chances of school success.
Doel CSRP: the CSRP was designed to support low-income children’s self-regulation and
their opportunities to learn in early educational settings.
Aanpak CSRP: the CSRP intervention built on existing community resources to support
children’s optimal development, providing teachers with extensive training and support on
effectively managing children’s dysregulated behavior. Importantly, the intervention did not
provide services or training on teachers’ language, preliteracy, or math instruction, nor were
curricula provided to support children’s language, letter-naming, or math skills.
Hoofdvragen:
Are children’s self-regulatory skills the mechanism through which such an intervention
would have benefits for children’s preacademic skills?
And what were the results of such an intervention?
Because of its relevance to preschoolers’ ability to engage with teachers and the learning
process, we first consider self-regulation from a global perspective, examining the impact of
a multicomponent classroombased intervention on (1) preschoolers’ ability to modulate their
attention and impulsivity. To better understand the possible developmental mechanisms that
may be at work, we also assess the impacts of the CSRP intervention on specific
components of children’s self-regulation, including (2a) their executive functioning (EF) and
(2b) their effortful control (EC).
EF = interrelated cognitive abilities that are required when one must intentionally or
deliberately hold information in mind, manage and integrate information, and resolve
conflict or competition between stimulus representations and response options.
EC = = the child’s ability to inhibit a dominant response (such as grabbing a toy) to
perform a subdominant response (such as turn taking) in response to demands of the
situation (such as the classroom expectation that toys be shared with peers.
o Delay of gratification!
One challenge in examining the hypothesis that children’s self-regulatory skills have benefits
for their academic skills has been the intertwined and bidirectional nature of children’s
regulatory profiles and their opportunities for learning. For example, children with greater
cognitive skills are better able to demonstrate optimal self-regulatory skills through planning,
remembering rules, inhibiting impulses, and focusing their attention.
Hypotheses
Our first set of hypotheses is that an intervention designed to support well-structured,
emotionally positive, and less disruptive classroom climates would have a clear,
measurable impact on children’s socioemotional and preacademic readiness.
Children in experimental classrooms were expected to develop more effective
behavioral self-regulation than their control group-enrolled counterparts, even after
controlling for their initial behavioral profiles at the start of the Head Start preschool
year. These treatment impacts were expected to be detected after controlling for the
characteristics of children, teachers, classrooms, and sites. Children in Head Start
Abstract: CSRP improved low-income children’s self-regulation skills (as indexed by
attention/impulse control and executive function) from fall to spring of the Head Start year.
Analyses also suggest significant benefits of CSRP for children’s preacademic skills, as
measured by vocabulary, letter-naming, and math skills. Partial support was found for
improvement in children’s self-regulation as a hypothesized mediator for children’s gains in
academic readiness.
Reden voor CSRP: poverty poses significant threats to young children’s emotional and
behavioral development, as well as for their chances of school success.
Doel CSRP: the CSRP was designed to support low-income children’s self-regulation and
their opportunities to learn in early educational settings.
Aanpak CSRP: the CSRP intervention built on existing community resources to support
children’s optimal development, providing teachers with extensive training and support on
effectively managing children’s dysregulated behavior. Importantly, the intervention did not
provide services or training on teachers’ language, preliteracy, or math instruction, nor were
curricula provided to support children’s language, letter-naming, or math skills.
Hoofdvragen:
Are children’s self-regulatory skills the mechanism through which such an intervention
would have benefits for children’s preacademic skills?
And what were the results of such an intervention?
Because of its relevance to preschoolers’ ability to engage with teachers and the learning
process, we first consider self-regulation from a global perspective, examining the impact of
a multicomponent classroombased intervention on (1) preschoolers’ ability to modulate their
attention and impulsivity. To better understand the possible developmental mechanisms that
may be at work, we also assess the impacts of the CSRP intervention on specific
components of children’s self-regulation, including (2a) their executive functioning (EF) and
(2b) their effortful control (EC).
EF = interrelated cognitive abilities that are required when one must intentionally or
deliberately hold information in mind, manage and integrate information, and resolve
conflict or competition between stimulus representations and response options.
EC = = the child’s ability to inhibit a dominant response (such as grabbing a toy) to
perform a subdominant response (such as turn taking) in response to demands of the
situation (such as the classroom expectation that toys be shared with peers.
o Delay of gratification!
One challenge in examining the hypothesis that children’s self-regulatory skills have benefits
for their academic skills has been the intertwined and bidirectional nature of children’s
regulatory profiles and their opportunities for learning. For example, children with greater
cognitive skills are better able to demonstrate optimal self-regulatory skills through planning,
remembering rules, inhibiting impulses, and focusing their attention.
Hypotheses
Our first set of hypotheses is that an intervention designed to support well-structured,
emotionally positive, and less disruptive classroom climates would have a clear,
measurable impact on children’s socioemotional and preacademic readiness.
Children in experimental classrooms were expected to develop more effective
behavioral self-regulation than their control group-enrolled counterparts, even after
controlling for their initial behavioral profiles at the start of the Head Start preschool
year. These treatment impacts were expected to be detected after controlling for the
characteristics of children, teachers, classrooms, and sites. Children in Head Start
