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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Dev. Psychol.
Sec. Cognitive Development
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdpys.2024.1477476

Effects of the Getting Ready for School Intervention on Children's School Readiness Skills

Provisionally accepted
Maria Marti-Castaner Maria Marti-Castaner 1Emily C Merz Emily C Merz 2*Cynthia Wiltshire Cynthia Wiltshire 3Samantha A Melvin Samantha A Melvin 4Kimberly Henry Kimberly Henry 2Cassie Landers Cassie Landers 5Kimberly G Noble Kimberly G Noble 4Helena Duch Helena Duch 5
  • 1 University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark
  • 2 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States
  • 3 The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States
  • 4 Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, New York, United States
  • 5 Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Skill-based curricula supplementing Head Start programming have shown great promise as early interventions improving school readiness of children from socioeconomically under-resourced families. The Getting Ready for School (GRS) intervention builds on such research by providing a supplemental skill-based curriculum targeting three core school readiness domains—language/literacy, math, and self-regulation—using learning activities aligned across the classroom and home contexts. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of the GRS intervention on school readiness skills in children in Head Start programs. Methods: Participants were 3- to 4-year-olds (N = 463, 46% male, 81% Hispanic/Latine). Classrooms were non-randomly assigned to the GRS intervention (n = 20) or Head-Start-as-usual comparison group (n = 17). At pretest and posttest, children completed assessments of early language/literacy, math, and self-regulation. Multilevel modeling was used to examine the group-by-time interaction in prediction of children’s school readiness skills. Results: Significant group-by-time interactions were found for early language/literacy (vocabulary, print knowledge) and math skills. Children in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater gains over time in these skills compared to children in the comparison group. At posttest, children in the intervention group had significantly higher vocabulary than children in the comparison group (effect size = .34). Intervention effects were not found for self-regulation. Discussion: The GRS intervention may support early language/literacy and math skills in preschool children from socioeconomically under-resourced families. Future studies focused on a modified version of the intervention could demonstrate larger effect sizes and improvements in self-regulation.

    Keywords: Head Start, Early Intervention, School Readiness, Hispanic/Latine children, early childhood education, literacy, Executive Function, home environment

    Received: 07 Aug 2024; Accepted: 26 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Marti-Castaner, Merz, Wiltshire, Melvin, Henry, Landers, Noble and Duch. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Emily C Merz, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.