Pathways to Kindergarten Readiness: The Roles of Second Step Early Learning Curriculum and Social Emotional, Executive Functioning, Preschool Academic and Task Behavior Skills.

Melodie Wenz-Gross,Yeonsoo Yoo,Anthony J Gambino,Carole C Upshur

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01886

Abstract

Efforts to improve the achievement gap between low-income children and their more affluent peers has led to the development of classroom interventions and curricula to increase executive functioning (EF) and social-emotional skills (SE), thought to be foundational for learning. The Second Step Early Learning (SSEL) curriculum is a commercially available curriculum designed to improve school readiness by building EF and SE skills. However, although widely used, it has not been widely studied. Modeling SSEL’s underlying theory of change, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to longitudinally examine the effects of the curriculum on low-income preschool children’s kindergarten school readiness through the hypothesized mediating role of EF and SE skills in improving pre-academic skills and task behavior in preschool. In a cluster randomized trial, 972 children attending 63 preschool classrooms within 13 low-income Head Start or community preschools were individually tested at the beginning (T1) and end of preschool (T2, n = 836) and followed into kindergarten. Children’s average age at T1 was 53 months, with 51% male, 42% Anglo-American, 26% African–American, and 40% Hispanic-American. Children’s EF, social skills, pre-literacy/language, and pre-math skills were assessed by trained child assessors blind to study conditions at T1 and T2. Assessors also rated children’s task behavior in the testing situation at T1 and T2. School records of children’s kindergarten screening scores were obtained on 345 children at T3. It was expected that SSEL would have both direct and indirect effects on kindergarten readiness through improvements in children’s SE and EF skills preschool academic skills and on-task behavior. We found no direct effects of SSEL on either pre-academic or on-task behavior outcomes in preschool, nor on later kindergarten readiness. However, SSEL significantly increased EF, and as expected by SSEL’s theory of change, growth in EF predicted gains in both pre-academics (particularly pre-math), and on-task behavior in preschool. End-of-year pre-academic skills and on task behavior in turn predicted better kindergarten readiness. Further, SE (although not impacted by SSEL) had direct and indirect effects on kindergarten readiness. Thus, overall, our findings largely support SSEL’s theory of change, particularly in relation to EF.

Highlights

In recent decades there has been a heightened attention to addressing the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers at school entry
This study examined the direct and indirect effects of the SSEL curriculum on kindergarten readiness guided by the curriculum’s theory of change (ToC)
According to the curriculum’s ToC, it was expected that SSEL would improve children’s Standardized factor loading (SE) and executive functioning (EF) skills, and that these skills would lead to better preschool academic skills and task behavior, which in turn would result in greater kindergarten readiness

Summary

Introduction

In recent decades there has been a heightened attention to addressing the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers at school entry. In addition to the development of acquired content skills (reading, math, oral language), research has focused on executive functioning (EF) and social-emotional skills as key elements linked to school readiness and academic success (La Paro and Pianta, 2000; Shields et al, 2001; Howse et al, 2003; McClelland et al, 2007; Bierman et al, 2008a; Denham et al, 2012; McClelland and Cameron, 2012; Baptista et al, 2016) Both EF (including working memory, inhibitory control, and attentional control/flexibility) and socio-emotional skills (e.g., emotion knowledge, perspective taking, social problem solving skills) assist children in the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral regulation needed to develop positive relationships with teachers and peers, and positive approaches to learning that are essential for accessing both formal and informal learning opportunities in the classroom, e.g., cooperating with others, managing stress, attending to and following directions, task persistence, etc. Many children, especially those from low-income families, enter kindergarten without these skills (Wanless et al, 2011; Raver, 2012; García, 2015)

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