CSRP's Impact on Low-Income Preschoolers' Preacademic Skills: Self-Regulation as a Mediating Mechanism
Raver CC, Jones SM, Li-Grining C, Zhai F, Bub K, Pressler E · 2011
grade Brctdeveloper-ledunreplicated
Sample
35 Head Start sites (18 treatment, 17 control classrooms); 602 children at baseline, 467 analysed; mean age 49.4 months
Population
Seven high-poverty Chicago neighbourhoods, United States.
Design
The Chicago School Readiness Project - teacher behaviour-management training, a classroom mental-health consultant, and teacher stress-reduction workshops. Site-level randomisation with control sites receiving a teacher's aide, so the control is partially active. About 22% attrition to the analysis sample. Not preregistered. Outcomes are direct child assessments rather than teacher report, which is a genuine strength.
Key findings
Executive function b = 0.28 (SE 0.13), effect size 0.37 (p = .05); attention and impulse control 0.43 (p = .05); effortful control 0.20 (p = .22, not significant). Vocabulary 0.34 (p = .04), letter naming 0.63 (p < .01), early maths 0.54 (p < .01). Significant indirect effects via EF were found for all three academic outcomes. The caveat the archive must record is that the intervention targeted classroom climate AND academics simultaneously, so the mediation is observational within a randomised trial rather than an experimental test of the EF-to-achievement path - exactly Jacob and Parkinson's objection.
Genetic confound
Low for the randomised contrast; the mediation analysis is not protected by randomisation.
Replication notes
Unreplicated at this scale. Its mediation claim is the one Jacob and Parkinson identify as the field's standard non-answer.
DOI / URL
10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01561.x
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive function (direct child assessment) | effect size | 0.37 (b = 0.28, SE 0.13), p = .05 | standardized | end of Head Start year | active-alternative | end-of-treatment | near-transfer |
| Early mathematics and letter naming | effect size | 0.54 and 0.63, both p < .01 | standardized | end of Head Start year | active-alternative | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Effortful control | effect size | 0.20, p = .22, not significant | standardized | end of Head Start year | active-alternative | end-of-treatment | non-cognitive |
| Mediation of academic gains by EF | indirect effect | significant for all three academic outcomes; not an experimental test of the path | standardized | end of Head Start year | active-alternative | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Can executive function be trained, and does it transfer to learning?no effectconf: highgc: low