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Preschool Home Visiting Improves the Elementary School Success of Children from Low-Income Families

Sat, March 23, 4:15 to 5:45pm, Hilton Baltimore, Floor: Level 2, Key 9

Integrative Statement

Increasingly, home visiting programs are being used to deliver services to low income parents who face challenges that compromise their parenting efficacy, including low levels of formal education, elevated stress exposure, and social isolation (Office of Policy and Research Evaluation, 2017). Most home visiting programs target the first years of a child’s life (0-3 years) with the goal of strengthening initial parenting practices. Much less research exists on home visiting programs designed for preschool children (4-5 years) focused specifically on boosting child school readiness skills. Given the importance of school readiness skills for later academic attainment and social-emotional well-being, more research is needed regarding the potential public health benefits of preschool home visiting (Ryan, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2006).

This study examined the sustained effects of the Research-based, Developmentally-Informed Parent (REDI-P) home visiting program, initiated when children were in preschool, on outcomes when children were in third grade. In addition to direct effects on child academic performance, social-emotional adjustment, and parent-child functioning (e.g., the three domains targeted by the program), this study also assessed the child’s need for educational and mental health services and the extent to which intervention-related improvements in targeted competencies reduced the need for future services.

REDI-P was designed to complement and extend the impact of the REDI classroom program. Home visits started during the child’s prekindergarten year and extended over the transition into kindergarten. Parents were provided with learning materials to use at home and they were coached in strategies to support child skill development (e.g. interactive reading, emotion coaching, problem-solving dialogue). A randomized trial demonstrated positive effects at post-intervention assessments in kindergarten, with a significant impact on literacy skills and social competence (Bierman et al., 2015).

This study examined the sustained effects of REDI-P on child and family competencies and on child need for school-based services four years later, when children were in third grade. It also tested the logic model of REDI-P, to determine whether intervention effects on child skill acquisition mediated longer-term reductions in child need for services.

Participants included 200 low-income families with prekindergarten children (55% White, 26% Black, 19% Latino; 56% male; Mage = 4.45 years) recruited from 24 Head Start centers. Individual families were randomly assigned to receive the REDI-P home visiting program (intervention group) or an alternative attention-control condition consisting of mail-home math activities (control group). Follow-up assessments occurred in third grade.

Third grade outcomes revealed statistically significant effects on multiple measures in each competency domain, including tests of reading skill, teacher-rated academic performance, observed and child-reported social-emotional adjustment, and parent-reported reductions in parenting stress and child problems. In addition, REDI-P reduced child need for school services. Significant effect sizes were small to moderate, averaging about one third of a standard deviation (d =.29 to .38). Mediation models demonstrated that intervention effects on services were fully mediated by intervention effects on the targeted competencies. The results validate the value of preschool home visiting as a strategy to help close the gap in school readiness and child well-being associated with poverty.

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