Mind in the Making, VROOM, and Circle-Time Games: Improving Executive Function, Parenting, and Classroom Quality

• In Event: 3-242 - Two-Generation Approaches to Intervention in Early Childhood

Integrative Statement

Executive function (EF) skills provide a foundation for learning and adaptation, enabling children to pay attention and learn more effectively. Many children enter school without adequate EF skills (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2000). Research suggests that EF skills are malleable and can be promoted through effective practices. The intervention in the present study targeted adults and children, including Mind in the Making, Vroom, and Red Light Purple Light Circle Time Games (Galinsky et al., 2017). We examined the impact of the intervention for improving preschool children’s EF and academic achievement, adults’ EF, classroom quality, and parent-child interactions.
Participants were 198 preschoolers (Mage = 54.13; SD = 5.85; 51% male), 12 Pre-K teachers, and 85 parents across 6 schools in a midsized Midwestern city. Half the classrooms were randomly assigned to the intervention condition. Children were predominantly White/European American (63%), and 5 schools served primarily Title I eligible children. In the Fall, children completed 2 EF measures – the Minnesota EF Scale (MEFS) and Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) – and Woodcock Johnson Applied Problems to measure early math achievement. Baseline assessments of the MEFS also were given to parents and teachers, and parents and children participated in a dyadic task measuring parenting behaviors. Trained examiners completed the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Parents and teachers in the intervention condition participated in 6 MITM sessions together, parents were given the Vroom App, and teachers received training in the classroom intervention. In the Spring, post-test assessments were administered to parents, teachers, and children, with 4% of post-test data missing.
Because children were nested in classrooms, we used linear mixed effects modeling to analyze child outcomes. To examine improvements in EF from Fall to Spring, we created a composite with MEFS and HTKS (r = .37 controlling for child age). Results indicated a significant three-way interaction between time, condition, and children’s pre-test EF on improvements in EF (Beta = -.49, SE(Beta) = .19, p < .05). Children whose EF score was below the median at pre-test improved more from pre- to post-test if they received the intervention. There was also a significant pre-test MEFS interaction predicting post-test performance on Applied Problems (Beta = -.23, SE(Beta) = .10, p < .05). Children in the intervention condition with low EF skills pre-test performed similarly in math at post-test to children who began with high EF skills, suggesting the intervention helped level the playing field for math performance.
There also were benefits of the intervention for parents and teachers. Parents who completed the intervention exhibited fewer controlling behaviors in the interaction task compared with parents in the control group and those who did not complete the intervention (F(3,64) = 3.88, p < .05). Intervention classrooms also demonstrated increases in the language modeling dimension of the CLASS (z = 2.21, p < .05) and regard for student perspective (t = 2.85, p < .05). Overall, the intervention shows promise of a two-generation approach for improving classroom quality, parenting, and school readiness, particularly for children who struggle with early EF skills.

Authors

• Ellen Galinsky, Bezos Foundation
  Presenting Author

• Rebecca Linnea Distefano, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alicia Miao, SRCD Post-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Early Learning Division, Oregon Department of Education, Oregon State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Megan McClelland, Oregon State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Philip David Zelazo, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M. Carlson, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author