Transcript Enhancing School Readiness Among Preschool Children

Enhancing Children’s
School Readiness
Kirstie Cooper
Funded by 125th PhD Studentship
Supervised by
Dr Tracey Bywater
School of Psychology
Bangor University
Presentation Content
• What is ‘School Readiness’?
• The School Readiness Programme
• The evaluation
• Aims and research questions
• Design and method
• Proposed measures
• Expected outcomes
What is
‘School Readiness’?
• No concrete definition
• Multi-dimensional construct:
– Children’s engagement in learning
– Emotion regulation
– Communication and language skills
– Social competence
– Pre-literacy skills
The School Readiness
Programme
• More children arrive in school without social and
self-regulatory skills
• Low academic achievement and poor relationships
• The IY School Readiness Programme was
developed to address risk factors associated with
children’s lack of academic readiness and poor
home-school connections
(Webster-Stratton, 2004)
The School Readiness
Programme
• 4 sessions delivered to parents through schools
• Universal programme
• Supplemental to the BASIC Parent Programme
• The ultimate aims are to:
1.
Improve children’s school readiness
2.
Prevent conduct problems
3.
Prevent academic underachievement
4.
Enhance home-school links
Part 1
Child-directed play: Strengthening children’s
social, emotional, and cognitive skills
Emotion coaching to build emotional expression

Building children’s self-esteem and creativity

Teaching children to problem-solve

Building children’s language skills
Part 2
Encouraging social, emotional, academic and
problem solving skills through interactive reading
Building children’s self-esteem and self-confidence
in their reading ability

Having fun with books

Letting the child be the storyteller

Using the Reading With CARE building blocks
Reading with CARE
building blocks
C
A
R
E
Commenting and describing
Asking open-ended questions
Responding with encouragement
Expanding on what the child says
The evaluation
• The IY Basic Parent & TCM Programmes have
been successfully delivered and researched
across Wales
• These programmes do not specifically address
the dimensions of school readiness
• The IY School Readiness Programme has never
been researched
Aims
To establish:
 A battery of effective measures to assess
children’s school readiness
 The effectiveness of the new Programme in
improving children’s school readiness
 Any difficulties or barriers in implementing
the programme
Research Questions
1. Does the programme benefit all children
and parents?
2. For which children and families is the
intervention most effective?
3. What are the environmental/contextual
circumstances that improve the likelihood
of success?
Design and Method (i)
Randomisation
• Schools randomly allocated 2:1 to intervention
and control conditions
Sample
• 6 schools (4 intervention, 2 control)
• Gwynedd and Anglesey
• Approx 12 parents in each group
• Maximum N = 6 x 12 = 72
Design and Method (ii)
Recruitment of parents
• Participating schools will give information to all
families of 4-5 year old children starting school
in September 2010
• Parents will be invited to attend the course and
participate in the evaluation
• A researcher will conduct an initial home visit
Design and Method (iii)
Inclusion criteria for participating
• Parent has a child aged 4-5 years of age in their
first year of full-time schooling
• The parent targeted is the primary caregiver
• Parents able to attend the group for 4 weeks
(2 hrs / week) in either the Autumn 2010 or
Summer 2011 term
Design and Method (iv)
Data Collection
• 3 data collection points
• Groups will run between baseline and 6-month
follow-up for intervention and after 6-month
follow-up for control
• Parent and child data will be collected through
school and home visits
Proposed Measures
TBC, but may include:
• Demographics
Housing, income, health
• Parent reports
Child behaviour (ECBI)
• Direct observation
Child-directed play & interactive reading
Expected Outcomes
 Improved child behaviour
 Interactive reading
 Child-directed play
Thank you for listening
Diolch am wrando
Any Questions