Based on theoretically driven models, the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) targeted low-income children’s school readiness through the mediating mechanism of self-regulation. The CSRP is a multicomponent, cluster-randomized efficacy trial implemented in 35 Head Start–funded classrooms (N = 602 children). The analyses confirm that the CSRP improved low-income children’s self-regulation skills (as indexed by attention/impulse control and executive function) from fall to spring of the Head Start year. Analyses also suggest significant benefits of CSRP for children’s preacademic skills, as measured by vocabulary, letter-naming, and math skills. Partial support was found for improvement in children’s self-regulation as a hypothesized mediator for children’s gains in academic readiness. Implications for programs and policies that support young children’s behavioral health and academic success are discussed.

Variations in the dosage of social interventions and the effects of dosage on program outcomes remain understudied. This study examines the dosage effects of the Chicago School Readiness Project, a randomized, multifaceted classroom-based intervention conducted in Head Start settings. Using a principal score matching method to address the issue of selection bias, the study finds that high-dosage levels of teacher training and mental health consultant class visits have larger effects on children’s school readiness than the effects estimated through intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses. Low-dosage levels of treatment are found to have effects that are smaller than those estimated in ITT analyses or to have no statistically significant program effects. Moreover, individual mental health consultation services provided to high-risk children are found to have statistically significant effects on their school readiness. The study discusses the implications of these findings for research and policy.

Helping families move out of poverty may improve the long-term health status of white, black and Hispanic female children as young adults. Community area interventions designed to change impoverished community environments and assist low-income families reduce family level correlates of poverty may help to reduce the weight disparities observed in young adulthood.

Data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Young

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