This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the pre-kindergarten year, and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the pre-kindergarten year, and furthermore, that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. We discuss the implications of these findings for pre-kindergarten programs, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socio-economic disadvantage.

Despite their potentially central role in fostering school readiness, executive function (EF) skills have received little explicit attention in the design and evaluation of school readiness interventions for socioeconomically disadvantaged children. The present study examined a set of five EF measures in the context of a randomized-controlled trial of a research-based intervention integrated into Head Start programs (Head Start REDI). Three hundred fifty-six 4-year-old children (17% Hispanic, 25% African American; 54% girls) were followed over the course of the prekindergarten year. Initial EF predicted gains in cognitive and social-emotional skills and moderated the impact of the Head Start REDI intervention on some outcomes. The REDI intervention promoted gains on two EF measures, which partially mediated intervention effects on school readiness. We discuss the importance of further study of the neurobiological bases of school readiness, the implications for intervention design, and the value of incorporating markers of neurobiological processes into school readiness interventions.Growing up in poverty significantly increases the likelihood that children will start school well behind their advantaged peers in key areas of language development and emergent literacy skills (Zill et al., 2003). Perhaps even more critically, many will start school without the social-emotional maturity and classroom behaviors that foster "readiness to learn," impeding their rate of progress once in school, and contributing to gaping disparities in school performance, high school graduation rates, and long-term employment potential (Campbell & von Stauffenberg, 2008;McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006;Ryan, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2006). Rates of child poverty are on the rise in the United States, now affecting nearly one out of five children (Children's Defense Fund, 2005), making the problem of understanding and promoting school readiness a national priority.Recent efforts to promote school readiness for children growing up in poverty have focused on improving the instructional content of preschool programs, particularly Head Start programs, to enhance children's acquisition of key emergent literacy skills (such as letter identification and phonemic sensitivity) that are strong predictors of later achievement (Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000). Although important, instructional strategies that focus narrowly on promoting the memorization of discrete content may "miss the mark" developmentally. The long-term impact of preschool interventions may depend on the degree to which they foster the development of mental systems that support learning and adaptive learning behaviors (Blair, 2002). For this reason, the Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000) and others have underscored the importance of promoting self-regulation and social competence in preschool Copyright ©2008 Cambridge University Press Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Karen Bierman, Pennsylvania ...

Recently, adaptive interventions have emerged as a new perspective on prevention and treatment.Adaptive interventions resemble clinical practice in that different dosages of certain prevention or treatment components are assigned to different individuals, and/or within individuals across time, with dosage varying in response to the intervention needs of individuals. To determine intervention need and thus assign dosage, adaptive interventions use prespecified decision rules based on each participant's values on key characteristics, called tailoring variables. In this paper, we offer a conceptual framework for adaptive interventions, discuss principles underlying the design and evaluation of such interventions, and review some areas where additional research is needed. Keywords adaptive interventions; prevention; research designFor most of the history of research-based interventions aimed at prevention and treatment, the composition and dosage of these interventions have been fixed, in other words, a single composition and dosage has been offered to all program participants. For example, a schoolbased drug abuse prevention curriculum might be delivered to all sixth graders. Every component of the intervention that may be necessary for any particular participant is included in the curriculum, and each child is given the same intervention. Although it is recognized that individuals may have different intervention needs, it is expected that the intervention is in no way diluted or made counterproductive if components that are particularly relevant for an individual are combined with components that may have less, or even no, relevance for that individual.Recently, adaptive interventions have emerged as a new perspective on research-based prevention and treatment. According to this perspective, the varying intervention needs of individuals may not be met optimally by using a single uniform composition and dosage. For this reason, an adaptive intervention assigns different dosages of certain program components across individuals, and/or within individuals across time. Dosage varies in response to the intervention needs of individuals, and dosages are assigned based on decision rules linking characteristics of the individual with specific levels and types of

Forty-four Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to enriched intervention (Head Start REDI- Research-based, Developmentally Informed) or “usual practice” conditions. The intervention involved brief lessons, “hands on” extension activities, and specific teaching strategies linked empirically with the promotion of: 1) social-emotional competencies, and 2) language development and emergent literacy skills. Take-home materials were provided to parents to enhance skill development at home. Multi-method assessments of 356 4-year-old children tracked their progress over the course of the one-year program. Results revealed significant differences favoring children in the enriched intervention classrooms on measures of vocabulary, emergent literacy, emotional understanding, social problem-solving, social behavior, and learning engagement. Implications are discussed for developmental models of school readiness and for early educational programs and policies.

This study tested two alternative hypotheses regarding the relations between child behavior and peer preference. The first hypothesis is generated from the person-group similarity model, which predicts that the acceptability of social behaviors will vary as a function of peer group norms. The second hypothesis is generated by the social skill model, which predicts that behavioral skill deficiencies reduce and behavioral competencies enhance peer preference. A total of 2895 children in 134 regular first-grade classrooms participated in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare four different behaviors as predictors of peer preference in the context of classrooms with varying levels of these behavior problems. The results of the study supported both predictive models, with the acceptability of aggression and withdrawal varying across classrooms (following a person-group similarity model) and the effects of inattentive/hyperactive behavior (in a negative direction) and prosocial behavior (in a positive direction) following a social skill model and remaining constant in their associations with peer preference across classrooms. Gender differences also emerged, with aggression following the person-group similarity model for boys more strongly than for girls. The effects of both child behaviors and the peer group context on peer preference and on the trajectory of social development are discussed.

This paper presents a model to guide capacity-building in state public education systems for delivery of evidence-based family and youth interventions-interventions that are designed to bolster youth competencies, learning, and positive development overall. Central to this effort is a linking capacity agents framework that builds upon longstanding state public education infrastructures, and a partnership model called PROSPER or PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience. The paper presents an overview of the evolving partnership model and summarizes positive results of its implementation over a 12-year period in an ongoing project.

Examined the hypothesis that distinct parenting practices may be associated with type and profile of a child's disruptive behavior problems (e.g., oppositional, aggressive, hyperactive). Parents of 631 behaviorally disruptive children described the extent to which they experienced warm and involved interactions with their children and the extent to which their discipline strategies were inconsistent and punitive and involved spanking and physical aggression. As expected from a developmental perspective, parenting practices that included punitive interactions were associated with elevated rates of all child disruptive behavior problems. Low levels of warm involvement were particularly characteristic of parents of children who showed elevated levels of oppositional behaviors. Physically aggressive parenting was linked more specifically with child aggression. In general, parenting practices contributed more to the prediction of oppositional and aggressive behavior problems than to hyperactive behavior problems, and parenting influences were fairly consistent across ethnic groups and sex.

This study investigated factors associated with social anxiety during early adolescence using multiple informants, including self and peer perspectives, teacher ratings, and direct observations. Negative social performance expectations, maladaptive coping strategies, and social skill deficits were examined as correlates of social anxiety and mediators linking social anxiety with poor peer relations. Participants were 84 middle school students (47 girls, 37 boys) over-sampled for elevated social anxiety. Analyses revealed correlations linking social anxiety with decreased peer acceptance and increased peer victimization. Path analysis indicated that negative social performance expectations and social withdrawal-disengagement accounted for the association between social anxiety and decreased peer acceptance. Social anxiety, self-directed coping strategies, and social withdrawal-disengagement were each directly linked with increased peer victimization for boys. The results replicate findings based on clinical samples, extend understanding of cognitive, social, and behavioral factors associated with social anxiety in middle school, and provide new information regarding gender differences in the correlates of social anxiety.