The Role of Self-Regulation and Classroom Self-Regulatory Supports in Early Education

项目摘要 这项研究的首要目标是确定解释公众的积极短期影响的机制 关于低收入儿童的教育和健康结果的学前教育(Pre-k)，并审查途径 将积极的短期效果持续到早期教育(1-4年级)，以指导可行的决定 改善弱势幼儿的教育和健康状况。我们专注于儿童的自我调节技能(例如， 注意力；冲动控制；记忆力；计划)和公共学前班支持他们的 将发展作为将学前教育与教育和健康成果联系起来的机制的主要候选者，因为 (A)已有经验证明自我管理技能是#年教育和健康成果的基础 童年及以后；(B)经济逆境损害大脑基本区域的发育 正在形成的自我调节技能；和(C)自我调节技能在幼儿时期是可塑的，因此 对前K和早期基础环境的变化敏感。这项为期7年的纵向研究在 塔尔萨公立学校(TPS)区，该地区主办了全国公认的学前教育计划，该计划在很大程度上为 低收入和高度多样化的儿童人口。我们跟踪的是一群低收入儿童 他们于2016年从3岁进入学前班，一直到四年级；这些孩子(N？1200人)目前在二年级。在……里面 每个项目年，我们评估儿童的自我调节、教育和健康结果，观察他们的 教室，并采访他们的老师和家长。到2020年2月，我们已经获得了关于PACE的数据 在我们建议的时间表和具体目标下，以非常高的应答率(例如，100%的抽样儿童 一年级教师完成了调查；92%的样本儿童在一年级秋季进行了评估)。这个 拟议的行政补充对于解决我们纵向研究的主要目标至关重要，如下所述 由于新冠肺炎大流行，TPS学区转向远程学习。两个问题是最重要的。首先，我们的 无法按计划亲自评估重点儿童，但结果评估出现重大停顿 将严重损害我们评估逐级成果增长的能力，这是 了解持续的Pre-k影响。第二，学校关闭和搬到家中的距离 学习极大地改变了儿童的教育环境和经历，具有未知的-和 可能对他们的学习和发展产生了非常不同的影响。要了解这些项目的影响 意外事件对我们的研究产生的影响，并将对我们原始数据收集的有害影响降至最低 时间表和目标，我们必须：(1)调查儿童的父母和教师关于他们在 这种远程学习环境支持解读新冠肺炎的不同后果 对儿童教育和健康成长模式的反应，以及(2)改变先前计划的面对面儿童 评估--关键研究结果变量--到支持远程管理的在线格式。这个 补充将使我们能够处理这些基本步骤，以保持研究的完整性。

Project Summary The overarching goals of the study are to identify mechanisms that explain positive short-term effects of public pre-kindergarten (pre-k) on low-income children’s education and health outcomes, and to examine pathways for sustaining positive short-term effects into early schooling (1st – 4th grade) to guide actionable decisions to improve education and health for vulnerable young children. We focus on children’s self-regulatory skills (e.g., attention; impulse control; memory; planning) and the public pre-k classroom features that support their development as prime candidates for mechanisms linking pre-k with education and health outcomes because (a) self-regulatory skills have been empirically documented to underlie education and health outcomes in childhood and beyond; (b) economic adversity compromises the development of brain regions underlying emerging self-regulatory skills; and (c) self-regulatory skills are malleable during early childhood and thus sensitive to variation in pre-k and early elementary environments. The 7-year longitudinal study takes place in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) district, which hosts a nationally recognized pre-k program that serves a largely low-income and highly diverse population of children. We are following a single cohort of low-income children who entered preschool at age 3 in 2016, through 4th grade; the children (N»1,200) are currently in 2nd grade. In each project year, we assess the children’s self-regulatory, education, and health outcomes, observe their classrooms, and interview their teachers and parents. Through February 2020, we had obtained data on pace with our proposed timeline and Specific Aims, at very high response rates (e.g. 100% of sampled children’s first grade teachers completed surveys; 92% of sample children were assessed in the fall of first grade). The proposed administrative supplement is vital to addressing the key aims of our longitudinal study, following the TPS district’s shift to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two issues are paramount. First, our focal children cannot be assessed in person as planned, yet a significant pause in outcome assessments would seriously compromise our ability to assess grade-by-grade growth in outcomes, which is central to understanding sustained pre-k impacts. Second, school closures and the move to home-based distance learning has dramatically altered children’s educational environments and experiences, with unknown – and likely quite variable – repercussions for their learning and development. To understand the impact these unanticipated events have on our study, and to minimize harmful consequences for our original data collection timeline and aims, we must: (1) survey children’s parents and teachers about their educational experiences in this remote learning environment to support interpretation of differential consequences of the COVID-19 response for children’s education and health growth patterns, and (2) shift previously planned in-person child assessments – key study outcome variables – to online formats that support remote administration. The supplement would allow us to address these essential steps to maintain study integrity.