Tools of the Mind: Promoting ELLs' Language, Self-Regulation & School-Readiness

描述（由申请人提供）：拉丁裔儿童的教育结果不佳的风险增加，在小学和中学阶段的阅读和数学得分低于非西班牙裔白人，高中辍学率更高。在某种程度上，拉美裔儿童面临的风险增加与贫困人口比例过高有关。然而，增加的风险也与早期教育环境中对英语学习者（ELLs）儿童的语言支持减少有关，导致他们在读写、数学和社交情感能力方面的基础技能和能力较差。为了解决拉丁美洲儿童入学准备差的问题，我们建议测试一种名为“心智工具”的创新学前课程的有效性，该课程旨在提高儿童的语言和自我调节能力，并促进儿童的早期学术和社会情感能力。为了评估该计划，我们将在德克萨斯州埃尔帕索和佛罗里达州皮内拉斯县的80个学前班的400名儿童中进行随机对照试验。治疗教室将实施心智工具，控制教室将在每个地点实施“一切照旧”批准的课程。我们假设治疗效果将在学前班结束时在实施心智工具的教室中观察到，并将持续到幼儿园和一年级结束。我们进一步假设，心智工具计划对儿童语言发展（西班牙语和英语）和儿童自我调节发展的影响将部分解释该计划对一年级结束时学校成绩的持续影响。然而，我们认识到，样本中儿童接受的西班牙语教学量的差异也会影响早期语言发展和学校成绩。因此，我们纳入了以西班牙语（TX）和英语（FL）为主要教学语言的网站，以检验在学前班以西班牙语为主要教学语言的ELLs在西班牙语和英语语言发展方面会有更大的增长，这将导致幼儿园和一年级更高的读写和数学成绩。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Latino children are at increased risk for poor educational outcomes, scoring below non-Hispanic Whites in reading and math in elementary and secondary grades and dropping out of high school at higher rates. In part, increased risk to Latino children is associated with overrepresentation in poverty. Increased risk is also associated, however, with reduced language support in early educational environments for children who are English Language Learners (ELLs), leading to poor foundational skills and abilities in literacy, math, and social-emotional competence. To address the problem of poor school readiness among ELL Latino children, we propose to test the efficacy of an innovative preschool curriculum known as Tools of the Mind that is designed to enhance language and self-regulation development and promote children's early academic and social-emotional competencies. To evaluate the program, we will conduct a randomized controlled trial involving 400 children in 80 pre-k classrooms in El Paso, TX and Pinellas County, FL. Treatment classrooms will implement Tools of the Mind and control classrooms will implement "business as usual" approved curricula at each site. We hypothesize that treatment effects will be observed at the end of pre-k in classrooms implementing Tools of the Mind and will be sustained at the end of kindergarten and first grade. We further hypothesize that effects of the Tools of the Mind program on child language development (in both Spanish and English) and on child self-regulation development will partially account for sustained program effects on school achievement through the end of first grade. We recognize, however, that variation in the amount of instruction in Spanish that children in the sample receive will also influence early language development and school outcomes. Accordingly, we include sites in which the language of instruction will be predominantly Spanish (TX) and predominantly English (FL) to test the hypothesis that ELLs who receive predominantly Spanish instruction during pre-k will experience greater growth in their Spanish and English language development and that this will result in higher literacy and math outcomes in kindergarten and 1st grade. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project will provide information about the best ways to promote the school readiness of children who are English Languages Learners. In particular, it will test hypotheses about the ways in which key teaching strategies promote the development of aspects of language and self-regulation that are important for early reading, math and social-emotional competence in school.