Strengthening Parenting Capacities in Pre-K to Improve Social-Behavioral Readiness and Later School Outcomes

像许多城市学区一样，大约一半的巴尔的摩市公立学校(BCPS)学生进入 幼儿园没有需要学习的关键社交和行为技能。这些技能包括跟随的能力 指令，遵守规则，管理情绪，解决问题，组织和完成任务，以及相处 和其他人在一起。没有这些技能的孩子被留级的风险更大，需要特殊的 教育服务，或在小学早期被停学或开除。为了提高 学生的社会行为学习准备，我们在2014年与BCPS合作实施CHIPP 项目，这是一个为期3年的倡议，旨在加强12所学校的幼儿园前(PreK)的父母能力和技能 服务于大量经济困难的有色人种学生(&gt；90%低收入者；&gt；90%非洲人 美国人或拉丁裔)。学龄前儿童的父母参加了一个为期12节的循证育儿计划，名为 芝加哥家长计划在他们孩子的学校。为了提高参与率，我们增加了有条件现金 转账(CCT)通过银行借记卡为出勤率和完成“作业”提供经济奖励。 短期效果很强；在这一弱势群体中，父母的参与率和满意率很高 家庭人口和临床重大行为问题学生人数下降37%。 父母用有条件现金为孩子购买食物和基本必需品。这项研究建议 检查Chipp项目a)是否提高了学生的社会行为学习准备，并减少了 他们在幼儿园长期缺课的可能性；b)降低3所昂贵学校的可能性 结果：留级，需要特殊教育服务，或被停学或开除 到二年级时至少一次；以及c)使男孩受益，他们在所有3个学生成绩上的风险都高于 女孩们。社会行为准备和幼儿园的长期缺席被假设为中介效应 Chipp项目中所有3个学生的成绩。我们还将评估Chipp项目的经济价值 对学校和社会。使用准实验设计(n≈1,000名学生)，我们将评估影响 Chipp项目关于从学生到二年级的结果和学校成本的研究。关于学生的数据 将从现有的BCPS行政数据库中提取特征和结果。倾向性分数 采用配对的方法对380名干预学生和2个匹配的对照组进行比较 对于偏见：1)来自同一所干预学校的非参与学生和2)来自匹配的非干预学校的学生 参赛学校。学生将在8个儿童层面和9个学校层面的变量上进行匹配。这项研究是 意义重大，因为它考察了对以下方面具有切实和立竿见影影响的短期好处和节省 学校和家庭，重点关注对全国城市学校产生重大影响的成果。本研究 使用经济高效的策略来评估为大量人口提供服务的地区的创新计划 易受伤害的学生和家庭。

Like many urban school districts, about half of Baltimore City Public Schools' (BCPS) students enter kindergarten without key social and behavioral skills needed to learn. These skills include the ability to follow instructions, comply with rules, manage emotions, solve problems, organize and complete tasks, and get along with others. Children without these skills are at greater risk for being retained in grade, requiring special education services, or being suspended or expelled during the early elementary school years. To improve students' social-behavioral readiness to learn, we partnered in 2014 with BCPS to implement the ChiPP Project, a 3-year initiative to strengthen parenting capacities and skill in Pre-Kindergarten (PreK) in 12 schools serving a large population of economically disadvantaged students of color (>90% low-income; >90% African American or Latino). PreK parents participated in a 12-session evidence-based parenting program called the Chicago Parent Program at their child's school. To boost participation rates, we added conditional cash transfers (CCT) providing financial incentives via bank debit cards for attendance and “homework” completion. Short-term effects were strong; parent participation and satisfaction rates were high in this vulnerable population of families and the number of students with clinically significant behavior problems dropped by 37%. Parents used the CCTs to purchase food and basic necessities for their children. This study proposes to examine whether the ChiPP Project a) improves students' social-behavioral readiness to learn and reduces their likelihood of being chronically absent in Kindergarten; b) reduces the likelihood of 3 costly school outcomes: being retained in grade, requiring special education services, or being suspended or expelled at least once by 2nd grade; and c) benefits boys, who are at greater risk for all 3 student outcomes, more than girls. Social-behavioral readiness and chronic absence in Kindergarten are hypothesized to mediate the effects of the ChiPP Project on all 3 student outcomes. We will also assess the economic value of the ChiPP Project to schools and to society. Using a quasi-experimental design (n≈1,000 students), we will evaluate the impacts of the ChiPP Project on student outcomes through 2nd grade and on schools' costs. Data on student characteristics and outcomes will be drawn from an existing BCPS administrative database. Propensity score matching will be used to compare intervention students (n=380) with 2 matched comparison groups to control for bias: 1) a non-participating student from the same intervention school and 2) a student from a matched non- participating school. Students will be matched on 8 child-level and 9 school-level variables. This study is significant because it examines short-term benefits and savings that have tangible and immediate effects on schools and families and focuses on high impact outcomes affecting urban schools nationwide. This study uses a cost-efficient strategy for evaluating an innovative program in a district serving a large population of vulnerable students and families.