DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37521
title: Kidsteps II-Efficacy Trial of Second Step Early Learning (SSEL) Program: Promoting School Readiness through Social Emotional Skill Building in Preschool, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 2013-2017
title: Archival Version

description: The Kidsteps II Project tested the efficacy of the Second Step Early Learning (SSEL) curriculum in improving children's social-emotional skills (SE), executive functioning (EF), and school readiness skills in preschool relative to usual curricular frameworks, and the predictive power of the intervention on kindergarten readiness and kindergarten success. Kidsteps II, a 4-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, included 67 classrooms randomly assigned to one of two, two-year cohorts. In each cohort, half of the classrooms were randomly assigned to receive the SSEL curriculum (intervention condition), and half continued usual practices (control/comparison condition). Teachers in intervention classrooms were provided with training and implementation support for two years. Teachers in both conditions completed social skills rating scales on participating children at the beginning and end of the year (n=1497). Parent reports of children's social skills were also obtained for 725 children. Four-year-old children entering kindergarten the following year (n=978) were individually tested on social skills, executive functioning, and academic skills at the beginning and end of their pre-k year. Additional classroom observation and coded lesson plans documented fidelity, implementation, classroom climate, and classroom quality. Intervention teachers also completed weekly measures of curriculum implementation. Pre-k children from the first three years of the study were followed into kindergarten, and kindergarten teachers completed social skills rating scales and academic readiness mid-year, and school records were obtained for kindergarten screening scores, special services received during kindergarten, and promotion to first grade. The study addressed the following questions: Does SSEL improve children's social emotional skills, executive functioning, and school readiness skills as measured by teachers and independent assessors in preschool compared to classrooms not using SSEL? Do children participating in SSEL classrooms have stronger school system administered kindergarten readiness screenings, better kindergarten teacher-rated social skills and academic competency, and higher 1st grade promotion compared to children entering from comparison classrooms? To what extent are kindergarten readiness screenings and kindergarten teacher's ratings of social skills and academic competence mediated by preschool children's social emotional skills and executive functioning? Is there an effect of SSEL on preschool classroom climate?
description: To evaluate the efficacy of the Second Step Early Learning (SSEL) curriculum on young children's end of preschool social skills, emotion regulation, executive functioning, and academic readiness skills; and how these impact kindergarten readiness screening and kindergarten performance.
description: The study was conducted in 64 preschool and Head Start classrooms in Worcester County, Massachusetts in two cohorts. The design was stratified (Head Start vs community), classroom randomized (within site), and prospective. Half of classes implemented the SSEL curriculum, while another half implemented the usual curriculum (monthly teacher meetings and monthly classroom visits to help coach new curriculum). The study observed all classrooms, had teachers rate social skills (SSIS) of all children, and conducted individual assessments of social skills, executive functioning, and academic readiness of 4-year olds. Kindergarten teachers also rated social skills and academic competence when children moved on from preschool. Collected school kindergarten screenings were also collected, along with data on need for special services and promotion to first grade.
description: Response Rates: A total of 1612 children were consented to participate, close to 90% of all children enrolled in the preschool and Head Start classrooms involved with the study over four years of enrollment. Of these, 1337 were eligible to participate (only one child from each family was eligible, child did not leave the preschool before baseline data collection). In addition, 194 preschool teachers participated (100%).
description: Presence of Common Scales: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT; Dunn and Dunn, 2007) Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement III-Letter Word, Applied Problems, StoryRecall and Understanding Directions (Woodcock, McGrew, and Mather, 2001, 2007) Social Skills Improvement System Teacher Form (preschool and kindergarten) and Parent Form (SSIS; Gresham and Elliott, 2008) Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS; Ponitz, et al., 2008) Forward and Backward Digit Span (Davis and Pratt, 1996) Children's Size Ordering Task (CSOT, Adapted with permission; McInerney, Hrabok, and Kerns, 2005) Emotion Matching Task--Short Form (EMT; Seidenfeld, Johnson, Woodburn Cavadel, and Izard, 2014) Challenging Situations Task (CST; Denham, Bouril, and Belouad, 1994) Less is More (Carlson, Davis, and Leach, 2005) Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS; Zelazo, 2006) Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment--Assessor Report (PSRA; Smith-Donald, Raver, Hayes, and Richardson, 2007) Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale--Revised (ECERS-R; Harms, Clifford, and Cryer, 1998) Classroom Assessment Scoring System, (CLASS Pre-K; Pianta, La Paro, and Hamre, 2008) Likert type scales for study developed fidelity to curriculum observation Weekly Theme Checklists-Teacher report of implementation (adapted from Committee for Children, 2011) Social/Emotional and Executive Functioning Activities Scale (SEEF)--Likert type observation scale developed for current study. Adapted from the "Adapted Teaching Style Rating Scale" (Mattera, Lloyd, Fishman, and Bangser, 2013) Early Screening Inventory-Kindergarten (ESI; Meisels, Marsden, Wiske, and Henderson, 2008)
description: Population sample of all newly enrolled preschool children in the participating sites.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: 4-Year-Old Assessment DS2: Fidelity Means DS3: Items And Scores DS4: Kindergarten DS5: Parent SSIS DS6: Preschool Classroom Information DS7: Teacher Demographics DS8: Teacher SSIS
description: Preschool age children, their parents and their teachers enrolled in 2 Head Start and 4 community preschool programs in a total of 13 sites and 67 classrooms. In addition, kindergarten teacher ratings and kindergarten school records were collected for about 2/3 of the sample. Smallest Geographic Unit: County
description: record abstracts; coded on-site observation; cognitive assessment test; face-to-face interview; mail questionnaireFor additional information on the Kidsteps II Study, please visit the Kidsteps II website.