Head Start REDI

Start Date: 2003

Funder: National Institute on Child Health and Human Development

Program Development Phase

[What is it?]

CSC Project Web Site:

http://csc.psych.psu.edu/Initiatives/SR.htm

Head Start REDI (REsearch-based, Developmentally Informed) is a randomized intervention and control group study that tests the value of a modified preschool curriculum designed to enhance children's school readiness. This program, which will be implemented in 20 Head Start classrooms across central Pennsylvania, features several innovations including: scripted dialogic reading exercises to increase levels of conversation, vocabulary acquisition, and interest in books; phonemic awareness activities to promote knowledge of and facility with sounds and words; small-group lessons focused on helping children identify emotions, regulate behavior, solve problems with others, and form friendships; and specific teaching strategies to create more positive learning climates and boost children's attachment to school. Special efforts have been made to integrate each empirically-validated component of the curriculum across the school day and week in a way that is easy and convenient for teachers and their assistants to implement.

Principal Investigators

Karen Bierman
Director, CYFC and SSRI, and Distinguished Professor of Psychology
kb2@psu.edu

Celene Domitrovich
Assistant Director, Prevention Research Center
cxd130@psu.edu

Investigators

Janet Welsh
Research Associate
jaw900@psu.edu

Scott D. Gest
Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
gest@psu.edu

Robert Nix
Research Associate
rnix@psu.edu

Sukhdeep Gill
Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
sgill@psu.edu

Keith Nelson
Professor of Psychology
k1n@psu.edu