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1. Perceived control, loneliness, early-life stress, and parents’ perceptions of stress

Author

Karen E. Smith, Eileen Graf, Kelly E. Faig, Stephanie J. Dimitroff, Frederica Rockwood, Marc W. Hernandez, and Greg J. Norman

Subjects
Medicine, Science
Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding what contributes to individual variability in experiences of stress. Increases in stress related to the pandemic have been especially pronounced in parents, indicating a need for research examining what factors contribute to parents’ perceptions of stress. Here, we assessed the relationship between parents’ perceptions of stress, control, loneliness, and experiences of childhood trauma in two populations of caregivers. In Study 1, we examined the relationship between perceptions of stress, control, loneliness, and history of early stress, along with indices of socioeconomic risk and resting parasympathetic nervous systema activity, which has been linked to variability in perceptions of stress, in caregivers of young children. Perceived control, loneliness, childhood stress, and resting parasympathetic nervous system activity predicted caregivers’ stress. In Study 2, we replicated these initial findings in a second sample of caregivers. Additionally, we examined how these processes change over time. Caregivers demonstrated significant changes in perceptions of control, loneliness, and stress, and changes in control and childhood trauma history were associated with changes in perceptions of stress. Together these results indicate the importance of assessing how caregivers perceive their environment when examining what contributes to increased risk for stress. Additionally, they suggest that caregivers’ stress-related processes are malleable and provide insight into potential targets for interventions aimed at reducing parents’ stress.

Published
2023
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2. Tempe PRE: Insights into a New Publicly Funded Preschool Program. Policy Report

Author

NORC at the University of Chicago, Stacy B. Ehrlich Loewe, Cristina Carrazza, Sarah Kabourek, Molly F. Gordon, and Marc W. Hernandez

Abstract

Tempe PRE was designed as a high-quality preschool program to create more opportunity for children in Tempe. In the 2021-2022 school year, NORC at the University of Chicago conducted an evaluation of Tempe PRE to understand how the program was being implemented and its effects on children and families. They also collected students' outcome data the following year once they entered kindergarten to measure impacts on achievement compared to a control group. This evaluation documented the successful early installation of a high-quality preschool program that was designed to provide novel access to children from low-income households who would not otherwise have had such an opportunity in their community. Through close collaboration among multiple local government and philanthropic partners, and with a strong, common commitment to quality, the Tempe PRE program was structured and implemented with key components hypothesized to produce positive child outcomes.

Published
2024

3. Longitudinally adaptive assessment and instruction increase numerical skills of preschool children

Author

Stephen W. Raudenbush, Janet Eisenband Sorkin, Cristina Carrazza, Susan C. Levine, Alana Foley, Marc W. Hernandez, Debbie Leslie, and Susan Goldin-Meadow

Subjects
Male, preschool instruction, Control (management), education, Social Sciences, Affect (psychology), behavioral disciplines and activities, 050105 experimental psychology, Education, Intervention (counseling), Mathematical skill, randomized control trials, Mathematics education, Humans, Learning, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Social inequality, Verbal comprehension, Students, Adaptive assessment, adaptive assessment, Multidisciplinary, social inequality, Schools, Teaching, 05 social sciences, Mathematical Concepts, mathematics education, Aptitude Tests, Child, Preschool, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Female, Educational Measurement, Psychology, Spatial skills, Comprehension, 050104 developmental & child psychology
Abstract

Significance Socioeconomic disparities in math proficiency are observable when children enter kindergarten, and these disparities persist through the school years. Research suggests that overall proficiency at kindergarten entry depends upon specific skills that all normally developing children age 3 to 5 y can learn. We therefore designed a procedure that enables teachers to assess the skills of each child and tailor instruction to child-specific levels of skill. The procedure is iterative: Assess, teach, reassess, and teach, with three assessments per school year. We found that children in classrooms randomly assigned to this procedure gained substantially more in their numerical proficiency than did children in control classrooms. The program did not delay growth in print literacy and increased verbal proficiency., Social inequality in mathematical skill is apparent at kindergarten entry and persists during elementary school. To level the playing field, we trained teachers to assess children’s numerical and spatial skills every 10 wk. Each assessment provided teachers with information about a child’s growth trajectory on each skill, information designed to help them evaluate their students' progress, reflect on past instruction, and strategize for the next phase of instruction. A key constraint is that teachers have limited time to assess individual students. To maximize the information provided by an assessment, we adapted the difficulty of each assessment based on each child’s age and accumulated evidence about the child’s skills. Children in classrooms of 24 trained teachers scored 0.29 SD higher on numerical skills at posttest than children in 25 randomly assigned control classrooms (P = 0.005). We observed no effect on spatial skills. The intervention also positively influenced children’s verbal comprehension skills (0.28 SD higher at posttest, P < 0.001), but did not affect their print-literacy skills. We consider the potential contribution of this approach, in combination with similar regimes of assessment and instruction in elementary schools, to the reduction of social inequality in numerical skill and discuss possible explanations for the absence of an effect on spatial skills.

Published
2020

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