Efficacy of the Nemours BrightStart! Early Literacy Program: Treatment Outcomes From a Randomized Trial With At-Risk Prekindergartners

Research Findings: This study reports outcomes from a randomized, controlled trial of an emergent literacy intervention for prekindergarten children at-risk for reading failure. Children (N = 2219) in 114 preschools and childcare centers were screened for eligibility in fall. Children who scored at-risk (n = 476) were randomized to fall or spring treatment and received nine weeks of explicit, multisensory, emergent literacy instruction in small groups provided by early literacy interventionists. Trained observers noted high implementation fidelity. Pre-reading skills were assessed before and after intervention for both treatment groups. The spring intervention group served as at-risk controls for children who completed fall intervention. Three-level, linear growth models (time-student-school) were used to estimate treatment effects, found for print awareness, elision, rhyming, and the screener (print and letter knowledge, phonological awareness), replicating previous findings for the screener, rhyming, and print knowledge, and extending them to elision. Significantly accelerated growth in print knowledge, elision, rhyming, and the screener was observed during intervention. Practice or Policy: Results demonstrate benefits of high-quality emergent literacy instruction for children at risk. Growth in skills for both fall and spring treatment groups following this 18-lesson program supports some implementation flexibility among interventionists with delivery constraints during the year.     

Maternal Stress and Sensitivity: Moderating Effect of Positive Affect

Objective. Stress felt by parents is often negatively related to their ability to engage in optimal parenting; however, research on relations of parenting stress to parenting behaviors typically examines negative associations instead of taking a strengths-based approach. The current study examines longitudinally the role of positive affect as a moderator of the relation of parenting stress to later maternal sensitivity, controlling for prior levels of sensitivity. Design. Maternal positive affect and maternal sensitivity were observed for 93 mother–child dyads during free-play sessions when children were 4- to 5-years-old (T1) and 8- to 9-years-old (T2), respectively. Mothers reported on parenting stress felt from dysfunctional parent–child interactions (T1). Results. Maternal positive affect moderated the association of parenting stress to sensitivity at T2, after controlling for prior levels of sensitivity at T1. Mothers who exhibited low positive affect were less likely to respond sensitively at T2 to their children when parenting stress was high; however, no association was found when positive affect was high. Conclusions. Maternal positive affect may buffer the effect of parenting stress on maternal sensitivity with school-aged children.     

A secure base in adolescence: markers of attachment security in the mother-adolescent relationship

This study sought to identify ways in which adolescent attachment security, as assessed via the Adult Attachment Interview, is manifest in qualities of the secure base provided by the mother-adolescent relationship. Assessments included data coded from mother-adolescent interactions, test-based data, and adolescent self-reports obtained from an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of moderately at-risk 9th and 10th graders. This study found several robust markers of adolescent attachment security in the mother-adolescent relationship. Each of these markers was found to contribute unique variance to explaining adolescent security, and in combination, they accounted for as much as 40% of the raw variance in adolescent security. These findings suggest that security is closely connected to the workings of the mother-adolescent relationship via a secure-base phenomenon, in which the teen can explore independence in thought and speech from the secure base of a maternal relationship characterized by maternal attunement to the adolescent and maternal supportiveness.     

Surveys of Programs and Emplopent in Eklucational Measurement

What is the supply and demand for educational measurement specialists? What types of jobs are more difficult to fill? How can NCME aid recruitment in to the profession ?