Promoting School Success: Developing Social Skills and Early Literacy in Head Start Classrooms

This article reports the results of a pilot intervention to improve the social skills and literacy preparation of behaviorally at-risk Head Start children. Teachers in eight Head Start classrooms in two Oregon communities participated during the 2002-03 school year. Children in eight classrooms were screened and identified for participation using the Early Screening Project (ESP). Participants (n=16) were randomly assigned to receive social skills training, First Step to Success, social skills plus literacy training, Early Literacy Essentials, or to a comparison condition. Participants in the two intervention groups were combined and compared with the comparison group. Results indicated statistically significant gains in social skills outcomes for the intervention group. However, parent ratings of social skills showed superior effects for the comparison group as well. Receptive vocabulary, as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), yielded a large effect size (Cohen's d=.95) for the intervention group. Findings suggest that a combined intervention addressing literacy and social skills, shows promise and is worthy of further development and evaluation.