Resilient, Engaged, and Connected Study

Official title

Strengthening Parenting, Young Children's Social-Behavioral Competence, and Kindergarten Readiness in Schools Serving Low-Income Communities

Overview

Purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness and implementation of an evidence-based parenting intervention for improving parenting and school outcomes in a sample of 4-5-year-old children enrolled in public prekindergarten (PreK) programs in Maryland.

Detailed description

Using a hybrid Type 2 effectiveness-implementation design, this study tests the effectiveness and implementation of an evidence-based parenting intervention for improving parenting and school outcomes in a sample of 4-year-old children enrolled in public prekindergarten (PreK) programs in Maryland. Thirty Title 1 schools across two Maryland school districts (Baltimore City Public Schools n=20; Cecil County Public Schools n=10) will be randomized into experimental (receive the Chicago Parent Program intervention) or control (usual school practice) conditions. The Chicago Parent Program (CPP) is a 12-session group-based parenting intervention designed to strengthen parenting skills and parent engagement in children's learning and improve children's social-emotional and behavioral competence. All schools will participate for 2 years. In the experimental condition, school staff trained in CPP will implement the program in groups of 10-15 parents of PreK students in a virtual group or in-person group format (format order counterbalanced). Parents in the control condition will complete surveys only. Study outcomes for all participants will be evaluated at PreK baseline (T1), 4-5 months post baseline (T2), at the end of PreK (T3), in the fall of kindergarten (T4), and at the end of kindergarten (T5). Outcomes include children's social-emotional-behavioral competence, parent engagement in early childhood education, and parenting skills; school community cohesion; kindergarten readiness, chronic absence, and retained in kindergarten. Additional evaluation data will be collected in the experimental condition assessing perceived effectiveness, implementation quality, uptake, and cost-effectiveness to understand factors that affect the likelihood the program can be successfully integrated and sustained in urban and rural school settings. Demographic background variables will be collected from parents at baseline. Variables include the caregiver role in relation to the PreK child; the race, ethnicity, age, and gender of the parent and PreK child; primary language spoken in the home; and parents' education, employment status, marital status, and annual household income. The investigators will also assess nine family economic hardships experienced over the past 12 months. Demographic background variables will also be collected from PreK teachers at baseline and K teachers in the fall of K and will include gender, age, race, ethnicity, education, and teaching experience at the teacher's current school.

Interventions

• Behavioral Chicago Parent Program (CPP)
  The Chicago Parent Program (CPP) is a 12-session group-based parenting intervention designed to strengthen parenting skills and parent engagement in children's learning and improve children's social-emotional and behavioral competence.

Primary outcome measures

• Social-behavioral readiness as assessed by the social-behavioral domain of the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). [Time frame: 1-year follow-up]
• Percentage of children who reported chronic absence [Time frame: 1 year]
• Percentage of children who retained in grade [Time frame: 1 year]
• Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) score (Teacher Version) [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 4 months, post-intervention up to 8 months, 1-year follow-up]
• Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) score (Parent Version) [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 4 months, post-intervention up to 8 months, 1-year follow-up]
• Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) score [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 4 months, post-intervention up to 8 months, 1-year follow-up]
• Parent engagement as assessed by the Parent-Teacher Involvement Questionnaire [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 4 months, post-intervention up to 8 months, 1-year follow-up]
• Parent engagement as assessed by the Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education (PEECE) Survey [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 4 months, post-intervention up to 8 months, 1-year follow-up]

Secondary outcome measures (12)

• Total kindergarten readiness score [Time frame: 1 year]
• Parenting skills as assessed by the Parenting Questionnaire [Time frame: Baseline, post-intervention up to 3 months, 1-year follow-up]
• Social connectedness as assessed by Intervention Group Environment Scale [Time frame: post-intervention up to 4 months]
• Parent Satisfaction as assessed by the Chicago Parent Program Satisfaction form [Time frame: Post-intervention up to 4 months]
• CPP Reach as assessed by percent of eligible parents enrolled [Time frame: At baseline]
• CPP Effectiveness as assessed by End of Program Satisfaction score [Time frame: Immediately post intervention]
• CPP Perceived effectiveness as assessed by qualitative interview [Time frame: Immediately post-intervention (intervention group)]
• CPP Adoption as assessed by qualitative interview [Time frame: Immediately post-intervention (intervention group)]
• Percentage of CPP group-leader retention rate [Time frame: 2 years]
• CPP Implementation challenges as assessed by qualitative interview [Time frame: 2 years]
• Social Connectedness in Group Environments Scale (Parent) [Time frame: Immediately post-intervention (intervention group)]
• Percentage of parents who completed CPP [Time frame: Immediately post-intervention (intervention group)]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

Public school or Community School in Baltimore City, Cecil County, or Harford County serving at least 40% of students meeting eligibility for low-income or located in a community designated as high need by the Maryland State Department of Education based on a score of 0.6 on the Center for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index:

• has at least 1 full-day public PreK classroom with 20+ students;
• school has not offered CPP in the prior 3 years;
• principal consents to being randomized and participate for 2 years;
• principal consents to study team recruiting parents, teachers, and staff to participate in the study.

PreK Parents:

• Parent (biological, step, adoptive, foster), grandparent, or legal guardian of 4-5 year old student enrolled in participating PreK program;
• 18+ yrs;
• speaks English or Spanish;
• consents to allowing access child's school identification.

Teachers:

• PreK or K teacher in classroom of student of participating parent;
• consents to completing study surveys.

CPP Group Leaders:

• completes CPP group leader training
• agrees to lead CPP groups
• speaks English or Spanish
• at least a High School diploma/General Equivalency Diploma (GED)
• consents to completing surveys and submitting audio recorded CPP sessions for fidelity assessment

School-based personnel inclusion criteria:

• Principal, teacher, or other school-based staff involved in CPP implementation
• consents to interview on perspectives about CPP in the school

Exclusion criteria

• Principal cannot commit staff to offering CPP groups
• school previously offered CPP in prior 3 years
• school located in a geographic area with less than 80% connectivity
• PreK Parents previously participated in CPP
• Teachers: teacher also a participating parent or CPP group leader
• School-based personnel: Principal, teacher, or other school-based staff is a study parent

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

United States · 2 centers

• Johns Hopkins School of Nursing — Baltimore
• Johns Hopkins University — Baltimore

Publications

• Gross D, Breitenstein SM, Jeon L, Perrin N, Shen K, Bettencourt AF. Resilient, engaged and connected (REC) study: protocol for a type 2 cluster-randomised trial of the Chicago Parent Program in prekindergarten in low-income urban and rural communities. BMJ Open. 2025 Apr 17;15(4):e099204. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-099204. PMID 40246571

Identifiers

NCT: NCT06197997 · IRB00428221 · 1R01HD108160-01A1

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗