ABSTRACT
Introduction: Public libraries are asset institutions that provide important spaces for families to engage in meaningful, authentic STEM learning. However, limited budgets and a model centered on open-access and broad inclusion makes conducting rigorous evaluations in these spaces, such as randomized control trials, challenging. There is a need to consider evaluation designs that consider both rigor and feasibility. The aims of the present study were to: (1) describe an innovative interactive parent-child interactive storytime program, Fun with Math and Science (FMS); and (2) conduct a preliminary evaluation of FMS in a large, urban public library setting, using a quasi-experimental static group comparison design. Methods and Results: Post-test scores for caregivers who completed the program in the fall or winter (n = 80) were compared to pre-test scores for caregivers who completed the program the following spring (n = 35); Fall/winter caregivers scored higher on program items related to concrete behaviors to support math and science learning, but significant differences were not found on items related to caregiving beliefs or general caregiving practices. Demographic differences were also found related to program outcomes. Discussion: Results are discussed both in terms of implications for the development and implementation of caregiver-child interactive programming, as well as the use of innovative analytic approaches to program evaluation in community settings.
ABSTRACT
Children's behavioral self-regulation and executive function (EF; including attentional or cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control) are strong predictors of academic achievement. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a measure of behavioral self-regulation called the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) by assessing construct validity, including relations to EF measures, and predictive validity to academic achievement growth between prekindergarten and kindergarten. In the fall and spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten, 208 children (51% enrolled in Head Start) were assessed on the HTKS, measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory (WM), and inhibitory control, and measures of emergent literacy, mathematics, and vocabulary. For construct validity, the HTKS was significantly related to cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control in prekindergarten and kindergarten. For predictive validity in prekindergarten, a random effects model indicated that the HTKS significantly predicted growth in mathematics, whereas a cognitive flexibility task significantly predicted growth in mathematics and vocabulary. In kindergarten, the HTKS was the only measure to significantly predict growth in all academic outcomes. An alternative conservative analytical approach, a fixed effects analysis (FEA) model, also indicated that growth in both the HTKS and measures of EF significantly predicted growth in mathematics over four time points between prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results demonstrate that the HTKS involves cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control, and is substantively implicated in early achievement, with the strongest relations found for growth in achievement during kindergarten and associations with emergent mathematics.
