Enhanced Head Start program effective

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A program to enhance Head Start by giving teachers enrichment manuals is effective in helping children in both academic and social areas, U.S. researchers said.

The program -- called REDI, for research-based, developmentally informed -- was developed and implemented in partnership with Head Start programs in Pennsylvania by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University.

REDI involved a research-based curriculum to foster social-emotional learning as well as enhanced language and literacy skills through interactive reading, sound games and print activities. In addition, the program offered teachers professional development support, including workshop training and mentoring, to enhance the quality of language use and social-emotional support provided in the classroom.

The researchers tracked 356 children in 44 Head Start classrooms during the course of a year. Some were in classrooms in which REDI was used while some were not.

The study, published in Child Development, found children who were in regular Head Start classrooms, showed greater growth in vocabulary, pre-reading skills, emotional understanding, social problem solving, social competence and learning engagement. The children in REDI classrooms were less aggressive than children in other Head Start classrooms, the study said.

An evaluation of the study appears in the November/December 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.