The effect of the Preparing Pequeños small-group cognitive instruction program on academic and concurrent social and behavioral outcomes in young Spanish-speaking dual-language learners

Publication date: April 2019Source: Journal of School Psychology, Volume 73Author(s): Susan H. Landry, Mike A. Assel, María S. Carlo, Jeffrey M. Williams, Wei Wu, Janelle J. MontroyAbstractAcademic achievement for young dual language learners (DLL) is a critically acknowledged problem of national significance that has been understudied. To address this shortage, this study evaluated the effectiveness of Preparing Pequeños, an integrated small-group instruction program designed to promote increased learning for Spanish speaking DLL in language, literacy, and math. The DLL in the randomized Preparing Pequeños intervention classrooms were compared to control DLL with comparable Spanish language delays and in which the school district's core curriculum was being implemented. Intervention teachers and paraprofessionals, as part of Preparing Pequeños, implemented new classroom and time management systems in order to conduct 90 min of small-group instruction four days each week across the school year. In total, 51 control and 52 intervention classrooms participated; pre-test measures were completed with 829 children, with 777 of these children also completing post-test measures (7% attrition). Results showed that intervention teachers and paraprofessionals, as compared to control, showed greater increases in most of the targeted areas of cognitive instruction (d range = 0.60–2.38) and in the use of small groups (d range = 3.32–4.46), progress monitoring (d = 0....
Source: Journal of School Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research