# Strengthening Parenting Capacities in Pre-K to Improve Social-Behavioral Readiness and Later School Outcomes

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $204,688

## Abstract

Like many urban school districts, about half of Baltimore City Public Schools' (BCPS) students enter
kindergarten without key social and behavioral skills needed to learn. These skills include the ability to follow
instructions, comply with rules, manage emotions, solve problems, organize and complete tasks, and get along
with others. Children without these skills are at greater risk for being retained in grade, requiring special
education services, or being suspended or expelled during the early elementary school years. To improve
students' social-behavioral readiness to learn, we partnered in 2014 with BCPS to implement the ChiPP
Project, a 3-year initiative to strengthen parenting capacities and skill in Pre-Kindergarten (PreK) in 12 schools
serving a large population of economically disadvantaged students of color (>90% low-income; >90% African
American or Latino). PreK parents participated in a 12-session evidence-based parenting program called the
Chicago Parent Program at their child's school. To boost participation rates, we added conditional cash
transfers (CCT) providing financial incentives via bank debit cards for attendance and “homework” completion.
Short-term effects were strong; parent participation and satisfaction rates were high in this vulnerable
population of families and the number of students with clinically significant behavior problems dropped by 37%.
Parents used the CCTs to purchase food and basic necessities for their children. This study proposes to
examine whether the ChiPP Project a) improves students' social-behavioral readiness to learn and reduces
their likelihood of being chronically absent in Kindergarten; b) reduces the likelihood of 3 costly school
outcomes: being retained in grade, requiring special education services, or being suspended or expelled at
least once by 2nd grade; and c) benefits boys, who are at greater risk for all 3 student outcomes, more than
girls. Social-behavioral readiness and chronic absence in Kindergarten are hypothesized to mediate the effects
of the ChiPP Project on all 3 student outcomes. We will also assess the economic value of the ChiPP Project
to schools and to society. Using a quasi-experimental design (n≈1,000 students), we will evaluate the impacts
of the ChiPP Project on student outcomes through 2nd grade and on schools' costs. Data on student
characteristics and outcomes will be drawn from an existing BCPS administrative database. Propensity score
matching will be used to compare intervention students (n=380) with 2 matched comparison groups to control
for bias: 1) a non-participating student from the same intervention school and 2) a student from a matched non-
participating school. Students will be matched on 8 child-level and 9 school-level variables. This study is
significant because it examines short-term benefits and savings that have tangible and immediate effects on
schools and families and focuses on high impact outcomes affecting urban schools nationwide. This st...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9913575
- **Project number:** 5R21HD096197-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Deborah A. Gross
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $204,688
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-11 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9913575

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9913575, Strengthening Parenting Capacities in Pre-K to Improve Social-Behavioral Readiness and Later School Outcomes (5R21HD096197-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9913575. Licensed CC0.

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