Table 4.
Background characteristics of the cognitive skills studies.
| Study characteristics | Building Blocks Clements and Sarama, 2008 | Building Blocks Hofer et al., 2013 | Building Blocks–MPC study Morris et al., 2016; Mattera and Morris, 2017; Mattera et al., 2018 | Building Blocks Clements et al., 2020 | Building Blocks and OWL Weiland and Yoshikawa, 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design overview | Randomized control trial; classrooms were randomized to three conditions: building blocks; preschool mathematics curriculum; and business-as-usual | Cluster randomized control trial; preschools were randomly assigned to building blocks intervention or business-as-usual condition | Cluster randomized trial; preschool sites randomly assigned to building blocks intervention or business-as-usual control condition | Three-armed cluster randomized control trial; classrooms randomly assigned to three conditions (building blocks; building blocks and scaffolding self-regulation; and business-as-usual control condition) | Regression discontinuity design |
| Sample location | Buffalo, NY; Boston, MA; Nashville, TN | New York City, NY | San Diego county | Boston, MA | |
| Sample size | 35 teachers/classrooms and 253 children | 139 classrooms/teachers and 1714 children | 69 preschool sites, 173 classrooms/teachers; 1,389 children | 84 classrooms/teachers; 837 children | 250 teachers/classrooms; 2,018 children |
| Child sample demographics | Treatment condition: 17% White, 60% Black, 17% Hispanic, mean age 60 months; Control condition: 57% Black, 15% White, 22% Hispanic, with mean age 60 months | 57% Hispanic, 3% Non-Hispanic White; 37% Non-Hispanic Black, 3% other, with mean age of 4.17 years | 39% Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander 18%, African-American 11%, and 31% non-Hispanic White | 41% Hispanic, 26% Black, 18% White, 11% Asian, and 3% other | |
| Intervention characteristics | |||||
| Duration of implementation | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years |
| Amount of training and coaching | 4 days and 2-hour refresher classes once every other month and monthly coaching | teacher training (7 days) and coaching | 5 days of training in year 1 and year 2 (10 days total); weekly coaching | 6 days of training in year 1 and year 2 and biweekly coaching | 13 days of training; weekly to biweekly coaching |
| Measures | |||||
| Teacher practice | COEMET (OA) | COEMET (OA) | COEMET (OA) | COEMET (OA) | |
| Classroom climate | CLASS (OA) | ||||
| Executive function and behavioral regulation | Pencil tap (DA); spatial conflict arrows (DA); corsi blocks (DA) | Forward and backward digit span (DA); HTKS (DA); peg tapping (DA) | Forward digit span and backward digit span (DA); dimensional change card sort (DA); task orientation questionnaire (AR); pencil tap (DA) | ||
| Emotion knowledge and social problem-solving skills | Emotion recognition questionnaire (DA); TOQ positive emotion (TR); TOQ impulse control (TR) | ||||
| Learning and social behaviors | |||||
| Academic outcomes | Early mathematics assessment (DA) | REMA (DA) | ECLS-B Math assessment (DA); WJ-III applied problems (DA); ROWPVT (DA) | Tools for early assessment of mathematics (DA); ECLS-B math (DA); EOWPVT (DA); renfrew bus story (DA); phonological awareness literacy screening (DA) | Peabody picture vocabulary test (DA); WJ-III applied problems and letter-word identification (DA); REMA (DA) |
DA, direct child assessment; TR, teacher-report; OA, observational assessment; AR, assessor-report.