Results and Lessons Learned from the National Effectiveness Study of First Step to Success

Introduction: This presentation will describe First Step to Success, a secondary level early intervention program with an established evidence-base designed to help children with behavior problems and briefly discuss outcomes from the National Effectiveness Study.  First Step to Success is an early intervention program designed for at-risk students in the early elementary grades who show clear signs of emerging antisocial behavior patterns (e.g., aggression toward others, oppositional-defiant behavior, rule infractions, escalating confrontations with peers and adults, etc.). The student is the primary focus of the First Step intervention; however, teachers, peers, and parents-caregivers participate in the intervention as implementation agents under the direction and supervision of a “behavioral coach,” who has overall responsibility for coordinating the intervention. The First Step intervention requires 2 to 3 months, from start to finish, and is applied to only one child at a time in a classroom.

Method: First Step consists of three modules designed to be applied in concert: (1) proactive, universal screening; (2) consultant-based school intervention involving the target child, peers, and teachers; and (3) parent training in skills for supporting and improving the child's school adjustment and performance. The primary goals of First Step are to teach the child to get along with others (teachers and peers) and to engage assigned schoolwork in an appropriate, successful manner. The intervention is designed to achieve secondary prevention outcomes—that is, to divert at-risk children already showing signs of antisocial behavior from a path leading to a host of destructive outcomes.

Results and Discussion: The National Effectiveness Study of First Step to Success was an IES Goal 4 randomized controlled trial which concluded in 2012. The project involved 48 elementary schools in 5 diverse school districts across the country. To measure the effectiveness of the program, half of the schools in each district were randomly assigned to implement the program, and the other half was offered the program at completion of the study. Outcomes for the intervention group (N = 200) showed improvement in prosocial skills and decreased problem behaviors as rated by teachers and caregivers, increased academic engaged time, and improved reading skills, when compared with the comparison group (N = 140) along with positive teacher acceptability and parent satisfaction ratings. This presentation will also describe associations between dosage/fidelity and outcomes, and some of the lessons learned from conducting a large scale effectiveness study.