Multi-level evidence-based intervention to reduce health and education disparities among children of color in high-poverty schools in historically disinvested neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This study evaluates the enduring protective impacts of a multi-level evidence-based intervention, ParentCorps, in high-poverty schools with pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) programs serving primarily Black and Latino children in New York City (NYC) neighborhoods hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, Black and Latino children in NYC are more than twice as likely as White children to lose a parent to COVID-19. COVID-19-related financial and social stresses have been especially hard on households with young children. Reports on the well-being of families with young children document substantial increases in adversity in many areas, including lack of household basic needs and loss of economic security, physical and mental health impacts on caregivers and household members, lack of access to early learning and childcare, and wide-ranging concerns about child social emotional well-being. Structural racism, poverty and other social determinants, combined with a surge in exposure to new adverse childhood experiences (e.g., parental depression, illness or death of a family member, threat of eviction) that disproportionately affect Black and Latino children, may sharply exacerbate existing educational and health disparities. In historically disinvested neighborhoods, the pandemic is set to erode protective factors, such as family-school connections and emotionally responsive home and classroom environments that support child mental health and school performance. A culturally-responsive intervention that promotes and maintains positive family-school connections and home/classroom environments in communities hard hit by COVID-19 may prevent the worsening of racial and ethnic health and education disparities. This study has the following specific aims: 1) Test the enduring impact of ParentCorps professional development for educators (2017-2019) on family-school connections as experienced by parents of pre-K students in school years during and after COVID-19, relative to pre-COVID-19 years; 2) Examine the long-term impact of ParentCorps programs for children and families on developmental trajectories of the 2019-20 cohort of pre-K students on mental health and school performance, and test whether intervention impacts on child outcomes vary by neighborhood-level susceptibility to COVID-19, race, gender and home language; 3) Understand school assets and unmet needs not addressed directly by ParentCorps; develop and integrate crisis mitigation strategies into the ParentCorps model; and assess feasibility and benefit. Capitalizing on public investments in scaling ParentCorps in schools in historically disinvested neighborhoods, strong partnerships with policy makers and practitioners, and a robust research infrastructure, this study offers an unparalleled opportunity to advance science and a promising systems-level scalable strategy to prevent cascading negative effects of COVID-19 for Black and Latino families.