FAST TRACK

OVERVIEW

The Fast Track prevention project is a multicomponent intervention designed for use with high-risk elementary-school children, from first through sixth grade. The program is designed to prevent antisocial behaviors through promoting child competencies, improved school context, parent-school relationships, and parenting skills. Program components include a classroom curriculum (PATHS), tutoring, home visiting, group skills training, mentoring, and various individualized services for high-risk children. Analyses of Fast Track impacts were conducted after one, three, and five years of the intervention. Fast Track had modest positive impacts on high-risk children’s social, academic, and behavioral outcomes. Furthermore, parents of high-risk children in Fast Track exhibited less harsh discipline, compared to parents of children who were not in the program. Fast Track also impacted the general classroom—resulting in more positive ratings of classroom atmosphere and lower levels of disruptive behavior (according to peer and teacher report). After three years of the intervention, high-risk students maintained behavioral improvements and their parents continued to use decreased amounts of harsh discipline. By the fifth year, the Fast Track intervention produced significant impacts on social cognition and competence, peer deviance, and home and community problems, while not producing impacts on academic and behavioral outcomes in the school setting.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: At-risk elementary-school age children (Grades 1-6)

The Fast Track Prevention Project was a comprehensive, ten-year-long intervention program for children and teens. The program began in 1^st grade for children identified as at-risk through teacher and parent reports of conduct problems. Participation in Fast Track was designed to reduce conduct problems and promote academic, behavioral, and social improvement. All children in Fast Track classrooms (referred and non-referred) were administered the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) teacher-led curriculum, which was designed to develop emotional communication, social understanding, self-control and problem-solving. Only students identified as high-risk experienced the variety of other Fast Track components, including social skills training groups, reading tutoring, classroom-based peer pairing (to promote friendships), and, for parents, training groups (to promote positive family-school relationships and teach behavior management skills) and home visits (to teach parents problem-solving, self-efficacy, and life management skills). Beginning in grade 4, a one-on-one adult mentoring program was added to the intervention to promote positive identity development among children.

Multiple Program Components:

Universal classroom intervention: 57 lessons from the PATHS curriculum were delivered to classrooms each year.
Teacher training: Teachers received training on the PATHS curriculum, were provided staff supervision, and received informal feedback on classroom management.
High risk child-focused intervention: In addition to classroom lessons, high-risk children received: (a) school-based peer pairing and academic tutoring on reading skills, 3 times per week during the first two years of the program; (b) child social skill groups focused on emotional understanding and communication, friendship skills, self-control skills, and social problem solving skills (2-3 times per week, for 30 minutes; 9-22 sessions per year, depending on the grade); and (c) a mentoring program in fourth grade.
High-risk family-focused intervention: Families of high-risk children participated in a variety of activities, such as:
1. family group meetings (for families of children in Grades 1 through 3), which met 5 to 22 sessions per year, with 22 in Grade 1, 14 in Grade 2, and 5-8 in Grade 3);
2. 30 minute parent-child sharing sessions, after the family group meetings; and
3. Biweekly home visitations focused on improving parenting skills, fostering feelings of efficacy and empowerment, and increasing problem-solving skills.

Service Providers:

Classroom skills training was delivered by trained teachers and Educational Coordinators (ECs), who were primarily former teachers.
Peer group interventions were implemented by trained paraprofessionals.
Parent groups were facilitated by clinicians with advanced degrees in counseling or social work and extensive experience with high-risk families.

Sites: Fast Track has been implemented at several sites across the United States and in other English-speaking countries (e.g., Great Britain, Australia, Canada).

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Study 1: Greenberg, M. T. (1998, August). Testing developmental theory of antisocial behavior with outcomes from the Fast Track Prevention Project. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Evaluated population: 845 high-risk first-graders at various schools in Durham, NC, Nashville, TN, Seattle, WA, and rural central PA participated in the study. The sample was roughly 2/3 male, ½ white, and ½ mostly African American. (Note: All students in selected classrooms received the PATHS curriculum, as explained above; only the outcomes of the high-risk subsample, which received additional services, are described below.)

Approach: Three cohorts of first-grade students were recruited—those entering first grade in 1991, 1992, and 1993. The total consented sample consisted of 7606 students from 55 schools and 401 classrooms. The high-risk subsample consisted of 891 students. Schools were matched in pairs and then randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition (Intervention=445 students; Comparison=446 students). Consent was received from a total of 845 students. Measured outcomes included teacher and parent ratings of child social cognition, academic progress, social competence, and conduct problems.

Results: Overall, participation in Fast Track produced a variety of statistically significant (though modest) positive impacts. Compared with the control group, Fast Track children improved their social-cognitive and academic skills, exhibited lower levels of aggressive behavior at home and school, were less likely to be placed into special education, and a greater proportion of the participants had become completely free of conduct problems (37% vs. 27% in the control group). In adolescence, Fast Track participants were arrested at lower levels and exhibited continued lower levels “serious conduct disorder” than their control group peers. Parents of the program participants used harsh discipline less frequently than their control group counterparts. Impacts did not differ by demographic characteristics.

Study 2: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999a). Initial Impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risk sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 631-647.

Evaluated Population and Approach: Same as Study 1.

Results: After one year of program participation, intervention children demonstrated improved social skills, reading scores, and peer relations. In addition, intervention group parents reported using less harsh and more consistent discipline with their children and received higher teacher ratings of school participation. Effects for service intensity were found, with high-implementation teachers receiving higher ratings of classroom atmosphere than low-implementation teachers.

Study 3: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999b). Initial Impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: II. Classroom effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 648-657.

Evaluated Population: 6715 students from 378 classrooms in schools located at four different sites across the U.S. participated in this study. The percentage of children receiving free- and reduced- lunch was 55% (ranging from 39% in rural Pennsylvania to 80% in Durham, NC). The mean reading level was at the 47^th percentile (across all sites except Durham, which utilized its own achievement testing system).

Approach: Three cohorts of first-grade students were recruited—those entering first grade in 1991, 1992, and 1993. The total consented sample consisted of 7606 students from 55 schools and 401 classrooms. This study evaluates the 6715 students who were not part of the high-risk subsample. Study measures are the same as study 1.

Results: After one year of program participation, intervention classrooms received more positive ratings of classroom atmosphere (Effect Size =.31), lower levels of peer-nominated aggression (Effect Size = -.22), and lower levels of hyperactive-disruptive behavior (Effect Size = -.22) than comparison classrooms.

Study 4: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2002a). Evaluation of the first 3 years of the Fast Track prevention trial with children at high risk for adolescent conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 19-35.

Evaluated Population and Approach: This study has the same evaluated population and approach as Study 1. The mean age of the high-risk subsample was 6.5 years (SD=.48) at baseline but at this follow-up, they were about 10 years old. Across all sites, the sample was 51% African American, 47% European American, and 2% of other ethnicity. Boys comprised 69% of the sample.

Results: After three years of program participation, high-risk intervention students exhibited less problem behavior relative to their control group peers. Effect size estimates on measures such as meeting criteria for Conduct Disorder, as well as teacher and parent ratings of child behavior change were small (Effect Sizes equaled -.27 and -.20, respectively). In addition, relative to parents of control group students, parents of intervention students reported less reliance on physical punishment (Effect Size = -.19).

Study 5: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2004). The Effects of the Fast Track Program and Serious Problem Outcomes at the End of Elementary School. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33(4):650-661.

Evaluated Population: This study evaluated the same population described in Study 1. At the time of baseline, the high-risk subsample mean age of children in first grade was 6.5 years (SD=0.48); however, this follow-up study occurred during fourth and fifth grades—representing the end of elementary school. Across the four sites, the sample comprised 51% African-American students, 47% white students, and 2% of students of another ethnicity. Boys comprised more than two-thirds (69%) of the sample.

Approach: In this study, four domains were of interest, including: social cognition and social competence problems; involvement with peer deviance; home and community conduct problems; and academic and behavioral problems in the school setting. The authors relied on a “caseness” analysis, which allows for within-individual analyses.

Results: Intervention children, when compared with children in the control group, had moderate but significantly lower rates of caseness on three of the four domains: social cognition and social competence problems (p<.01), involvement with peer deviance (p<.01), and home and community conduct problems (p<.01). There was no statistically significant difference in the domain of academic and behavioral problems, which was the only domain collecting objective measures such as school records.

In a separate analysis, examining intervention impacts on continuous domain scores, the authors found a similar pattern of significant results with social cognition and social competence problems (p<.01) and home and community conduct problems (p<.02); however, involvement with peer deviance became marginally significant (p<.10) and academic and behavioral problems in school remained non-significant. Additionally, computed effect sizes for the social cognition and social competence domain (.18) and home and community conduct problems domain (.15) were small.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the PATH curriculum used in the Fast Track program, please visit: http://www.channing-bete.com/prevention-programs/paths/

As of January 1, 2009, the cost of curricula ranges from $209 (Turtle Unit, Kindergarteners) to $699 (Basic Kit, Grades 1-6). The Complete PATHS curriculum (Basic Kit and Turtle Unit) can be purchased for $799. Training is also available. For more information, please visit: http://www.channing-bete.com/prevention-programs/paths/facts-and-faqs.php

For more information about the Fast Track program measures used, please visit: http://www.fasttrackproject.org/allmeasures.htm

References

Study 1: Greenberg, M. T. (1998, August). Testing developmental theory of antisocial behavior with outcomes from the Fast Track Prevention Project. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Study 2: Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999a). Initial Impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risk sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 631-647.

KEYWORDS: Children (3-11), Kindergarten, Elementary, Co-ed, White/Caucasian, Black/African American, High-Risk, School-based, Parent Training, Home Visitation, Skills Training, Mentoring, Tutoring, Aggression/Violence/Bullying, Delinquency, Parent-child Relationship, Academic Achievement, Reading

Program information last updated 7/1/09.

		© Child Trends 2003