The grant had the following objectives:

1. Increase mental health expertise within the school
   
2. Increase parents’ capacity to interact more effectively with their children
   
3. Increase staff’s capacity to respond more appropriately
   
4. Increase community resources in the school through mentoring and volunteer programs
   

Over the grant period, all four of the objectives were achieved. A full-time psychologist was hired to work with children, parents, and staff. Parenting groups were established for all parents, including grandparents and home-based parents. The psychologist provided on-going consultation and workshops for the staff, as well as in-classroom interventions to model methods for the teachers. Prior to the grant award, Covington Schools committed to sustaining the program at the end of the three years.

Over the three years, the Early Intervention Project provided 57 children with direct individual services. More children received services through classroom interventions and school-wide programs. The psychologist held eight parenting groups that had four to six sessions each. The psychologist also provided 177 parents with individual consultation and conducted 122 home visits. The teaching staff received assistance through six formal workshops and individual consultation on 169 children. Three staff development workshops were also held for the transportation staff.

Including the community and parents in school activities was an important part of this project. The Community Coordinator recruited and trained volunteers and interns. The first year, 970 hours of volunteer time was logged. The second year, the numbers increased to 4,023, and for the last year the volunteer hours totaled 3,587.

Margaret Miller, EdD, RN conducted an independent evaluation. The findings from the evaluation are summarized in the Qualitative Analysis of Teachers and Parents Response to Early Intervention for Children with Challenging Behaviors report, and a few highlights are listed below:

Teachers found the psychologists helpful and preferred classroom interventions with students rather than individual counseling sessions.

Parents were satisfied with interventions and could see improvement; however, they were not clear about the role of the psychologists.

Weekly team meetings were used for early identification of problems, developing collaborative plans, and following up.

Informal staff development (e.g. a psychologist rode on the school bus to help a driver with a problem behavior) was highly valued by the staff.

Home visits provided privacy, facilitated families sharing personal concerns, and were viewed as a positive experience.

Parents were “hungry” for the content and support of parenting classes. Class content included parenting skills and behavioral management to enhance self-esteem through praise and reward; management of behaviors such as tantrums, toilet training, discipline, and bed wetting; and strategies to manage the transition to kindergarten.

Graduate psychology and service learning students contributed to the success of the program.