Program Description
INSIGHTS is an evidence-based intervention that helps families, educators and young children identify how young children’s personalities and temperaments affect their behavior. The program has three components that promote student social-emotional development and academic learning.
For Educators: NEW INSIGHTS for Elementary School Educators is a professional development program featuring six self-paced lessons, each followed by a remote facilitated session. Designed for teachers, counselors, psychologists and administrators, this program helps educators recognize children’s temperaments/personalities and implement strategies to reduce behavior problems and enhance social skills.
For Classrooms: Children participate in 10 weekly 30-minute sessions in their own classrooms led by their teachers to help the class gain empathy and resolve dilemmas through mitten puppets, videos and activities.
For Parents: NEW INSIGHTS for Parents offers six self-paced, one-hour lessons, each followed by a remote facilitated session for groups of eight. These sessions help parents recognize their children’s temperaments/personalities and learn strategies to reduce behavior problems and enhance social skills.
Program Outcomes
A cluster randomized controlled trial evaluated the impact of INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament, a social-emotional learning (SEL) program, in 22 urban elementary schools during the 2010–11 academic year. The study included 435 kindergarten and first-grade students, along with their teachers and families, from schools serving primarily low-income Black and Hispanic populations. Schools were randomly assigned to either the INSIGHTS intervention or an attention-control condition that delivered a supplemental reading program.
The INSIGHTS program consisted of ten weekly sessions delivered to students, teachers, and parents, focusing on improving self-regulation, classroom engagement, and teacher–student relationships through a temperament-based lens. Outcomes were measured across the school year using standardized assessments: Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) for reading and math, the Leiter-R for sustained attention, and teacher reports of behavior using the SESBI.
Students who received INSIGHTS grew significantly faster than those in the control group in reading achievement (effect size = +0.55), math achievement (effect size = +0.31), sustained attention (effect size = +0.39), and reductions in behavior problems (effect size = +0.54). These findings qualify INSIGHTS for an ESSA Tier 1 (“Strong”) evidence rating in the Academic and Social-Emotional Learning domains.
Staffing Requirements
No additional staffing required.
Professional Development/Training
Educators and parents receive six one-hour asynchronized and six one-hour synchronized lessons.
Technology
Educators and parents will need a remote device to access lesson modules, videos, interactive activities and downloadable content.