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FAST® - Elementary School Level

Topic Areas
Scientific Rating
Child Welfare Relevance
Parent Training Programs that Address Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents
3  — Promising Research Evidence
Medium

About This Program

Target Population: Children in Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade and their families

For children/adolescents ages: 4 – 11

For parents/caregivers of children ages: 4 – 11

Program Overview

FAST® - Elementary School Level is a 2-year prevention/early intervention program based on social ecological theory, family systems theory, social mobility theory, child development theory, and family stress theory. FAST® is designed to build relationships within and between families, schools, and communities (particularly in low-income areas) to improve childhood outcomes.

The intervention consists of an active outreach phase to engage and recruit families; 8 weeks of multifamily group meetings, each about 2.5 hours long; and continued in 2 years of monthly, parent-led group meetings. The 8 weekly sessions follow a preset schedule and include activities such as family communication and bonding games, parent-directed family meals, parent social support groups, between-family bonding activities, one-on-one child-directed play therapy, and opening and closing routines modeling family rituals. Sessions are led by trained culturally representative teams that include at least one member of the school staff in addition to parents and professionals from local social service agencies.

Program Goals

The goals of FAST® - Elementary School Level are:

  • Strengthen family functioning
  • Increase child well-being and improve child mental health at home and school
  • Improve capacity of the child and family to manage daily stress by building social networks
  • Prevent substance abuse in children and reduce potential substance abuse in families
  • Enhance parent–child bonding and family functioning while reducing family conflict and child neglect
  • Build protective factors and coping skills to reduce routine stress that children and parents experience
  • Build capacities to cope with future or potential traumatic stress
  • Enhance school success through more parent involvement and family engagement at school, improved school climate, and decreased school mobility
  • Prevent substance use by both adults and children by building protective factors and referring appropriately for treatment
  • Empower parents, build social capital, and increase social inclusion

Logic Model

View the Logic Model for FAST® - Elementary School Level.

Essential Components

The essential components of FAST® - Elementary School Level include:

  • In-home outreach to parents to introduce FAST® and encourage voluntary participation
  • 8 weekly multifamily group sessions based on experiential learning and repetition:
    • Family time: 1 hour of structured activities including music, singing, crafts and parent-led family games for stress/cortisol reduction
    • Parent-led family activities: Designed to increase family communication games about ideas and feelings, the activities involve:
      • Turn taking
      • Listening
      • Speaking and waiting for parents to give instructions
      • Following instructions, which increase positive parental skills to act warmly while also being an authority (based on family therapy to support the family hierarchy of the executive subsystem)
    • Family-hosted meals and eating as a family each week with positive talk time
    • One-to-one responsive play time—with parents following the child's lead (15 minutes)
    • Parent-to parent "buddy" time in pairs for building support; parent group session with a chance to find their own topics of shared interest
    • Structured kids peer activities supervised by school or community professionals
  • Core activities repeated each week to gain mastery and self-efficacy; team trained to support the parent and give the parent information; team has local parents and professionals which are culturally representative of the families being served in groups and trained to block and divert conflict
  • Ongoing monthly group meetings for 2 years of continued booster sessions to support the family and community relationships, practice the one-to-one responsive play, and support parents as the primary prevention agents for their children in the community; growing local parent leaders
  • All siblings in the family (regardless of age) may benefit from participating in the positive emotion, non-conflicted family activities with parents taking the lead with social support. Repetition creates positive neural networks which are a preferred route and increase resilience curiosity and protective factors against adversity and child stress.
  • With each cycle of FAST® implementation, 30 to 50 students and their whole families can participate. The sub-groups of 10 families each meet in separate classrooms or rooms.

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

FAST® - Elementary School Level directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Living in disadvantaged communities with increased risk of neglect and abuse, disruptive behavior at home or in school, poor academic performance, at risk for substance abuse or gang activity

Parent/Caregiver Services

FAST® - Elementary School Level directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

  • Parents living in disadvantaged communities with high levels of chronic unemployment, poverty, social exclusion, criminality, violence and substance abuse problems as well as parents of children with behavior problems; parents of children who are performing poorly in school; parents in families with substance abuse issues; parents in families with a history of violence, abuse, or neglect; parents with difficulty managing their child's behavior, and lastly, parents who are at high risk of abuse and neglect
Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: FAST® involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: Children ages 4-11 years old participate in most activities with their families in FAST® and the extended family is welcome. There are no exclusions.

Recommended Intensity:

This is a two-year family support/positive parenting program: Once per week meeting for approximately 2 1/2 hours, for 8 weeks, led by trained FAST® Teams. All teams are required to have parent partners who are culturally representative of families served. Parents must attend 6 weekly sessions and graduate in a ceremony before reducing the dosage to monthly sessions, which they attend for 24 months. These monthly multi-family groups are parent-graduate led booster sessions to maintain relationship gains, particularly parent-child bond with responsive one-on-one play, and parent support networks.

Recommended Duration:

Two years: 8 weekly sessions (attending 6 minimum) with monthly parent-facilitated follow-up meetings for whole duration

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Community Daily Living Setting
  • School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

FAST® - Elementary School Level includes a homework component:

One-to-one time responsive play at-home activities

Languages

FAST® - Elementary School Level has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

  • Space Resources:
    • Single room large enough for 15 whole families to sit at individual tables
    • Separate rooms for adults and children to split into separate peer groups
    • Room enough for the trained team to move about and give instructions and support parents privately while they sit at the tables
  • Material resources:
    • Pencils, paper, art supplies for group creative craft projects
    • Small inexpensive toys for unstructured play
    • All materials should be available at schools and in most homes, and must be inexpensive and accessible to low-income families (can be for sale at agency providing services)

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

There are no education requirements for team members to be trained on the program.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Manuals are provided as part of a contracted training cycle, or for individual purchase from Families and Schools Together.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Training is only provided to multi-agency teams with parent partners; no individuals can be trained. The training of the teams may be delivered on-site through contract or regionally through training conferences. Training requires local implementation with whole families and active on-site supervision. Team Supervision of the multi-family group implementation, which is required as part of the training, must be on-site three times of the 8 weekly sessions (using Skype can be negotiated). Supervision involves direct observation and a quality of implementation checklist, and separate feedback to the team the next day for 3 hours. Training includes launch consulting and issue support provided by a Certified FAST® Trainer. Finally Training includes a pre and post evaluation process with questionnaires given to parents and teachers, and data entry and a 50-page report which the Certified FAST® Trainer reviews in the final day of training with the team. The team should also self-evaluate, hear feedback from service user parent graduates, and learn to read bars and graphs and see the statistically significant outcomes of their social intervention.

Number of days/hours:

All implementation team members must undergo six and one-half days of training, including a comprehensive two-day (16 hours) orientation to the program, provided by a Certified FAST® Trainer.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for FAST® - Elementary School Level as listed below:

Pre-implementation tools consist of a Program Overview and in-person consultation with FAST® Training Staff.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of FAST® - Elementary School Level as listed below:

Training is provided by Families and Schools Together, Inc. to multi-agency teams with parent partners; no individuals can be trained. The training of the teams may be delivered onsite or regionally through training conferences. A Certified FAST® Trainer provides team supervision of the multifamily group implementation, which is required as part of the training, and will be onsite for 3 of the 8 weekly sessions (using Skype can be negotiated). Trainer-provided supervision involves direct observation and measurement of program fidelity using a quality of implementation checklist, and separate feedback to the team the next day for 3 hours. Training includes launch consultation and issue support provided by a Certified FAST® Trainer. Finally, training includes a pre- and post-evaluation process with questionnaires given to parents and teachers, data entry, and an evaluation report which the Certified FAST® Trainer reviews with the team in the final day of training.

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for FAST® - Elementary School Level as listed below:

Fidelity measures include pre- and post-program surveys from parents and teachers, a follow-up evaluation report of program outcomes, the Program Integrity Checklist, and the Quality of Implementation Checklist.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for FAST® - Elementary School Level as listed below:

A program manual and FAST® program forms are provided to team members during training.

Implementation Cost

There are no studies of the costs of FAST® - Elementary School Level.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement FAST® - Elementary School Level.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Kratochwill, T. R., McDonald, L., Levin, J. R., Young Bear-Tibbitts, H., & Demaray, M. K. (2004). Families and Schools Together: An experimental analysis of a parent-mediated multi-family group program for American Indian children. Journal of School Psychology, 42(5), 359–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2004.08.001

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 50 families in each condition

Population:

  • Age — Kindergarten through second grade (approximately 4–8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 100% American Indian
  • Gender — Not specified
  • Status — Participants were families with children attending reservation or public schools.

Location/Institution: Wisconsin

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) [now called, FAST® - Elementary School Level] program in increasing academic performance and reducing classroom problem behaviors in American Indian children. Participants were matched on characteristics such as tribal heritage, school, grade level, and teacher ratings and then randomly assigned to either the 2-phase FAST program or the non-FAST control group. Measures utilized include the Child Behavior Checklist for 6-18 (CBCL), the Social Skills Rating System, the Ecobehavioral Assessment System, and the Curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Results indicate that, on the immediate posttest, statistically significant differences in improvement favoring FAST participants were found on the Aggressive Behavior scale of the teacher-rated CBCL and on the parent-rated Withdrawn scale of the same instrument. On the 1-year follow-up assessment, parent CBCL ratings indicated that FAST students had maintained their less withdrawn status, and teacher ratings on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) revealed that FAST ® participants exhibited relatively greater improvement in their academic competence. Limitations include concerns about the generalizability to other populations as adaptations were made for the American Indian culture and the small sample size.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

McDonald, L., Moberg, D. P., Brown, R., Rodriguez-Espiricueta, I., Flores, N. I., Burke, M. P., & Coover, G. (2006). After-school multifamily groups: A randomized controlled trial involving low-income, urban, Latino children. Children & Schools, 28(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/28.1.25

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 180

Population:

  • Age — Mean=7 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 100% Latino
  • Gender — 59% Female and 41% Male
  • Status — Participants were families with children in one of 10 urban elementary schools in 1st through 4th grade.

Location/Institution: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to compare two programs, the Kids FAST® - Families And Schools Together [now called, FAST® - Elementary School Level] program and FAME: Family Education, and their effectiveness in evaluating parent engagement strategy with Latino parents of elementary school children. Ten urban schools serving low-income children from mixed cultural backgrounds participated. Participants were randomly assigned either to a two-phase multifamily support group (Kids FAST®) or to receive eight behavioral parenting pamphlets with active follow-up (FAME). Measures utilized include the Teachers Report Form (TRF) of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). Results indicate that children whose families participated in the Kids FAST® program showed higher levels of academic performance, social skills, and lower levels of aggressive behaviors than those in the FAME program. Limitations include concerns about the generalizability of the classroom results to all Latino immigrant populations, the high attrition rate, and concerns about the comparability of the two study conditions.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 2 years.

Warren, K., Moberg, P. D., & McDonald, L. (2006). FAST and the arms race: The interaction of group aggression and the "Families and School Together" program in the aggressive and delinquent behaviors of inner-city elementary school students. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 27(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-005-0021-9

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 437

Population:

  • Age — Not specified
  • Race/Ethnicity — 45% African American, 38% Latino, and 17% Other
  • Gender — 56% Female and 44% Male
  • Status — Participants were families of elementary school children in 1st through 4th grade referred to the Families and Schools Together (FAST) or FAME program with aggressive or delinquent behaviors.

Location/Institution: Milwaukee, WI

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to test a simple mathematical model in which negative reinforcement of aggressive and delinquent behavior leads to a multi-player race among elementary school students. The study applies a multiplayer arms race model to peer contagion (the tendency for peers to influence each other to become similar in behaviors or symptoms) in the aggressive and delinquent behaviors of inner-city elementary school students. Because this model of peer contagion differs from the usual model based on positive reinforcement of delinquent behavior, it raises the possibility that the persistent finding of inadvertent adverse effects of group treatment might not apply to group treatment of elementary school children if the possibility of aggressive behavior in the group is limited. Participants were randomly assigned to Kids FAST® - Families And Schools Together [now called, FAST® - Elementary School Level]; a group treatment that includes parental participation) or to an intervention focused on individual families, FAME. Measures utilized include the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. The model effectively describes the relationship between group averages of aggressive behavior in the classroom and aggressive and delinquent behavior outside the classroom for those students assigned to the individual intervention. The model fits those children assigned to Kids FAST® less well, suggesting that Kids FAST® may make it less likely that aggressive and delinquent behavior is generalized outside of aggressive classroom settings. Limitations include possible participant bias.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Kratochwill, T. R., McDonald, L., Levin, J. R., Scalia, P. A., & Coover, G. (2009). Families and schools together: An experimental study of multi-family support groups for children at risk. Journal of School Psychology, 47(4), 245–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2009.03.001

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial using matched pairs
Number of Participants: 134

Population:

  • Age — Not specified
  • Race/Ethnicity — 40% Caucasian, 35% African American, 13% Asian, and 12% Latino
  • Gender — Not specified
  • Status — Participants were families of elementary school children in 1st through 3rd grade in eight elementary schools serving low-income communities within the school district showing increased rates of children with serious emotional disturbances (SED).

Location/Institution: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the Kids FAST® - Families And Schools Together [now called, FAST® - Elementary School Level] multifamily support group intervention program in elementary schools. Participants were initially paired on the basis of five relevant matching variables, including teacher assessment of behavioral problems, and then randomly assigned to either ongoing school services (control) or the Kids FAST® program. Parents and teachers completed pre-, post-, and 1-year follow-up assessments. Measures utilized include the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF), the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES), and the Family Support Scale (FSS). Results indicate that at follow-up, parent reports showed that Kids FAST® students declined less on a family adaptability measure relative to control group students and that Kids FAST® parents reported statistically significant reductions in children's externalizing (aggressive) behaviors, compared to the reports of control group parents. Limitations include the mixed recruitment process and small sample size. It is unclear from the article whether the study intervention included both the 8 weekly multifamily group sessions and the 2 years of monthly booster sessions which make up the current Kids FAST® program.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Gamoran, A., Turley, R. N. L., Turner, A., & Fish, R. (2012). Differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic families in social capital and child development: First-year findings from an experimental study. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 30(1), 97–112.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2011.08.001

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1300

Population:

  • Age — Not specified
  • Race/Ethnicity — 77% Hispanic, 14% White, 8% African American and 1% Asian/Pacific Islander
  • Gender — Not specified
  • Status — Participants were families who were recruited from elementary schools.

Location/Institution: Phoenix, Arizona and San Antonio, Texas

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine the role of social capital in child development through utilization of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) [now called FAST® - Elementary School Level] program for children in elementary schools. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two cohorts – cluster design, and then they were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, resulting in Cohort 1 consisting of 12 FAST and 12 comparison schools and Cohort 2 consisting of 14 FAST and 14 comparison schools. Measures utilized include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results indicate that the surveys prior to FAST confirm that Hispanic parents have less extensive parent–school networks compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Comparisons of school means on post-FAST surveys indicate that parents in FAST schools experience more extensive social networks than those in control schools, but the differences are much more apparent in Phoenix than in San Antonio. Similarly, a pattern of better behavioral outcomes for children in FAST schools is evident in Phoenix but not San Antonio. Individual-level comparisons suggest that for some outcomes, effects may be larger for non-Hispanic Whites than for Hispanics, which would undermine potential contributions to reducing inequality. Limitations include that only half the data are available because the FAST intervention has been implemented in only the first 12 of the 26 treatment schools, concerns about generalizability due to ethnicity, and lack of follow-up.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Shoji, M. N., Haskins, A. R., Rangel, D. E., & Sorensen, K. N. (2014). The emergence of social capital in low-income Latino elementary schools. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 600–613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.07.003

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 29

Population:

  • Age — Not specified
  • Race/Ethnicity — 75% Hispanic
  • Gender — 80% Female
  • Status — Participants were families who were recruited from elementary schools.

Location/Institution: Phoenix, Arizona and San Antonio, Texas

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine the mechanisms of social capital emergence in predominantly low-income Latino school communities through utilization of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) [now called FAST® - Elementary School Level] program for children in elementary schools. Information was utilized from a previous study (Gamoran, McDonald, & Turley, 2005) that manipulated social capital through an afterschool family engagement program. Four types of interactions that act as mechanisms of social capital emerged: (1) responsive communication; (2) reciprocal communication; (3) shared experiences; and (4) institutional linkage. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two cohorts in a cluster design, and then they were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Two FAST schools (one from each city) were then randomly selected for qualitative data collection from the winter cohort. Measures utilized include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Data comes from the first year of the Children, Families, and Schools (CFS) study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial of the FAST intervention targeted to first graders and their families in 52 low-income schools. Results indicate a sense of group membership and belonging (bounded solidarity), repeated and reciprocated social exchange (reciprocity exchanges), and the adoption of values to which one is exposed (value introjection) all appeared to encourage social capital in these school communities. Limitations include the small sample size, lack of follow-up, and limited coverage of individual experiences that would be more fully illuminated through in-depth interviews.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Additional References

McDonald, L. (2002). Evidence-based, family-strengthening strategies to reduce delinquency: FAST -- Families and Schools Together. In A. R. Roberts & G. J. Green (Eds.), Social workers' desk reference (pp. 717-722). New York: Oxford University Press.

McDonald, L., & Frey, H. (1999). Families and Schools Together: Building relationships. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, NCJ173423: Washington, DC.

Contact Information

Molly McGowan
Title: Director of Programs
Agency/Affiliation: Families and Schools Together, Inc.
Website: www.familiesandschools.org
Email:
Phone: (608) 663-2382

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: October 2023

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: March 2021

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: June 2013