The R-CITY Project: A Collaborative Intervention With Teachers and Youth (R-CITY)

January 9, 2026 updated by: Catherine Bradshaw, University of Virginia

R-CITY: A Collaborative Intervention With Teachers and Youth

"R-CITY" refers to the Collaborative Intervention with Teachers and Youth to practice and apply the 4 "Rs" of social skills in the classroom - Recognizing, Responding, Relationships, and Resilience. R-CITY is a collaborative teacher- and youth-focused prevention intervention that offers student lessons to accompany the Second Step curriculum. The lessons are designed to create safe and positive learning environments for all.

The R-CITY Project uses a school-level randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to test the integration of the Second Step program that the school district had been scaling up district wide with the R-CITY lessons. The purpose of the RCT is to determine the "value-added" of the Second Step program plus the new skill content compared to the Second Step alone in elementary and middle schools. Students in both conditions get access to the Second Step content, as an active control condition.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study aims to test the R-CITY intervention in 27 elementary and middle schools. Specific aims are as follows: Aim 1 is to test the effects of the integrated R-CITY intervention on attitudes. Aim 2 is to test the effects of the integrated R-CITY intervention on classroom practices and teaching self-efficacy. Aim 3 is to test the effects of the integrated R-CITY intervention on student behaviors. Outcomes are assessed at pre-test in the fall and post-test in the spring, over the course of the school year.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

145

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Towson, Maryland, United States, 21204
        • Shepard Pratt Health System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- General education teachers of core subjects (Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, English/Language Arts).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Second Step Only

Second Step Only Condition supports include:

  • School wide support for implementation of Second Step curriculum (e.g., technical assistance professional development, facilitated professional learning communities)
  • Support to Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and Multi Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) with alignment of initiatives
  • Individualized technical assistance with Second Step program implementation
Behavioral: Second Step Only
For the Second Step Only (active comparator) condition schools, activities involve school-wide technical assistance and implementation support for the Second Step program implementation, as well as individualized technical assistance for the Second Step program. In the year following participation, Second Step Only condition schools are offered access to and training and technical support for the classroom lessons.
Experimental: Second Step + R-CITY

Second Step + R-CITY supports include supports from the Second Step Only condition plus:

  • Training and implementation support for teachers to deliver 6 student lessons tailored to each grade level (4th and 5th for elementary schools; 6th - 8th for middle schools) and aligned with Second Step core content
  • Five 45-minute school-wide Professional Development (PD) sessions to complement the school district's PD
  • Individualized teacher coaching to support implementing teacher practices and classroom lessons
Behavioral: Second Step + R-CITY
For the Second Step + R-CITY (experimental) condition schools, activities include those in the Second Step Only condition, as well as student lessons designed by the project team, as well as training and individualized support for implementing classroom lessons, five 45-minute professional development sessions, and one-on-one coaching to support teacher practices and the implementation of the 6 classroom lessons.
Other Names:
  • R-CITY Intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
ASSIST Classroom Observations
Time Frame: Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.
The ASSIST is a direct observational measure that assesses the classroom interactions between students and teachers. Observation cycles are 15 minutes and scales include tallied counts of teacher and student behaviors, as well as global ratings of interactions based on a Likert-style scale.
Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
R-CITY Teacher Self-Report Survey
Time Frame: Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.
This survey assesses teachers' cultural competence and self-efficacy. Each item on this scale was scored on a 6-point Likert-type scale where 1 is strongly disagree and 6 is strongly agree.
Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.
Suspensions
Time Frame: Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.
School-level student suspensions (publicly reported and accessible).
Post-intervention, within one month following the completion of the intervention.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Virginia

Collaborators

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Sheppard Pratt Health System

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 15, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 16, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 7, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 14, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

October 19, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

January 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 9, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SBS2232

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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