The William T. Grant Foundation recently awarded five grants to research teams and organizations dedicated to understanding and improving youth settings. Two of the funded studies expand work on compelling classroom interventions, while one looks at how school districts have responded to the demand to incorporate research evidence into school improvements. The other two studies focus on family processes that influence youth outcomes and explore appropriate measures of family dynamics.
“These awards represent our interests in how to measure the means by which schools and families affect youth. We also have a strong example of our emerging portfolio on how practitioners and policymakers use research evidence in their work,” said Foundation President Robert C. Granger.
Information about each of these grants follows. Those seeking further information are invited to contact the principal investigators.
Examining the Importance of Health Spillovers Between Siblings: Magnitudes and Mechanisms
Barbara Wolfe, Ph.D.
Marsha Seltzer, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Jason Fletcher, Ph.D.
Yale University
$355,742
2010–2013
How are healthy children’s development, education, and employment outcomes affected by a sibling’s chronic or severe health problems? We know that the chronic health problems and disabilities of one sibling will likely impact the relationship between siblings and influence the healthy sibling’s development, but little is known about how, under what circumstances, and to what extent a sibling’s health conditions affect the other sibling’s educational and employment outcomes. This study will track the educational and employment outcomes of the healthy sibling, including years of schooling and college attendance. Health problems examined will include developmental disabilities, mental illness, learning disabilities, childhood ADHD, and adolescent depression. Additionally, the impact of the death of a sibling on the surviving siblings will be investigated, as well as the influence of parental health problems and parental reactions to children’s health impairments. The investigators will use data from several national surveys with information on over 5,000 youth ranging in age from 0 to 25. Some participants were tracked for more than 50 years.
Small Class Sizes and Health: Causality, Mechanisms, and Lessons for Policy
Peter Muennig, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Ty Wilde, Ph.D.
Columbia University
Jeremy Finn, Ph.D.
State University of New York at Buffalo
$201,622
2010–2011
Can reducing class size during the early grades lead to improved educational outcomes, higher incomes, and better health in adulthood? This project provides a follow-up to the Tennessee STAR class size experiment conducted in the mid-1980s. Project STAR included over 11,601 students who were randomly assigned to the treatment group (class size 13–17 students) or to larger class sizes (22–26 students). Project STAR showed that smaller class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grade led to decreases in special education needs and grade repetition; improved academic performance and general well-being; and increased high school graduation and college entrance exam completion rates. Reduced class sizes also appeared to lower educational disparities based on income and race, even though the intervention was not specifically targeted to at-risk populations. Now that these original subjects have grown older, investigators will combine the Project STAR data with federal health data to ascertain whether children who experienced reduced class sizes within Project STAR have subsequently experienced higher earnings, and lower disability and mortality rates than their peers who attended regular size classes. Addressing these questions will also help identify which aspects of the educational system might require enhancements.
Understanding Social Network Structure in Schools Under Corrective Action: A Longitudinal Comparative Analysis of Research Use and Diffusion in Urban Districts
Alan Daly, Ph.D.
University of California, San Diego
Kara Finnigan, Ph.D.
University of Rochester
$342,246
2009–2011
How do district and school staff acquire, interpret, and use research evidence to reform schools designated as in need of “corrective action” by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)? NCLB created a series of sanctions for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress in improving student achievement. Two years of inadequate progress triggers an improvement phase, which is followed by corrective action sanctions. NCLB also included over 100 references to the use of “scientifically based research” to improve schools. Despite this unprecedented demand on educators to use research within a high-stakes accountability environment, there has been little work examining the use of research evidence in schools. The investigators will explore the use of research evidence in the San Diego Unified and Rochester City School Districts, two urban school districts with a large, increasing number of schools designated as corrective action schools. Both districts serve a disproportionate number of minority youth from low socio-economic backgrounds, especially in the lowest performing schools. In each district, social network surveys will be completed by teachers, school administrators, and district personnel to assess who they approach for information about school improvement, consider as trusted sources, and communicate with regularly. Three to four schools in corrective action will be used for intensive case studies involving interviews with school and district staff, document review, and observations of meetings associated with school improvement.
Changing Familial Processes to Promote Youths’ Well-Being: An Embedded Daily Diary Study of Family Life
JoAnn Hsueh, Ph.D.
MDRC
Mark Cummings, Ph.D.
University of Notre Dame
$550,000
2010–2012
Do daily diaries effectively measure family interactions among mothers, fathers, and adolescent children, and which family environments support healthy child well-being and parent engagement? This grant will supplement the work of MDRC as they evaluate the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) Demonstration and Evaluation. This is the first large-scale, multi-site experimental evaluation of marriage education programs targeting low-income married couples and their families. SHM is a year-long program that includes a structured group course on relationship skills; individual coaching of couples; and ongoing case management to encourage participation and to provide links to outside community services, as needed. The current MDRC evaluation of SHM does not specifically examine daily family processes. This grant will allow the investigators to add a pilot study in which about 20 of the SHM families will keep daily diaries using handheld wireless devices. The pilot is meant to test the appropriateness of the daily diary data collection approach. Once the optimal methods and measures are established, the results of this pilot study will be reported to the Foundation for review. If a full-scale study is approved, up to 330 families will be asked to complete the daily diaries, and the researchers will investigate daily family processes and the links between family members’ behaviors, moods, and interactions with each other over time.
Using Emotional Literacy to Improve Youth-Serving Organizations
Marc Brackett, Ph.D.
Susan Rivers, Ph.D.
Peter Salovey, Ph.D.
Yale University
$50,185
2009–2011
This grant supplements a prior intervention funded by the Foundation, the goal of which was to test the impact of a school-based emotional literacy program randomly administered to 65 schools, in the 5th and 6th grade classrooms. Given that these students remain in the same schools for the 7th grade, the PIs raised the question of whether changes in student-teacher interaction in the 5th and 6th grades carries over to their 7th grade classrooms. This supplement will enable the PIs to collect both student surveys and classroom observation data using the CLASS in the fall of 7th grade. If this data yields positive results, staff will award additional funds to cover data collection and analysis in the spring of the 7th grade.