Preschool‐Age Problem Behavior and Teacher–Child Conflict in School: Direct and Moderation Effects by Preschool Organization

The hypothesis was tested that the new open‐group Norwegian day‐care centers would more than traditionally organized centers negatively affect (a) current and (b) future teacher–child relationships, and (c) the developmental legacy of preschool problem behavior. The focus was on eight hundred and fifty 4‐year‐olds from 153 centers who were followed up in first grade. Results of this natural quasi‐experiment revealed that children from open‐group centers (a) experienced less teacher–child closeness in preschool and (b) more teacher–child conflict in first grade, and (c) that high levels of preschool problem behavior forecast especially high levels of future teacher–child conflict, but only for children from open‐group centers. Results highlight the importance of spatial and social organization of day care and their translational implications.     

The impact of Teach First on pupil attainment at age 16

We evaluate whether the placement of Teach First's inexperienced new teachers into secondary schools with recruitment difficulties in disadvantaged areas in England has raised or lowered pupil attainment at the age of 16. Our matched difference‐in‐difference panel estimation approach compares the experiences of 168 schools participating early on in the scheme to those in the same region who will go on to participate in later years. We find the programme has not been damaging to these schools who joined and most likely produced school‐wide gains in GCSE results of around one grade in one of the pupils’ best eight subjects. Similarly, we estimate departmental gains of over 5% of a subject grade resulting from placing a Teach First participant in a teaching team of six teachers. The estimation approach cannot assert whether these gains arise solely through the greater teaching quality of Teach First participants compared to those they displace, or whether spillovers raise standards across the department or somehow change the ethos within the school.     

A tale of two variances: between and within

In response to Worobey and Brazelton's thoughtful and welcome commentary on my assessment of the effectiveness of a Brazelton-based newborn intervention, 2 points are made. The first is that a healthy difference of opinion exists regarding the effectiveness of such interventions; I view the available evidence as less striking than they, but not as limited as they feel my initial study report implies. The second point of this essay is to provide empirical support for my critics' contention that how an intervention is delivered is as important as the fact that an intervention is delivered. By presenting data excised from my original submission to Child Development, it is shown that variation in parents' interest in, involvement with, and enjoyment of the Brazelton intervention was directly related to the intervention's outcome within the joint mother-father treatment condition--even often controlling for background factors related to engagement of the intervention. It is thus concluded that assessment of the process of intervention is critical to any complete evaluation of an intervention, regardless of the results of experimental-control group comparisons.