Addressing a key purpose of the NICHD P01 to encourage multidisciplinary approaches to the investigation of complex problems relevant to NICHD's mission-our program project's principal goal is to understand why human capital intervention programs and policies, directed at children in the preschool, middle childhood and adolescent stages of development, have the effects, non-effects and, in some cases, perverse effects that they do. Our common conceptual approach views the extent to which children and youth profit from interventions as depending on the congruence (""""""""fit"""""""") between the developmental needs of children and youth and the design of the intervention policies. The specific policy interventions we investigate include: i) early childhood programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start (Project I);ii) state standards for health education curricula involving alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (Project II);and iii) school voucher programs and state policies regarding high-stakes exams for grade promotion and/or graduation (Project III). A fourth project (IV) complements the first three by addressing the """"""""So what?"""""""" question of the possible adult consequences of augmenting skills or improving behavior at various points in childhood and adolescence. Where possible, our policy-analytic methods take advantage of random assignment or natural experimental methodologies. To address policy research questions regarding the distribution of policy impacts, we propose to develop new analytic methods. We will also seek to """"""""get inside the black box"""""""" to identify particular intervention elements that may be contributing to the observed program effects on preschoolers and school- aged children and youth in anticipation of future program design and evaluation. Our collaboration involves economists, developmental psychologists, sociologists and epidemiologists based mainly at the University of California, Irvine. A single, Administrative Core, provides administrative support for all projects monitors the progress of each project and facilitates the dissemination of the results of the research to the broader research community and the policy world. Taken together, the group's involvement with multiple projects as well as seminars, jointly-authored papers and other core activities will constitute a research network - the Irvine Network on Interventions in Development.

Public Health Relevance

The path to our nation's future prosperity and security rests on its ability to promote human capital skills, broadly conceived, among its children and youth. Our program project draws on the expertise and close collaboration of economists, developmental psychologists, sociologists and epidemiologists to understand the impacts of educational interventions designed to augment human capital and promote positive behavior, particularly for children and youth raised in economically disadvantaged families.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01HD065704-04
Application #
8725520
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1)
Program Officer
Clark, Rebecca L
Project Start
2011-09-24
Project End
2016-05-31
Budget Start
2014-06-01
Budget End
2015-05-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Irvine
Department
Type
Schools of Education
DUNS #
City
Irvine
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92697
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Penner, Emily K (2018) Early Parenting and the Reduction of Educational Inequality in Childhood and Adolescence. J Educ Res 111:213-231
Watts, Tyler W; Duncan, Greg J; Quan, Haonan (2018) Revisiting the Marshmallow Test: A Conceptual Replication Investigating Links Between Early Delay of Gratification and Later Outcomes. Psychol Sci 29:1159-1177
Bailey, Drew H; Duncan, Greg J; Watts, Tyler et al. (2018) Risky business: Correlation and causation in longitudinal studies of skill development. Am Psychol 73:81-94
Watts, Tyler W; Duncan, Greg J; Clements, Douglas H et al. (2018) What Is the Long-Run Impact of Learning Mathematics During Preschool? Child Dev 89:539-555
Jenkins, Jade M; Watts, Tyler W; Magnuson, Katherine et al. (2018) Do High-Quality Kindergarten and First-Grade Classrooms Mitigate Preschool Fadeout? J Res Educ Eff 11:339-374
Jenkins, Jade M; Duncan, Greg J; Auger, Anamarie et al. (2018) Boosting School Readiness: Should Preschool Teachers Target Skills or the Whole Child? Econ Educ Rev 65:107-125
Watts, Tyler W; Clements, Douglas H; Sarama, Julie et al. (2017) Does Early Mathematics Intervention Change the Processes Underlying Children's Learning? J Res Educ Eff 10:96-115
Miller, Elizabeth B (2017) Spanish Instruction in Head Start and Dual Language Learners' Academic Achievement. J Appl Dev Psychol 52:159-169
Schenke, Katerina; Nguyen, Tutrang; Watts, Tyler W et al. (2017) Differential effects of the classroom on African American and non-African American's mathematics achievement. J Educ Psychol 109:794-811

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