Comparing the effectiveness of two reciprocal reading comprehension interventions for primary school pupils in disadvantaged schools.

BACKGROUND: Effective reading comprehension teaching is an aspiration of education systems across the world. Teaching incorporating reciprocal reading theory and evidence is an internationally popular approach for improving comprehension. AIMS: This paper uses two large cluster randomized controlled trials of similar reciprocal reading interventions implemented in different ways to compare their effectiveness. SAMPLE: The two interventions had the same teacher professional development, reciprocal reading activities and dosage/exposure, but varied in their implementation, with one delivered as a whole-class ('universal') version for pupils aged 8-9 years and the other a small group ('targeted') version for pupils aged 9-11 years with specific comprehension difficulties. METHODS: Two large-scale cluster RCTs were conducted in 98 schools with N = 3699 pupils in the universal trial and N = 1523 in the targeted trial. RESULTS: Multi-level models showed significant effects for the targeted version of the intervention on pupil reading comprehension (g = .18) and overall reading (g = .14). No significant effects were found for the whole class version. A sub-group analyses of disadvantaged pupils showed the targeted intervention's effects were even larger on reading comprehension (g = .25). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggested that this reciprocal reading intervention worked best when implemented in small groups and targeted for pupils with specific comprehension difficulties and particularly for pupils in disadvantaged circumstances. COMMENTS: This evaluation shows that even if a reading comprehension intervention is underpinned by strong theory and evidence-based practice, its effectiveness can still depend on implementation choices.

A qualitative case study in the social capital of co-professional collaborative co-practice for children with speech, language and communication needs.

BACKGROUND: Effective co-practice is essential to deliver services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The necessary skills, knowledge and resources are distributed amongst professionals and agencies. Co-practice is complex and a number of barriers, such as 'border disputes' and poor awareness of respective priorities, have been identified. However social-relational aspects of co-practice have not been explored in sufficient depth to make recommendations for improvements in policy and practice. Here we apply social capital theory to data from practitioners: an analytical framework with the potential to move beyond descriptions of socio-cultural phenomena to inform change. AIMS: Co-practice in a local authority site was examined to understand: (1) the range of social capital relations extant in the site's co-practice; (2) how these relations affected the abilities of the network to collaborate; (3) whether previously identified barriers to co-practice remain; (4) the nature of any new complexities that may have emerged; and (5) how inter-professional social capital might be fostered. METHODS & PROCEDURES: A qualitative case study of SLCN provision within one local authority in England and its linked NHS partner was completed through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with professionals working with children with SLCN across the authority. Interviews, exploring barriers and facilitators to interagency working and social capital themes, were transcribed, subjected to thematic analysis using iterative methods and a thematic framework derived. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: We identified a number of characteristics important for the effective development of trust, reciprocity and negotiated co-practice at different levels of social capital networks: macro-service governance and policy; meso-school sites; and micro-intra-practitioner knowledge and skills. Barriers to co-practice differed from those found in earlier studies. Some negative aspects of complexity were evident, but only where networked professionalism and trust was absent between professions. Where practitioners embraced and services and systems enabled more fluid forms of collaboration, then trust and reciprocity developed. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Highly collaborative forms of co-practice, inherently more complex at the service governance, macro-level, bring benefits. At the meso-level of the school and support team network there was greater capacity to individualize co-practice to the needs of the child. Capacity was increased at the micro-level of knowledge and skills to harness the overall resource distributed amongst members of the inter-professional team. The development of social capital, networks of trust across SLCN support teams, should be a priority at all levels-for practitioners, services, commissioners and schools.

Variation in cooperative behaviour within a single city.

Human cooperative behaviour, as assayed by decisions in experimental economic dilemmas such as the Dictator Game, is variable across human populations. Within-population variation has been less well studied, especially within industrial societies. Moreover, little is known about the extent to which community-level variation in Dictator Game behaviour relates to community-level variation in real-world social behaviour. We chose two neighbourhoods of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne that were similar in most regards, but at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of level of socioeconomic deprivation. We administered Dictator Games to randomly-selected residents, and also gathered a large number of more naturalistic measures of cooperativeness. There were dramatic differences in Dictator Game behaviour between the two neighbourhoods, with the mean allocation to the other player close to half the stake in the affluent neighbourhood, and close to one tenth of the stake in the deprived neighbourhood. Moreover, the deprived neighbourhood was also characterised by lower self-reported social capital, higher frequencies of crime and antisocial behaviour, a higher frequency of littering, and less willingness to take part in a survey or return a lost letter. On the other hand, there were no differences between the neighbourhoods in terms of the probability of helping a person who dropped an object, needed directions to a hospital, or needed to make change for a coin, and people on the streets were less likely to be alone in the deprived neighbourhood than the affluent one. We conclude that there can be dramatic local differences in cooperative behaviour within the same city, and that these need further theoretical explanation.

Development of social variation in reproductive schedules: a study from an English urban area.

BACKGROUND: There is striking social variation in the timing of the onset of childbearing in contemporary England, with the mean age at first motherhood about 8 years earlier in the most deprived compared to the least deprived neighbourhoods. However, relatively little is known about how these social differences in reproductive schedule develop in childhood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied the development of differences in reproductive schedules, using a cross-sectional survey over 1000 school students aged 9-15 in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside. Students from more deprived neighbourhoods had earlier ideal ages for parenthood than those from more affluent ones, and these differences were fully apparent by age 11. We found evidence consistent with three mechanisms playing a role in maintaining the socioeconomic gradient. These were: vertical intergenerational transmission (students whose own parents were younger at their birth wanted children younger); oblique intergenerational transmission (students in neighbourhoods where parents were younger in general wanted children earlier); and low parental investment (students who did not feel emotionally supported by their own parents wanted children at a younger age). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results shed some light on the proximate factors which may be involved in maintaining early childbearing in disadvantaged communities. They help understand why educational initiatives aimed at adolescents tend to have no effect, whereas improving the well-being of poor families with young children may do so. Our results also suggest that there will be considerable intergenerational inertia in the response of reproductive schedules to changing socioecological conditions.