Developing Effective Interventions and School Reforms for Children Facing Risks
Winter 2014
Graduate School of Education, GSE-H310W
Kennedy School of Government, SUP-425M
Instructor
Richard Weissbourd
Harvard Graduate School of Education
316 Longfellow Hall
617.495.2031 / [email protected]
Teaching Fellows:
Eve Ewing
[email protected]
Faculty Assistant:
Judy Wasserman
HGSE, 322A Longfellow Hall
617.495.3542 / [email protected]
Course Overview
How can we develop more effective interventions for at-risk children? This module addresses this
question with a focus on children in poverty and children suffering social and emotional risks.
Students’ primary work will be to develop a proposal for an intervention that they will then present
to city leaders in Cambridge, Boston, and from other nearby towns. Students may select an
intervention designed to improve students’ academic performance; to reduce children’s social or
emotional risks; or to promote social, emotional, or moral development. The module will consider
not only whether these initiatives ameliorate deficits and troubles, but whether they nurture
strengths and resiliency; new models of resiliency will also be examined. Attention will be given to
the different sources and different expressions of risk and resilience across race, class, and culture.
For each of the interventions, we will explore several questions: How convinced are we – based on
the available evidence – that the intervention will, in fact, be effective? In what sense is the
intervention effective? For example, what kinds of children are helped by these interventions, how
much are they helped, and who is left behind? What is the “theory of change,” and what are the
major ingredients of the intervention? What are the factors, including political factors that determine
whether a city leader supports an intervention? How can interventions best be sustained over time?
What determines whether interventions can be effectively scaled up? Classes will be a combination
of discussion, lectures, and guest speakers involved in interventions, but will also be devoted to
students presenting their intervention proposals at various stages.
Class Meetings
If students cannot attend these sessions, they are required to listen to an audiotape of the session
before the next class. Sections will be arranged.
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Syllabus Winter 2014
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Readings
There are no required texts. Required readings are available through iPa©, online or on reserve, as
noted in the syllabus.
Course Requirements
In addition to the required readings, all students are required to present, either alone or in a group,
an intervention to a city leader. Students will also be required to give each other feedback on their
interventions as they’re being developed.
Grades will be based primarily on the quality of students’ presentations. Strong class participation
can boost students’ grades.
Class Schedule
January 6, Monday, 1-4 pm
January 7, Tuesday, 1-4 pm
January 8, Wednesday, 1-4 pm
January 9, Thursday, 1-4 pm
January 10, Friday, 2-4 pm
January 6: Class 1
January 13, Monday, 2-4 pm
January 14, Tuesday, 2-4 pm
January 15, Wednesday, 2-4:30 pm
January 16, Thursday, 2-4:30 pm
January 17, Friday, 2-4:30 pm
Understanding “Risk” and Poverty as a Risk Factor
Required Readings
Parker, S., et al. (1988). Double jeopardy: The impact of poverty on early childhood development. The
Pediatric Clinics of North America. 35(6), 1-14. (iPa©)
Weissbourd, R. (1996). The vulnerable child: What really hurts America’s children and what we can do
about it. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. pp. 3-9, 31-45, and 125-30. (iPa©)
Olsen, T. (1961). I stand here ironing. In Tell me a riddle. New York: Dell. pp. 1-12. (iPa©)
Delpit, L. (1995) . Other people’s children. New York: New Press. pp. 11-47, 167-183. (On Reserve at
Gutman Library)
Schorr, L. (1998). The risk factors. Chapter 2 in Within our reach. New York: Anchor Press Doubleday.
pp. 23-32. (iPa©)
Luthar, S. (2013). The problem with rich kids. Psychology Today, November/December 2013., pp. 6287.
http://ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=91524937&site=ehost-live&scope=site
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Recommended Readings
Liu, E. (1998). Notes of a native speaker. Chapter 2 in The accidental Asian. New York: Random
House. pp. 33-56. (iPa©)
Luthar, Suniya and Becker, Bronwyn (2002). Privileged but pressured? A study of affluent youth. Child
Development, 73(5), (September/October 2002), 1593-1610. http://ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=7351708&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Kotlowitz, A. (1991). There are no children here: The story of two boys growing up in the other
America. New York: Doubleday. Chapters 1-3, pp. 3-32. (iPa©)
Finnegan, W. (1998). Cold new world: Growing up in a harder country. New York: Random House.
(Chapters 1-9, pp. 3-92). (On Reserve at Gutman Library)
Study Questions
1. What does it mean to be “at-risk” in childhood and how are academic and emotional risks
related—and unrelated-- to economic class?
2. What kinds of poverty related problems are most likely to affect childrenʹs school
3. performance?
4. How do the causes and consequences of academic and emotional risks differ in low-income
versus middle and upper class communities?
5. What do these different types of causes and consequences mean for interventions?
January 7: Class 2
Resilience and What Makes an Intervention Effective?
Required Readings
Werner, E. (1993). Risk, resilience and recovery: Perspectives from the Kuai longitudinal study.
Development and Psychopathology, 5(4) (Fall 1993), 503-514. (iPa©)
Masten, Ann S. and Coatsworth, J. Douglas. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and
unfavorable environments. American Psychologist, 53(2), (February 1998), 205-220.
http://ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=271448&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Smokowski, P. (1998). Prevention and intervention strategies for promoting resilience
in disadvantaged children. Social Service Review. 72(3), (September 1998), 336363. http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/10.1086/515762
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[Note: The following Luther & Brown article is dense, you may want to skim for key points.]
Luthar, S. and Brown, P. (2007). Maximizing resilience through diverse levels of inquiry: Prevailing
paradigms, possibilities and priorities for the future, Development and Psychopathology,
19(3), 931-955. DOI: http://dx.doi.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1017/S0954579407000454
Recommended Reading
Luthar, S. (2006) Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades. In
Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental Psychopathology, Volume 3 (2nd edition).
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. (pp. 740-795) (posted on course iSite, in “Other Resources”)
[This article is dense. Fine to skim]
Study Questions
1. What conceptions of resilience are most faithful to the dynamics and complexity of children's
development?
2. What conceptions of resilience are most useful in the design of school and community
interventions?
3. What are some of the different ways that those involved in school and community
interventions define an effective intervention? How should “effectiveness” be defined?
4. What are the key elements of effective interventions?
January 8: Class 3
School-Community Partnerships and Comprehensive School/Community
Interventions: The Pros and Cons
Required Readings
Mosle, Sarah (2011). Steve Brill’s report card on school reform. New York Times Book Review. August
18, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/books/review/class-warfare-by-steven-brillbook-review.html?ref=teachforamerica
Dobbie, Will and Fryer, Roland G. (2009). Are high-quality schools enough to close the
achievement gap? Evidence from a bold social experiment in Harlem. Harvard University. (iPa©)
Murray, Jacob and Weissbourd, Richard. (2003) Focusing on core academic outcomes: A key to
successful school-community partnerships. Yearbook for the National Society of the Study of
Education, 102(2), 179-200. http://nsseyearbook.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/focusing-on-core-academic-outcomes-a-key-to-successfulschool-community-partnerships
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Chaskin, R. and Richman, H. (1992). Concerns about school-linked services: Institution-based versus
community-based models. The Future of Children, 2(1), Spring 1992, 107-117.
http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/02_01_08.pdf
Canada, G., Harlem Children's Zone website: http://www.hcz.org/
Harlem Children’s Zone White Paper: http://www.hcz.org/images/stories/HCZ%20White%20Paper.pdf
= priority readings
Recommended Reading
Davies, D. (1999). Family, community and school partnerships in the 1990s: The good news and the
bad. Northeastern Institute for Responsive Education. (pp. 1-26) (iPa©)
Rothstein, Richard. (2004). Class and the classroom. American School Board Journal. 191(10),
(October 2004), 16-21. http://ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=14530821&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Steinberg, L. (1996). Beyond the classroom: Why school reform has failed and what parents need to
do. New York: Simon and Schuster. Chapter 5, pp. 78-100.
(iPa©)
Tough, P. (2004).The Harlem Project. The New York Times, June 20, 2004, Section 6, Magazine, p. 44
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/magazine/the-harlemproject.html?scp=1&sq=paul%20tough%20harlem&st=cse
Study Questions
1. What are the potential advantages and drawbacks of school-community partnerships and schoollinked services?
2. What strategies are likely to increase the advantages and reduce the drawbacks?
3. What kinds of services and supports are likely to have the greatest impact on academic
achievement?
4. What are the potential advantages and drawbacks of comprehensive interventions?
5. Is the Harlem Children’s Zone an effective model for alleviating risks and promoting resilience?
What are the challenges to replicating HCZ?
January 9: Class 4
Funding
No Readings
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Study Questions
1. How do funders tend to think about and define effective interventions for at-risk children?
2. To what extent do funders tend to be reactive to current thinking about school reform and
effective interventions and to what extent do they influence current thinking?
3. What are funders both common explicit and more tacit criteria for funding interventions?
January 10: Class 5
Scaling and Sustaining Interventions
Required Readings
Elmore, R. (1996). Getting to scale with good educational practice. Harvard Educational Review, 66
(1), Spring 1996, 1-26. http://her.hepg.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/content/g73266758j348t33/fulltext.pdf
Tyack, D. and Cuban, L., (1995). How schools change reforms. Chapter 3 in Tinkering toward
utopia: A century of school reform, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 60-84. (iPa©)
Barber, M. (2000) Large-Scale reform is possible. Education Week, November 15, 2000, 20(11), 1-3.
http://ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph
&AN=3924951&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Schorr, L. (1997). Spreading what works beyond the hothouse. In Common purpose:
Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods to rebuild America. New York: Doubleday (pp. 2264). (iPa©)
Schorr, L. (2008) “Realizing President-Elect Obama’s Promise to Scale Up What Works to Fight Urban
Poverty,” Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington, D.C. (Revised, June 2009).
http://lisbethschorr.org/doc/RealizingpresidentObamaspromisetoscaleupwhatworkstofighturb
anpovertyJune09.pdf
= priority readings
Study Questions
1. How effective are typical efforts to scale-up successful interventions? What commonly happens
to strong practices when they are introduced to other settings?
2. What are the obstacles to replicating and scaling up interventions effectively?
3. What lessons can be learned from successful replication efforts?
4. Why is it so commonly difficult to sustain interventions?
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5. What are effective strategies for sustaining interventions?
January 13 & 14: Class 6 & 7
January 15, 16, 17:
HGSE-310W/SUP-425M
Practice Presentations
Classes 8, 9 & 10
Presentation
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