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Promoting children's learning and development in conflict-affected countries: Testing change process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2016

J. Lawrence Aber ,
Carly Tubbs ,
Catalina Torrente ,
Peter F. Halpin ,
Brian Johnston ,
Leighann Starkey ,
Anjuli Shivshanker ,
Jeannie Annan ,
Edward Seidman  and
Sharon Wolf
J. Lawrence Aber*
Affiliation:
New York University
Carly Tubbs
Affiliation:
New York University
Catalina Torrente
Affiliation:
Mathematica Policy Research
Peter F. Halpin
Affiliation:
New York University
Brian Johnston
Affiliation:
City University of New York
Leighann Starkey
Affiliation:
City University of New York
Anjuli Shivshanker
Affiliation:
International Rescue Committee
Jeannie Annan
Affiliation:
International Rescue Committee
Edward Seidman
Affiliation:
New York University
Sharon Wolf
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: J. Lawrence Aber, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 246 Greene Street, Floor 4E, New York, NY 10003; E-mail: la39@nyu.edu.
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Abstract

Improving children's learning and development in conflict-affected countries is critically important for breaking the intergenerational transmission of violence and poverty. Yet there is currently a stunning lack of rigorous evidence as to whether and how programs to improve learning and development in conflict-affected countries actually work to bolster children's academic learning and socioemotional development. This study tests a theory of change derived from the fields of developmental psychopathology and social ecology about how a school-based universal socioemotional learning program, the International Rescue Committee's Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom (LRHC), impacts children's learning and development. The study was implemented in three conflict-affected provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and employed a cluster-randomized waitlist control design to estimate impact. Using multilevel structural equation modeling techniques, we found support for the central pathways in the LRHC theory of change. Specifically, we found that LRHC differentially impacted dimensions of the quality of the school and classroom environment at the end of the first year of the intervention, and that in turn these dimensions of quality were differentially associated with child academic and socioemotional outcomes. Future implications and directions are discussed.

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