In the debate over evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for youth, one question is central: Do EBTs produce better outcomes than the usual interventions employed in clinical care? The authors addressed this question through a meta-analysis of 32 randomized trials that directly compared EBTs with usual care. EBTs outperformed usual care. Effects fell…

The search for the principles of unified psychotherapy is an important stage in the advancement of the field. Converging evidence from various streams of clinical science allows the identification of some of the major domains of human functioning, adaptation, and dysfunction. These principles, supported by animal modeling, neuroscience, and…

The present study investigates the development of children's ability to make inferences about a peer's mental state. In this study 48 eight-year-old children, 49 ten-year-old children and 44 adults observed and analyzed short video sequences, extracts from a socio-cognitive interaction between two children working on a mathematical task. The…

The inability to write scientific papers effectively remains a problem for many college students. To identify pedagogical constructs that help undergraduates write well in scientific formats, we evaluated the effect of the number and type of college composition courses previously taken, science writing experience, and tutorial services. In our…

In this report we focus on the use of propensity score methodology in multisite studies of the effects of educational programs and practices in which both treatment and control conditions are enacted within each of the schools in a sample, and the assignment to treatment is not random. A key challenge in applying propensity score methodology in…

This study describes a program designed to improve reading comprehension through the selection, application, and transfer of appropriate reading strategies with both fictional and informational texts. The targeted population consisted of seventh and eighth grade middle school students in a middle-class community in the western suburbs of Chicago,…

Peering through a thematic science lens--elementary students embarked on a one-week study of ants during a month-long summer school program. This integrated unit addressed reading and writing skills while developing the science-process skills of observation, inferring, and communicating in a motivating and authentic way. Pre- and post-assessments…

Three meta-analytic studies have shown that bilingual education is an effective method for teaching students who are English language learners. However, there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of bilingual education in preschool. This study used multiple years of data from the Manchester (New Hampshire) Even Start program and relevant…

The author describes her 30 years of experience in the design and conduct of a series of large-scale randomized controlled studies in the field of public welfare. She describes how these studies came about, what lessons can be drawn about research methods, what was learned about the effectiveness of these programs (the National Supported Work…

Objectives: A national survey finds that 62% of social work programs do not require didactic and clinical supervision in any empirically supported psychotherapy (EST). The authors report the results of analysis of national survey data using two alternative classifications of EST to determine if the results are because of the definition of EST used…

Inference, or decision making, is seen in curriculum documents as the final step in a statistical investigation. For a formal statistical enquiry this may be associated with sophisticated tests involving probability distributions. For young students without the mathematical background to perform such tests, it is still possible to draw informal…

The purpose of this study was to document whether adolescents make inferences regarding male and female vignette characters in terms of the characters' sexuality, social skills, impairment, and aggressiveness when the characters consume alcohol. A Web-based survey of 1,691 middle and high school students (grades 6-11) from diverse socioeconomic…

This paper explores and questions some of the evidence used to support early childhood interventions in the UK, and reports on discussions with three rural Mini Sure Start project leaders in Devon. Sure Start funding in the UK has been repeatedly increased to provide more centres for 0-3-year-olds and their parents. It is increasingly linked to…

For students to compete in the 21st-century global economy, knowledge of and proficiency in mathematics are critical. Whether headed to college or to the workforce, today's high school graduates need solid mathematics skill. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel was created in 2006 and charged with reviewing the best available scientific…

The authors propose a strategy for studying the effects of time-varying instructional treatments on repeatedly observed student achievement. This approach responds to three challenges: (a) The yearly reallocation of students to classrooms and teachers creates a complex structure of dependence among responses; (b) a child's learning outcome under a…