We assessed impacts on classroom quality and on 5 child language and behavioral outcomes of a 2-year teacher professional-development program for publicly funded prekindergarten and kindergarten in Chile. This cluster-randomized trial included 64 schools (child N = 1,876). The program incorporated workshops and in-classroom coaching. We found moderate to large positive impacts on observed emotional and instructional support as well as classroom organization in prekindergarten classrooms after 1 year of the program. After 2 years of the program, moderate positive impacts were observed on emotional support and classroom organization. No significant program impacts on child outcomes were detected at posttest (1 marginal effect, an increase in a composite of self-regulation and low problem behaviors, was observed). Professional development for preschool teachers in Chile can improve classroom quality. More intensive curricular approaches are needed for these improvements to translate into effects on children.
The objective of this analysis is to compare two different approaches to the collection of information on contraceptive use. The data for this comparison are derived from the 1986 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Peru. Approximately 7,500 women were interviewed with the standard DHS questionnaire, whereas about 5,000 women received an "experimental questionnaire." The major difference between the questionnaires is the inclusion of a six-year monthly calendar in the experimental questionnaire that records pregnancies, contraceptive use, and postpartum information, in contrast to the more common tabular format of the standard questionnaire. The analysis demonstrates that although reports of contraceptive knowledge, ever-use, and current use are relatively robust to the variations in questionnaire design, estimates of past use are dependent on the survey instrument. Several different comparisons indicate that reporting of information on contraceptive histories in the experimental questionnaire is superior to that in the standard one.
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