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

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.

Risk or resource: Does school climate moderate the influence of community violence on children’s social‐emotional development in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

“…However, a literature review of protective factors for youth exposed to community violence, which included both US and international studies, noted that school climate has received relatively little attention as a moderator for community violence exposure, particularly in comparison to the family setting (Ozer, Lavi, Douglas, & Price Wolf, ). Research in Eastern DRC rarely recognizes schools as a potential protective factor for children exposed to community violence, despite ample evidence of the importance of schools in the aftermath of disaster and trauma (Masten & Narayan, ; but see Aber et al, ) and a growing recognition that the key to fostering resilience for those exposed to trauma resides in fortifying the systems in which individuals reside (Ungar, ). Instead, studies of schools in DRC focus overwhelmingly on individual physical health (e.g., HIV/AIDS education, de‐worming) or educational access (e.g., school enrollment rates or transportation), rather than school quality or teaching practices (McEwan, ) or, by extension, the differential impact of school ecology on promoting social‐emotional learning.…”

Integration of academic and health education for the prevention of physical aggression and violence in young people: systematic review, narrative synthesis and intervention components analysis

“…All trials randomised schools except the Bullying Literature Project, which randomised classrooms ( table 1 ). All evaluations were conducted in the USA, except for Gatehouse, 28 which was an Australian study, and Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom, 29 30 which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All control arms consisted of education-as-usual or waitlist controls, though Second Step 31–33 offered a brief antibullying intervention with low take-up.…”

Increasing understanding for syrian refugee children with empirical evidence

“…The field today is heavily influenced by a 'risk and resilience' framework, one that is attuned to the specific social-ecological contexts in which and the developmental processes through which exposure to war and its related adversities impacts children's present functioning and potential futures (Aber et al, 2017;Cummings, Merrilees, Taylor, & Mondi, 2017;Masten & Narayan, 2012;Yoshikawa, Wuermli, & Aber, in press). The larger field of risk and resilience research, especially as applied to children in crisis contexts, works from a framework that can be summarized in Figure 1.…”