Introduction:

The development of a healthy, highly-skilled labour force is considered critical to employment and sustained economic growth in the new economy. Recent literature has emphasized the increasing demand for skills and learning to participate in the new economy, which has increased over the past decade and is likely to increase further during the next two decades. However, the new economy also requires workers who are healthy, both physically and mentally, and can work productively as part of a team. Literacy, behaviour, and health go hand-in-hand, because people with higher levels of literacy tend to have healthier lifestyles, less disease, and generally a better quality of life.

Two of the milestones of Canada’s Innovation Strategy (Human Resources Development Canada, 2002) are: (1) that Canada becomes one of the top three countries in mathematics, science, and reading achievement, and (2) that all students who graduate from high school achieve a level of literacy sufficient to participate in the knowledge-based economy. To reach these milestones, Canada must raise levels of literacy, especially for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The aim of this collaborative research program is to bring together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers who can focus their research and training efforts over a four-year period on a single question: “How can we raise and level the bar?”, or specifically “How can we improve the learning, behaviour, and health outcomes of our youth, while reducing inequalities associated with family background?”

Research Team:

The research will be carried out by a research team comprised of five senior scholars (Clyde Hertzman, Ann Gauthier, Noralou Roos, Richard Tremblay, and Doug Willms), and 21 new scholars who are members of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s New Investigators Network (CIAR-NIN). This network, and much of the direction of the proposed research, grew out of the Human Development Program of the CIAR. The CIAR is providing funding for the CIAR-NIN as a means to leverage its previous investments in human development research, and to create a legacy of research leaders and productive scholars in the area of human development. The team’s work will also be supported by an International Advisory Board comprised of five senior scholars who are recognized leaders in the field of human development (Fraser Mustard, Catherine Peckham, Jose Soares, Fiona Stanley, and Michael Wolfson).

Research Strategies:

The heart of our research program is longitudinal research on children’s development based on children’s growth trajectories from birth to entry to the labour market. Canada’s data on child development is arguably the best in the world. We have a suite of longitudinal surveys pertaining to the lives of children from birth through to entry to the labour force. However, the potential of these data to contribute to Canadian research and policy is not fully realized. Our research program will utilize these data to address several policy issues relevant to “raising and leveling the bar”. It will focus on five key strategies: (1) safeguard the healthy development of infants; (2) strengthen early childhood education; (3) improve schools and local communities; (4) reduce segregation and the effects associated with poverty; and (5) create a family-enabling society.

Research Outcomes:

The 21 new scholars are committed to preparing at least one paper per year based on longitudinal analyses of data from Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). For example, there are several papers already underway examining the effects of parenting styles and family functioning on children’s academic achievement and behavioural outcomes. Over the course of the four years, therefore, we intend to have at least 100 papers produced for scientific journals in the field of human development, broadly conceived.

Basis for Optimism:

The work of the new investigators is being supported in many ways. We have had two face-to-face meetings with the full network. In these meetings we have been dedicating some of the time to training. For example, in the first meeting we had a three-day workshop on the estimation of multilevel growth trajectories, and in the second meeting, separate workshops on handling missing data and on the structure of the NLSCY. The meetings also included a major presentation from one of the senior mentors, and short conference-like presentations from the new investigators. There was also time devoted to creating collaborative activities. We were very excited with the outcomes of the second meeting, as participants were making connections across the differing approaches among disciplines in the ways research questions are formulated, the methods used to address them, and the approach to policy analysis. Many of the new investigators have forged new cross-discipline and cross-national partnerships. At the April 2004 meeting, we included a training program on the use of complex survey design weights, a one-day session summarizing what the CIAR programs in population health and human development achieved over the past ten years, and another full day of presentations from new investigators.

The research activity of the network is also being supported by a data development and training centre based at the University of New Brunswick. This centre is building an infrastructure and data dictionary for the major longitudinal surveys, and providing a training program for the new investigators and their graduate students. We have been experimenting with short web-based conferences (e.g., our first one was a one-hour session on managing complex research projects) and other web-based collaborative tools. Also, the mentors hold regular teleconferences with their new investigators. These have to some extent focused on substantive issues pertaining to their research, but we are also finding that many of the new investigators are asking questions relevant to their career development.

The key elements of this social policy research program entail (a) the accurate measurement of cognitive, behavioural, and health outcomes; (b) an assessment of the variation in outcomes over time, across jurisdictions, among social class and ethnic groups, and between the sexes; (c) policy research aimed at understanding the causes or determinants of these outcomes, including research on families’ lifestyles, the physical environment of neighbourhoods and communities, children’s access to quality schooling and health care, and the economic and social milieu in which children live; and (d) action research that assesses the efficacy of educational and health policies and community-based interventions. Most of the work of the new investigators is quantitative, and focuses on the first three of these key elements. Our advisory group does not feel that reaching the goal of 100 papers from a talented group of new investigators is the biggest challenge. Rather, it is in bridging the gap between the third and fourth elements; that is, in bringing the scientific research to bear on what actually happens in families, schools, and communities. In both education and health research, there is a marked disjuncture between these two elements, supported by separate camps of researchers that are divided along philosophical lines and their approach to research.

Importance of Research:

One of our aims, therefore, is to develop a participatory, community-based research program that uses the knowledge being amassed through quantitative approaches to studying human development. Toward this end, we are developing an action research program in 22 New Brunswick’s schools aimed at improving the literacy skills of children between kindergarten and the end of grade 2. This research is being conducted in collaboration with the NB Department of Education and schools in five school districts. In many respects, this program could be characterized as a “school reform” project in that it emphasizes a participatory approach, with collaboration between teachers and researchers in setting goals and designing interventions. It differs, however, in that the participating school staff are committed to becoming “research schools”; they are eager to keep abreast of the research on early literacy, and use it to inform classroom practice. The study also includes a strong quantitative approach that integrates national and provincial monitoring data to classroom-based data aimed at assessing individual children’s growth trajectories over a three-year period. We are seeking further funding for small-scale randomized classroom-based experiments that will provide augmentative interventions to children who have been identified as falling “off-track” in their literacy skills during the first few years of primary school. Here also, the aim is to bring the scientific research to bear on classroom practice in ways that can improve children’s learning, behavioural and health outcomes.

Our research team, including those participating in our first action research project, are developing a knowledge transfer strategy that entails three main elements: dissemination in traditional ways, such as through refereed journal articles, conference presentations, and a web-site devoted to the research outcomes; the development of clear, credible, and compelling materials (e.g., policy briefs, magazine articles, trade volume) prepared for a broad policy audience; and interaction with the partner agencies who will help identify the needs of the policy community and help disseminate findings to the policy community, including parent and front-line workers. The following agencies are partners with the research team in carrying out this research: Caledon Institute of Social Policy, Canadian Association for Community Living, Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Canadian Institute for Health Information, New Brunswick Department of Education, PEI Department of Health, Institute for Work and Health, the Roeher Institute, and the Vanier Institute of the Family.