In this article we report the findings of a randomised control clinical trial that assessed the impact of a Philosophy for Children program and replicated a previous study conducted in Scotland by Topping and Trickey. A Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT in the UK or CogAT in the USA) was administered as a pretest and a posttest to randomly selected experimental groups (N = 363, 186 seventh graders + 177 eighth graders) and control groups (N = 177, 79 seventh graders + 98 eighth graders). The students in the experimental group engaged in philosophy lessons in a setting of structured, collaborative inquiry in their language arts classes for one hour per week for a number of weeks. The control group received the standard language arts curriculum in that one hour. The study found that the seventh grade students who had experienced the P4C program showed significant gains relative to those in the seventh grade control group at a high level of statistical significance, but the eighth grade students in the experimental group did not show such gains over the eighth grade control group. It was discovered that the seventh grade teachers started the program early in the school year and continued it for a period of 22 to 26 weeks, while the eighth grade teachers started much later and used the program for only 4 to 10 weeks. Our findings suggest that the P4C program must involve students in activities for a significant period of time before the program shows results, but that a meaningful impact on students’ cognitive abilities can be achieved in about 24 weeks of lessons, less than half the time evidenced by the study by Topping and Trickey.

S In a longitudinal study of teachers in four districts across the state of Texas, we used a survey, interviews, and observations to examine changes in teacher practices related to the adoption of the new literature‐based basal reader programs. Through surveys we collected the views of over 250 teachers statewide and focused on 14 teachers for a more in‐depth examination. We present our results in two stages: Year 1 was the baseline year before the adoption of the new programs, and Year 2 was the first year of the adoption. The survey and interview data suggested that in Year 1 almost all teachers were satisfied with the quality of instruction they provided students and had not made significant program modifications. However, we found major differences in teachers' practices; these differences were displayed on a continuum from those who did not use a basal but developed their own literature units, to those who used the basal including the teachers' manuals, to those who supplemented the basal with additional skills instruction, to the teacher who used only skills worksheets. In Year 2, we found some adjustments in practices. Some teachers did not use the new basal at all, continuing in their literature only or skills only programs. Some teachers adopted the new basal with new methods of instruction; others adopted the new basal, but imported their old instructional methods; still others continued to use the old basals. We found that teachers' epistemological orientations were determining factors in how they responded to changes in teaching context and how they adapted their practices to the new programs. Using Belenky et. al's (1988) ways of knowing framework, we found that most teachers worked within the same epistemological framework in Years 1 and 2. Additionally, we found that there was little staff development in any of the districts to support teachers' implementations of the new programs. EN UN estudio logitudinal de docentes de cuatro distritos en el estado de Texas, usamos una encuesta, entrevistas y observaciones para examinar los cambios en las prácticas docentes relacionados con la adopción de los nuevos programas de lectura con libros basados en la literatura. A través de las encuestas recogimos las opiniones de más de 250 docentes a través del estado y nos centramos en 14 docentes para un examen más profundo. Presentamos nuestros resultados en dos etapas: 1° año fue el año de base antes de la adopción de los nuevos programas y 2° año fue el primer año de la adopción. Los datos de las encuestas y las entrevistas sugieren que en el 1° año casi todos los docentes estaban satisfechos con la calidad de la enseñanza que proporcionaban a los estudiantes y no habían hecho modificaciones significativas a los programas. Sin embargo, encontramos diferencias importantes en las prácticas docentes; estas diferencias se organizaron en un contínuo que abarca desde aquellos que no usaron libro de texto, sino que desarrollaron sus propios materiales de literatura, los que usaron los libros de texto, incluyen...

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Three recent research reports by Topping and Trickey (2007a; 2007b), by Fair and colleagues (2015), and by Gorard, Siddiqui and Huat See (2015) have produced data that support the conclusion that a Philosophy for Children (P4C) program of one-hour-per-week structured discussions has a marked positive impact on students. This article presents data from a follow up study done three years after the completion of the study reported in Fair et al. (2015). The data show that the positive gains in scores on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT in the USA and CAT in the UK) were still present and had not faded after three years. Given the strength of these confirmations of the positive durable impact of the P4C program of structured discussions and given the relatively low cost of implementing the P4C program, it is recommended that it become a standard part of the school curriculum.