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This article evaluates the effects of involving men in family planning counseling in Jordan using a randomized experiment. We randomly assigned a sample of 1,247 married women to receive women-only counseling, couples counseling, or no counseling. We measured the effects of each type of counseling on family planning use, knowledge, attitudes, and spousal communication about family planning. Compared to no counseling, couples counseling led to a 54 percent increase in uptake of modern methods. This effect is not significantly different from the 46 percent increase in modern method uptake as a result of women-only counseling. This outcome may be due, in part, to lower rates of compliance with the intervention among those assigned to couples counseling compared to women-only counseling. To realize the possible added benefits of involving men, more tailored approaches may be needed to increase men's participation.

From 2011 to 2015, a diarrhea management program in Ghana targeting pharmaceutical suppliers, private-sector providers, and caregivers successfully increased caregiver use of oral rehydration salts (ORS) with zinc to treat diarrhea in children under 5, from 0.8% to 29.2%, and reduced antibiotic use (which is generally inappropriate for treatment of non-bloody diarrhea) from 66.2% to 38.2%.

In a large urban district's ELA classrooms, an academic vocabulary intervention designed to improve linguistically diverse 6th‐graders’ reading and language skills was implemented and evaluated. These classrooms were characterized by high numbers of struggling readers, and linguistic diversity was the norm. As part of the evaluation, this study focuses on students’ perspectives of the intervention, with the goal of shedding light on how it might have influenced their efforts toward academic success. We conducted 20 focus groups following students’ participation in the program, gaining insights that bear on the dual challenge of creating a motivating and rigorous learning environment. Students linked the experience with increased academic confidence, and, in turn, academic motivation. They believed it was the challenging learning opportunities embedded in an instructional cycle that promoted deep knowledge building that helped them to be, and feel, academically successful.