The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to search, become a critical consumer of, and synthesize research studies, policy reports, and news articles on a policy that impacts children and families. Through this assignment, you will also think about ways to improve or expand the policy, educate others, and advocate for change.
In ECFS 402 you reviewed the empirical evidence around a particular topic related to early childhood and family studies. For this assignment you will explore policy perspectives and responses to that topic.
designed to help you narrow in on your specific policy issue. You will take your topic of interest from ECFS 401 and decide on a policy lens to investigate.
Use the following prompts to help you identify a policy topic to explore.
- Revisit your 401 paper, especially the key findings. Remember what you learned from the articles you read.
- Brainstorm the ways that policy might impact this topic. Keep in mind that when we refer to policy, we are referring to ways that some sort of governing body (federal government, state legislatures, city council, etc.) plays a role. This might mean a law, rule, regulation, investment or spending pattern. You are no longer thinking about practice or asking general questions, you are now thinking specifically about policy issues.
- Read the feedback you received in the week 2 discussion forum carefully.
Here is an example to think about… let’s say that in 401 you learned about the impact of high quality early learning on children’s academic success later in life. You may have found that there are a lot of studies to suggest that early learning is beneficial. You might be curious to know if there are certain types of curricula that are best, or how long a child needs to be in early learning to benefit. These are interesting questions but they are not policy questions, the answers to these questions are unrelated to government involvement. Instead, here are some policy questions directions you might take:
- How can we increase access to early learning?
- What is a quality rating and improvement system?
- Should universal pre-K be available for all children?
- Should each state mandate the curricula used in licensed early learning programs?
Here are some additional examples:
- Question/Issue of practice: How does nutrition impact a child’s ability to learn?
- Policy to explore: Federal School Lunch program
- Question/Issue about practice: How do children learn social emotional skills in elementary school settings?
- Policy question: Does the Common Core support or hurt the development of social emotional skills?
3. Do some light research to help you think up ideas.
- Skim these resources from SRCD and see if you can find connections to your 401 topic.
- Google and see what comes up. Some policy key words to try out include: systems, structures, implementation, aims, impact or implication, funding, and access.
- Explore your favorite newspapers. Before you commit to a topic, you will want to know that there are newspaper articles available for you to read.
- Hint: Don’t move on until you have found at least 1 resource that you think you’ll be able to use for this assignment (see part 2 for the number and type of resources you will need).
4. Think about advocacy. Remember that this project will culminate in an advocacy project. From your research, can you see yourself advocating for a policy change?
The purpose of the whole project is to give you an opportunity to search, become a critical consumer of, and synthesize research studies, policy reports, and news articles on a social policy of your choice. Through this assignment, you will also educate others and try to build support for your policy issue.
Step 1 – Searching Research Studies/Policies Reports-Briefs
In order to find and select recent and relevant research studies/ policy reports, students should employ the following techniques (similar to those learned in ECFS 401):
- Search the UW library database by entering the policy topic and filtering by peer-reviewed journals.
- Search particular journals. I recommend the following journals (all available online at UW libraries):
- Child Development
- Child Development Perspectives
- SRCD Social Policy Report
- Early Childhood Education Journal
- Early Childhood Research Quarterly
- Journal of Early Intervention
- Topics in Early Childhood Special Education
- Future of Children
- Pediatrics
- Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
- Search particular policy think-tanks. I recommend the following:
- RAND http://www.rand.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Abt. Associates http://www.abtassociates.com/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- MDRC http://www.mdrc.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Mathematica http://mathematica-mpr.com/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Center on the Developing Child http://developingchild.harvard.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
- Child Trends http://www.childtrends.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Step 2 – Searching for News Article
In order to find and select recent and relevant news articles, students should search the websites of reputable news sources (e.g., New York Times, Seattle Times, USA Today, LA Times, etc.). News articles must have been published in the past 5 years. Please note that news article should be from media outlets. For example, a newsletter from a website is not a news article.