Policy Evaluation

Due online through Blackboard on December 10th
• You will identify a current social, educational, or political policy that affects children, and evaluate its effect on children.
• Goal: to use your knowledge of child development to think critically about how children are affected by the structure of their social and political environments using the bioecological model as a framework.
• Choose a policy issue that interests you
– For example:
• Homelessness
• Services for children with disabilities
• Racial disparities in access to quality services
• Adoption processes and support for children
• Bilingual education
• LGBT families and services
• Immigration policies
• Or any of many other possible issues
• Identify a specific area within social, emotional, language, or cognitive development (NOT physical or brain development) that is affected by this policy:
– Vocabulary or grammar development
– Attachment
– Theory of mind
– Moral reasoning
– Peer relationships
– Conceptual development
• Note: Do not use general broad categories- e.g. Cognitive Development, Social Development- be more specific
• Using the framework of the bioecological model (macrosystems to microsystems), discuss:
– How this policy may affect development in the domain you have chosen. What will the impact be on individual children? (e.g. Will it slow vocabulary development? Will it increase the likelihood of a secure attachment? Etc.)
– Discuss a potential pathway across the levels of the ecological system (macro to micro) that would result in this particular effect on children. What could the policy affect at each level of the ecological system that results in its impact on the microsystem?

Note: Your policy does NOT have to apply to a wide range of children. It can be very specific and targeted to a particular group that has a specific need (e.g. only autistic children or, only first generation US born children etc.) The impact you discuss can be either positive or negative for children.

Structure of the paper:
1. Policy description
a. Identify and describe the policy
2. Effects of the policy on one domain of development
a. Give a brief description of the area of development
b. Describe and explain what impact the policy will have on this domain. Be detailed and specific (don’t just say “vocabulary will be lower” explain why it will impact vocabulary).
3. Potential pathways across the bioecological systems
a. Suggest a specific effect that the policy could have at each level of the system.

Other formatting requirements:
2 pages max, single-spaced, 12 pt font

How I will grade the paper:
• Your source of information is from a reputable source.
• Your description of the policy is informative.
• Your description of the impact of the policy on development is aimed at a specific developmental area. It is clear you understand the developmental issue. Your evaluation is logical and developmentally appropriate.
• You describe what impact the policy may have on children.
• You describe a potential pathway (or “chain reaction”) across the bioecological systems.

Resources and references:
Your book is an excellent source and you should cite it as you discuss the developmental issue. I want to see that you can apply what you have learned in this course, and that material is in the book. You can also cite lectures for material that you want to include that is not in the book.

You should locate information about the policy in either a reputable news or academic source.

Good Journalistic Sources
New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, NPR, NBC News, POLITICO, Reuters, Wall Street Journal

The News Literacy Project
http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/

UNICEF Database
http://www.data.unicef.org/index.php
http://www.unicef.org/sowc/

National Center for Children in Poverty
http://www.nccp.org/tools/
http://www.nccp.org/tools/risk/

2010 US Census Reports
https://www.census.gov/2010census/
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml