Effectiveness of a comprehensive,five-year family support program for low-income children and their families: findings from the comprehensive child development program

A randomized experiment was conducted to test the effects of the Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), a two-generation program that employed case management and home visiting to ensure multi-risk, low-income children and their parents a range of education, health, and social services to meet the complex needs of disadvantaged families. The evaluation of 21 CCDP projects, which followed 4,410 families for five years, found no statistically significant impact on CCDP families when they were compared with control families in either child outcomes (cognitive and socio-emotional development, and health) on parent outcomes (parenting, family economic self-sufficiency, or maternal life course). Since the intervention failed to change parenting behavior or family economic status, the two hypothesized pathways to affecting the well-being of the children, not unexpectedly there were no significant impacts of CCDP on children. The study suggests that the combination of case management and parenting education, delivered through home visits, is not an effective means of improving developmental outcomes for low-income children.     

Evaluating sustainability education: lessons from international development experience

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is specifically tailored to the challenges of assessing sustainability programs. The article elaborates a novel framework for assessing the diverse set of higher-education curricular, research, and community-outreach programs devoted to sustainability based on critical review of quantitative- and qualitative-evaluation methods and on lessons drawn from experience in international development. The proposed multidimensional evaluation framework links process, outputs, outcomes, impacts, and continuous programmatic improvement based on sustained, contextually relevant observations. It engages three core purposes: management evaluation, capacity- and capability-development evaluation, and sustainability evaluation. Embedded in these purposes are key evaluation criteria adapted from an assessment of UNDP contributions to national development: long-term outcomes and impacts; evidence of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional synergy; and resource mobilization for program enhancement. Along with practical examples of evaluation approaches used by universities in Europe, Japan, and the United States and the lessons that academic sustainability evaluators can draw from these practices, competencies required of graduates from sustainability programs are identified. The specific evaluative questions and methods presented offer universities a useful, conceptually grounded framework for adaptation and application in academic-sustainability assessments.     

A comprehensive child sexual abuse treatment program

The number of families troubled by parent-child incest in the typical community is much larger than suspected by professional helpers. If left unattended, the victim(s) and the family as a whole will be critically traumatized. Parental incest in the nuclear family can be likened to terminal cancer in the individual. The community must encourage the incestuous families to seek treatment and must provide comprehensive in-depth therapy to all members of the family. The etiology and dynamics of parental incest and the treatment method developed by the Directors of the Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program of Santa Clara County (CSATP), California, are discussed. Over the past ten years the CSATP has provided therapy to over 4,000 children and their families (about 14,000 individuals), by far the largest number so treated by any single organization. About 90% of the children have been returned to their families; and the recidivism rate in the families who have completed the treatment program remains at less than 1%.     

Evaluating leadership effectiveness: Enduring lessons from the classroom

Ruth G. Shaw is currently president of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was formerly president of El Centro College of the Dallas County Community College district and is active in professional policy roles at both the regional and national level.     

Planning a comprehensive staff development program

Directing an early childhood education program is a backbreaking, stressful endeavor. The successful administrator learns to manage time so as to squeeze the completion of infinite tasks into a finite daily time frame. Budgeting, paper work or unexpected conflict resolution often take priority over work with the staff or the curriculum. Staff development efforts are often limited.Jeffrey Trawick-Smith is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willmantic     

Practices and policies in child labour: lessons from Malta

Abstract

The problem of child labour is widespread in Malta, despite the fact that there is compulsory schooling up to the age of 16, and even although most of the necessary formal legislative measures to combat the employment of children have been taken. Data is presented in order to provide a clear picture of the extent of the problem, as well as of the general conditions which prevail in the ‘twilight economy’ in which child workers labour. Economic and socio‐cultural reasons which could explain the continuing practice of child labour in Malta are explored, and general policy recommendations made.     

Liability considerations in child welfare: lessons from Canada

OBJECTIVE: Recent years have been fraught with investigations into the deaths of children receiving child welfare services throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. These inquiries have attracted considerable media attention and public outrage. Added to this have been increases in attempts to hold social workers in child welfare responsible for the abuse and deaths of children through the criminal and civil courts. As a result of fears regarding liability, many child welfare professionals are resorting to defensive practice strategies. METHOD: This article reviews recent court decisions and legislation in Canada regarding this issue in order to assess actual risks. RESULTS: Social workers who act according to accepted standards of practice and who in good faith make difficult judgments to the best of their abilities, will not be held to be criminally culpable or civilly negligent. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that child welfare professionals who exercise reasonable caution and engage in good clinical social work practice, good record keeping, effective communication and verification of information, can continue to strive to offer the high quality services to children and their families as they have always done without any serious fear of recrimination.     

Evaluating leadership development in an academic program

An evaluation of the Royal Military College of Canada's Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year leadership practicum was conducted in 2009. This novel approach used several human performance technology (HPT) models to frame the evaluation and identify the dimensions and subdimensions of merit. This article explains the theoretical framework of the evaluation, how and why different HPT models complemented the evaluation process, the challenges faced in executing the evaluation, and the teams' findings on using this approach.     

The development of communicative and narrative skills among preschoolers: lessons from forensic interviews about child abuse

This study examined age differences in 299 preschoolers' responses to investigative interviewers' questions exploring the suspected occurrence of child abuse. Analyses focused on the children's tendencies to respond (a) at all, (b) appropriately to the issue raised by the investigator, and (c) informatively, providing previously undisclosed information. Linear developmental trends characterized all types of responding. When the types of prompts were considered, 3- to 4-year-olds responded slightly more informatively to specific (directive) recall prompts than to open-ended prompts whereas children aged 5 and older were more responsive to open-ended recall prompts. The findings suggest that even 3-year-olds can provide information about experienced events when recall processes are activated, although the ability to provide narrative responses to open-ended recall prompts only becomes reliable later in development.     

初中生物课学生学业发展性综合评价初探

评价改革是课程评价的目标之一.教学评价应立足于“以评促改”的新思路,建立与新课程理念相一致的发展性学生评价体系,通过评价激发和引导学生自主学习,提高学生的科学素养,促进学生全面发展.     

Supporting child and family resilience in the face of political violence: Evidence from a home visit parenting program

Political violence affects more than 25% of children globally, yet little is known about how to support positive adaptation among conflict-affected children. Using a sample of 3797 Nicaraguan child-caregiver dyads (M_AgeTime1 = 1.5 years, M_AgeTime2 = 5.9 years; 51% male), this registered report used a novel quasi-experimental approach to examine how exposure to political violence relates to child and caregiver outcomes, and to test three policy-relevant moderators: participation in a large-scale home visit parenting program, household economic disruption, and media exposure. Results revealed positive associations between political violence and harsh discipline practices (0.33 SD), but there was no evidence that political violence affected children's behavior, caregiver depressive symptoms, or responsive parenting practices, and there was no evidence of moderation.     

精品课程 重在建设与示范

什么是精品课程?精品课程不是一个奖项,也不只是一种荣誉。国家级教学名师、国家级精品课程“结构力学”负责人、清华大学的袁驷教授指出:精品课程是一种境界。要达到这种境界,需要通过不断地积累、创新和建设提高课程的水平,同时需要充分发挥精品课程的示范与带动作用。一、精     

From pilot to program: Evaluating the progress of a professional development school

Abstract

Much of the professional development school (PDS) literature to date has centered on (a) how best to define professional development schools; (b) the benefits of PDSs for teacher preparation programs; (c) identifying the obstacles encountered when working with a PDS; and (d) the lessons learned from early PDS experiences. Only recently has the effectiveness of the PDS taken center stage as a primary issue. This article describes four broad criterion themes that emerged from our literature review—issues of marginality, changing roles, reward structure, and ongoing inquiry. These four measures are then applied to ongoing PDS projects in an effort to assess progress toward fully developed professional sites.     

How economists think about family resources and child development

Research in child development reveals that the sources, level, stability, and uses of family resources have a profound effect on children's well-being and long-term outcomes. Although that research has incorporated economic constructs and measures, developmentalists generally ignore the formal economic framework for thinking about family resources and child outcomes. Building on the premise that children are an investment, that framework explains how families allocate resources and links that decision to other family choices and to key child outcomes, such as schooling, morbidity, and mortality among others. This article explains economists' general approach to family behavior (the so-called theory of household production) and then describes how that framework is useful for thinking about families and children. The article then outlines how economists model parental investment in children and examines the implications of that approach for developmental science. This discussion is illustrated using an example of interest to developmentalists--the involvement of children and adolescents in after-school activities. A concluding section discusses the benefits of and potential barriers to collaboration between economists and developmentalists.     

1956年文学课程改革的历史经验与教训

本文通过对 2 0世纪 5 0年代我国汉语文学分科改革的回顾 ,分析这次试验中在文学教育目标、内容、教学方法上的主要特点 ,总结了导致试验失败内部和外部的原因 :试验操作不当、政治因素的介入和理论研究的缺乏。     

Doulas as community health workers: lessons learned from a volunteer program

Doulas, women who primarily provide social support during childbirth, have been associated with a number of positive health outcomes. Because the primary model of practice for doulas is a fee-for-service model in which families privately hire a doula, many expectant women who could benefit from doula support are unable to access the service. The Doulas Care program, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, represents one model in which doulas provide services without charge. As a result of their extended role in the community, doulas who work with the Doulas Care program have unique educational needs. Through the use of focus groups with the program's volunteer doulas, educational needs related to overcoming barriers to being a doula working in the community were identified. Recommendations for education and training are made to improve the support doulas offer as community health outreach workers.     

Day care quality, family and child characteristics and socioemotional development

The study investigated effects of day care quality in interaction with child and family characteristics on socioemotional development concurrently at 29 months and longitudinally at 4 years. By international standards, the study was performed in high-quality day care settings and in a fairly homogeneous group of well-functioning families. In a group of 52 children (M day care EXPERIENCE = 12.6 months at the age of 29 months), main effects of day care quality and effects due to interactions between such quality and the background characteristics of SES, home environment quality, gender, and infant manageability were studied. Socioemotional development was studied both in terms of children's problems (externalizing and internalizing) and positive aspects of functioning (positive emotional expressions and ego strength/effectance). The results showed a main effect of day care quality on expressions of positive emotions, and interactive effects were demonstrated for several of the other indicators of socioemotional functioning. Compensatory effects of high-quality care on externalizing behaviors for children from less advantaged homes as well as positive effects on boys' internalizing problems and ego strength/effectance were among the findings. Thus, using culturally relevant measures of day care quality, clear influences can be demonstrated even in a culture with a fairly uniform and high standard of care.     

Developing and testing a framework for evaluating the quality of comprehensive family assessment in child welfare

Over the last decade, Comprehensive Family Assessment (CFA) has become a best practice in child welfare. Comprehensive Family Assessments go beyond risk assessment to develop a full picture of the child's and family's situation. When appropriately synthesized, assessment information can lead to a clear articulation of the patterns of child or family functioning which are related to child abuse and maltreatment or which can be strengthened to facilitate change. This study defines and provides concrete examples of dimensions of quality in child welfare assessment reports that are consistent with the CFA guidelines and best practices embraced by child welfare agencies, courts, and other key stakeholders. Leveraging a random assignment design, the study compares the quality of reports written by a caseworker alone versus those written by a caseworker paired with a licensed Integrated Assessment (IA) screener. Findings are discussed in the context of the dual professional model and factors contributing to the timely completion of high quality assessment reports.