Peer Review

Foundation for Child Development

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Nov 9, 2018 by Psychology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The Foundation for Child Development "is a national, private philanthropy dedicated to the principle that all families should have the social and material resources to raise their children to be healthy, educated and productive members of their communities." The Foundation “supports policy and practice relevant research, as well as advocacy and communications” as related to their current direction.

Those interested in child development will find links to Public Policy at both the state and national levels (e.g., information about immigrant children as well as a Child Well-Being Index). Also on the site are the archives of an in house publication, Learning Curve, where users can find articles on a plethora of topics ranging from "Fighting Fade-Out by advancing PK-3 Alignment" to "PK-3 Indicators available on Child Trends DataBank." Overall, this site is a beneficial tool for students, instructors and professionals in the field of child development.

Type of Material:

Reference Material

Recommended Uses:

Potential classroom uses include exploring topics in child development and the importance of research in changing policy. The site provides a complete, practical example of the connection between scholarship and policy change in an applied setting.
Overall, the resources available from this site may be best used by students who are conducting in-depth analyses on the sociological and cultural impacts associated with child development. Projects such as research papers, in-depth analyses, and exhaustive research are an excellent fit for this material.

Technical Requirements:

This material only requires a web browser and Internet connectivity to access. Some downloadable reports will require Adobe Reader to view. Two peer reviewers successfully accessed the website using Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Learning Goal: Users of the site will understand the Foundation’s program for identifying needs and connecting research to improve policy and practice.

Note: This site provides interesting articles or "briefs" on relevant topics to this organization. Focus is placed on underserved areas in child development that may not currently receive the benefit of grant and research funding. The downloadable guides are extensive and may be used by both instructors and students for research in important areas of study within child development.

Target Student Population:

A student population that has developed beyond the first one or two years of college will benefit the most from the in-depth nature of the presented materials. Juniors, seniors, and graduate students would be able to use this site as a resource for more exhaustive study.
Graduate students and faculty (young scholars program) will benefit from exploring grant opportunities as well as the example the site provides which connects research to public policy.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

While prerequisite knowledge for general use of the site is not strictly required, the resources can be used to fullest benefit by students who have successfully completed (at minimum) both introductory psychology and a developmental psychology or child psychology class.
NOTE: Advanced training in child development is necessary for applying for grants.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The mission and intent of the organization is clear – resources and grant opportunities are provided for the foundation's current line of programmatic research. In general, the foundation supports research, fellowships, public policy/advocacy, and strategic communications.
Instructors could easily assign students to select topics ("briefs"), review studies, and provide comprehensive summaries or analyses.

Concerns:

None.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This site is an effective teaching tool in that it represents a complete package demonstrating the critical link between scholarship and policy.
The quality of the content is the site's primary strength. The site is not exhaustive--its scope is limited by topics that the organization has elected specifically to investigate. However, the presentation of the selected topics is in-depth; therefore, the strength of the content provided is impressive, backed by research, and includes some unexpectedly valuable instructional tools.
- Example: Page 48 of the brief entitled Promoting Two‐Generation Strategies: A Getting‐Started Guide for State and Local Policymakers includes an extensive list of supplemental guides, instructional materials, and end notes (references) that are incredibly useful for any researcher (both instructor and student).

Concerns:

As noted above, the scope of the content is limited. This is not a criticism of the site, but simply an objective observation about its potential effectiveness as a teaching tool.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

This site is easily navigable and presents no difficulties with respect to reading or downloading content.
The website is professionally developed and includes an E-mail link and a Twitter account to follow the organization.
The About Us link is professionally presented and provides details of the individuals who oversee this organization and initiative.
Instructive videos are provided for anyone interested in applying for grants.

Concerns:

The contrast colors on the site are challenging. Labels such as SYSTEMS are not clear until one clicks.
Some items available for download present a prompt requiring the user to enter an E-mail address. The prompt can be bypassed, but it may induce individuals to sign up for the newsletter when they did not intend to do so--or it may discourage some individuals entirely from downloading materials because of the E-mail address solicitation.

Other Issues and Comments:

This web site provides great opportunity, especially for young scholars.

Creative Commons: