Topics in Family and Child Policy: Policy and Research Frameworks
This course provides an overview of multiple areas of public policies affecting children and families in the United States. For each policy area students explore how public policy problems are defined, with an emphasis on the ways research and other factors can shape both definitions of policy problems and the responses to those problems. In particular, the role of rigorous random assignment evaluation is explored. The course will examine at least four policy areas, with students selecting at least one area. Areas include child welfare and child abuse prevention, teen and unintended pregnancy, child care and out of school time, the transition to adulthood for vulnerable youth, and early childhood education. The aim of the course is to help students develop a more critical eye toward how policy problems are framed and defined and to consider the ways rigorous research is used in the policy process. Students write a series of policy analysis memos to address the definition of the problem and the best methods of evaluation to understand the effectiveness of interventions to address the problem.
