Child, Family, and Community

Reviewed by Dorothy Shapland, Assistant Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 9/1/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text provides a very comprehensive background in family and child theories. It is lacking some depth in terms of practical applications, and does not go as far as to talk about social policy and the impact of family advocacy on local, state and federal law.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

This text is accurate, though it presents "other" from a white-cenered perspective and makes no effort to include the voices of researchers and writers from those "other" cultures.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Udates can be incorporated fairly easily, especially within the pinned boxes. As it currently stands there is a great deal of updating needed.

Clarity rating: 4

This text is fairly accessible though dense. There is a lot of material here, but it is presented in manageable doses with frequent checks for understanding built in that make it more reader friendly

Consistency rating: 4

This text uses terminology consistently, though it needs to be updated in use of unbiased and strengths based language.

Modularity rating: 4

This text is easily navigated and not so different from a hard copy text that students would not be able to make sense of the structure and layout. There are breaks and opportunities for stops, plenty of visuals, and clear stopping points throughout.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization lends itself to a course grounded in theory and leading to practical application opportunities.

Interface rating: 5

The text is clear, readable, and easy to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There were few if any grammatical issues in this text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

This text attempts to hit all the points on cultural inclusiveness - examples vary cultural backgrounds very intentionally. It does not, however, make use of researchers and authors who might contribute their own perspectives, instead it talks about these cultures from outside - which is better than not talking about difference at all - but falls short of providing truly relevant and responsive perspectives.

Comments

This book would be very useful for a comprehensive course on Families as the theory is deep and rich.

Reviewed by Monica Olvera, Instructor, Oregon State University on 7/25/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

This book would be good for an introductory class on family, school, and community collaboration. It provides comprehensive, but limited information on matters of child development, parenting, socialization, culture, family empowerment, and how teachers can collaborate with families to improve child outcomes. The book does not have a glossary or index, nor do the chapters have a list of references. Differences in parenting styles that differ among race & ethnicity, and socio-economic status, are not covered in depth.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The book seems to primarily focus on families that are heteronormative, married parents, with biologically related children. Some of the terms and concepts are not fully accurate. For example, in various places in the book people who live in the US are referred to as "Americans," whereas the name of the US is not America, and thus people who reside in the US would more correctly be referred to as "families/people/individuals/children in the US."

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Some of the research cited is quite dated, but edits could easily be made to update the information.

Clarity rating: 3

The prose is somewhat accessible, and the text does not contain terminology that is extremely technical. Definitions are provided for technical terms.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent in framework and terminology.

Modularity rating: 4

The text is broken up into chapters, and within the chapters the text is broken into smaller sections. There are section breaks with comprehension checks, posting interesting questions to ponder, and opportunities for students to apply the concepts.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book has good organization, structure, and flow. The chapters have consistent structure and organization. Each chapter lists the learning outcomes for that chapter.

Interface rating: 3

Some charts and pictures were distorted in the program I was using to review the text. There were also pages with quite a bit of blank space. Some tables had distorted formatting.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The text is mostly free of grammatical errors. I would give a 4.75 for this criterion.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

While the text has some discussion of cultural differences regarding child rearing, parenting, socialization, and family life, I found that the text seemed very lacking in this area. There is very little discussion of diversity in family formations. The text seems to center a heteronormative, middle-class family, with married parents and their biological children living in a single-family dwelling, as the "typical" family. The majority of the pictures in the text were of white families.

Comments

This book would be good for an introductory class for students in the first or second year of college, or for high school seniors, who are pursuing a career in teaching elementary education. The book discusses strength-based approaches to supporting families through teacher-family collaborations. The book describes family empowerment and resilience. Topics such as child development, family theories, gender & sex, culture, socialization, and parenting are introduced.

Reviewed by Eunice Brekke, Associate Professor, Leeward Community College on 7/10/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This is a solid foundational text for a Sociology of Family course. Although there is not an index or glossary, the table of contents makes this text easy to navigate. Particularly impressive are the chapters on theory, socialization, and gender. The chapter on theory provides an essential and comprehensive introduction to theories on understanding family. It is organized by classical sociological and psychological theories. The chapter on socialization includes the primary agents of socialization. The chapter on gender does its job of introducing the idea of gender and how it is expressed and its consequences.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This is an unbiased and accurate depiction of the discipline and its originating ideas. Text does not evaluate theories or ideas, rather simply presents what they are.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text should stand the test of time. Explanations and examples are concrete and are not based on fads. Content is up to date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

Clarity rating: 5

One of the strengths of this text is how clear the authors explain sociological theories and concepts in an easy to understand format. This text can be used at all levels of higher education.

Consistency rating: 5

Text is consistent in the use of theory, concepts and terms.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter is divided into specific sections organized by the chapter learning objectives. Sections appear to be brief and easy to locate.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization is solid. The text starts with the foundations of the discipline and then moves to understanding the family as a unit and parenting. However, it seems to drift into two chapters of how to support families, then ends.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is simple and not distracting.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There are no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not offensive. There are attempts to reference other cultures. However, instructors should plan on providing additional resources for this. No single text can address all cultures, so instructors should be prepared to supplement.

Comments

Great introduction or foundational chapters. I will definitely adopt - thank you! I will supplement with other materials on issues facing families and experiences of different ethnic groups and sexual orientation.

Reviewed by Katie Cali, Instructor, NTCC on 4/26/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This textbook covered topics such as socialization, culture, parenting styles, and gender, but I also noticed a few important concepts that were not discussed: intimate partner violence, 5 Myths of the Family, and infertility. Despite this, the information presented by the textbook is comprehensible and has a good flow in the language. The text provides additional stories to help students connect the information to real-world situations. The text does not provide an index or glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The textbooks information is accurate to the current knowledge the sociological discipline has on Marriage and Families, was error free, and written from an unbiased viewpoint.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The textbook is setup in a way that updates should be easy and straightforward to implement. Considering the rate at which families change and shift, a textbook like this will require upkeep and adjustments.

Clarity rating: 5

The book has the normal amount of jargon and technical language that should be present when teaching the material. The author provides multiple examples when necessary and also has "Check-In" boxes to help the student think deeper into the material.

Consistency rating: 5

The title of the text meets the consistent theme of the textbook. Throughout the entire text you will find information pertaining to children, families, and communities.

Modularity rating: 5

The text has sufficient subheadings and headings to make the information easy to find and process. The flow and design of the book allows instructors to easily direct students through the information in the book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Child, Family and Community is written and presented in a clear and logical fashion. Even if an instructor wanted to go out of order, I believe this text is made strong enough to allow instructors to move through the book in whatever order feels comfortable to them.

Interface rating: 5

The interface of the text is free of issues. Images and charts are clear and in focus. There are links listed as foot notes at the bottom to allow readings to easily find the original source if needed.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The textbook is free of grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The textbook presents many different views and perspectives, allowing for readers to gain viewpoints from a diverse onlookers of families and children. This book does not lack the appreciation of diversity.

Comments

This textbook is a good source for a Marriage and family course, but it may need to be assigned as the main text while the instructor pulls in other resources to discuss information not included in this text. The book is definitely a very good beginning for a full OER textbook for studying the Sociology of marriages, families, and children.

Reviewed by Ruthann Arneson, Assistant Professor, Marshall University on 3/9/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text provides a comprehensive look at family theory, the family as an agent of socialization, and the importance of culture and diversity. It provides a good overview of parenting and how educators can develop positive relationships with families. Family engagement and the importance of community supports. Examples provided throughout the book assist the reader in understanding the content. There is no index or glossary. The Check-in Boxes provide opportunities for students to reflect on the text and apply the material presented.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is accurate and provides an unbiased view of the topic

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content could use some more up to date references. The information is important and provides an understanding of theory and practice. Addition of current research would make this a stronger text. The links that it provides within the text are relevant and help the reader to delve deeper into the subject matter. An addition to specifically discuss schools along with community would make it a stronger text.

Clarity rating: 5

This is an easy text for the student to read. It provides context for jargon and gives numerous examples of practice. The Check-in sections provide additional opportunities to understand the material being presented.

Consistency rating: 5

The terminology and framework of the text is consistent for the subject matter on children, families and community

Modularity rating: 5

The lay-out of the text makes it easy to break into appropriate teaching modules. These could easily be shifted if the instructor wanted to.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The arrangement of the text makes it easy to follow. The chapters are presented in an order that an instructor would usually approach the subject matter; theory then practice. The Check-in boxes are located in spaces that are logical for the reader to reflect on the subject mater

Interface rating: 4

Text is free of interface issues. There are numerous web links listed as footnotes. It may be easier to access them if they were listed at the end of each chapter, rather than footnotes.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This text puts an emphasis on the importance of culture and diversity. It is a significant part of the presentation of the text and is effective