CHD 4615 Exam 1 Complete Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering theoretical models, policy processes, child wellbeing, controversy, poverty metrics, and education reform from Chapters 1 through 6 of CHD 4615.

Social Policy

The direct action taken by the government to improve the well-being and human functioning of its citizens, used interchangeably in this course with public policy.

Microsystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, the innermost environmental layer containing the child and factors with the most direct influence on development, such as family, school, and peers.

Mezzosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, the system encompassing the interactions and relationships between different entities within the child's microsystem, such as parent-school communication.

Exosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, an environment that exerts an indirect influence on a child's development without the child being directly situated in it, such as parental workplace dynamics.

Macrosystem

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, the overarching cultural, societal, legal, and political systems that influence child and family functioning.

Wholeness

A foundational concept in systems theory stating that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, requiring social policy to consider the entire system rather than isolated fragments.

Meta-rules

Underlying rules about rules within family and societal systems that govern how patterns and decisions are formed and why specific practices exist.

Homeostasis

The tendency of a system to maintain stability, balance, and the status quo, often resisting change even when existing rules or policies are ineffective.

Morphogenesis

The capacity and systemic drive of a family or social system to adapt, evolve, and change over time in response to external or internal demands.

Circular Causality

The systems theory principle stating that issues have no single linear origin; instead, outcomes emerge from ongoing, reciprocal, non-linear interactions among multiple factors.

Equifinality

The systems theory principle asserting that multiple different beginnings can lead to the same endpoint, or that a single starting point can yield multiple different outcomes.

Demand Inputs

Direct signals received by the government from societal groups expressing a need to shift scarce resources, often through mass demonstrations or grassroots movements.

Support Inputs

Societal signals provided to the government characterized by widespread mass approval or electoral backing for a specific political stance, such as lowering taxes.

Dialectical Perspective

A philosophical framework asserting that all phenomena develop through ongoing contradictions between opposing poles—a thesis and an antithesis—from which a synthesis emerges.

Klaus Riegel

The theorist who formulated the dialectical theory of child development, positing that human development occurs through continuous, non-equilibrium conflict across biological, psychological, physical, and social dimensions.

Praxis

A relational dialectics concept emphasizing that to truly understand what a phenomenon is, one must also comprehensively explore what it is not.

Convergent Thinking

A problem-solving approach directed toward finding one single, logical, well-thought-out solution to an issue, after which the exploration of alternative options ceases.

Divergent Thinking

A flexible cognitive approach that seeks the optimal solution while simultaneously brainstorming, exploring multiple perspectives, and acknowledging numerous possible answers.

Distributive Policy

A category of public policy centered on allocating tangible assets, public funds, or services to specific entities or individuals, such as pandemic stimulus checks or airline aid.

Regulatory Policy

A public policy designed to establish clear guidelines, standards, and mandatory rules to achieve specific objectives, such as Food and Drug Administration guidelines.

Self-Regulatory Policy

Internal policies and codes of ethics established by a specific professional group or licensing board to govern and advance its own members' interests.

Redistributive Policy

Policies designed to shift resources, wealth, or power from one segment of society to another, such as progressive taxation or historical Jim Crow laws that redistributed privileges.

Rationalism Model

A policy-making framework assuming decisions are reached by weighing all costs and benefits to maximize social gain; its main weakness is policymakers' reluctance to alter ineffective choices.

Elitism Model

A top-down policy approach assuming that a select, educated group possesses the expertise required to direct policy because the general public lacks appropriate knowledge.

Incremental Theory

A policy model asserting that social policy evolves via small, unplanned steps over time; while avoiding major controversy, it often fails to address the true magnitude of societal crises.

Game Theory (Policy Model)

A framework that studies human strategic choices—cooperative, non-cooperative, or hybrid—as the primary basis for policymaking; it is often criticized for being overly mechanistic.

Institutional Model

The view that public institutions create public policy, which frequently results in disjointed and inconsistent regulations due to overlapping local, state, and federal jurisdictions.

Initiation Phase

The initial step in the policymaking process during which a societal problem is discovered and elevated to public awareness, typically fueled by shocking events and advocacy.

Fragile Families

A demographic concept referring to unmarried parents and their children who face elevated statistical risks of parental breakup and persistent economic poverty.

Path Dependency

The policy dynamic where establishing an initial institutional trajectory makes adopting related subsequent policies straightforward, whereas reversing course becomes exceptionally difficult.

Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971

A bipartisan bill passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress to fund universal childcare, which was subsequently vetoed by President Richard Nixon on the grounds that it would Sovietize American families.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)

A range of conditions caused by prenatal alcohol consumption that includes Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, marked by facial dysmorphology, stunted growth, cognitive impairment, and cortical synapse deletion.

Apgar Score

A clinical assessment scored out of $10$ immediately following birth that evaluates a newborn's Activity, Pulse, Grimace/reflex, Appearance, and Respiration, often lowered by prenatal prescription drug exposure.

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)

A drug withdrawal syndrome observed in infants following prenatal substance exposure, characterized by hypertonia, high irritability, difficulty soothing, and feeding issues.

Center for Addiction and Pregnancy (CAT)

A pediatric and maternal care program in Baltimore providing comprehensive, non-judgmental healthcare for addicted mothers and their drug-exposed infants.

Official Poverty Measure

The federal government's traditional income-based calculation that defines poverty as an income falling below the cost of an emergency food diet multiplied by $3$.

Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)

An alternative poverty calculation that factors in government transfer benefits, non-cash tax credits, medical out-of-pocket costs, and geographic cost-of-living differences.

Welfare State

A system where an economically developed government provides institutionalized financial, health, food, and housing supports to meet the basic needs of impoverished citizens.

Welfare Trap (Cliff Effect)

A scenario where a modest increase in earned wages pushes a recipient's income slightly above eligibility thresholds, abruptly stripping them of benefits and leaving them worse off financially.

Universal Basic Income (UBI)

A proposed policy providing an unconditional, recurring cash grant to every citizen regardless of income or employment status, structurally removing welfare cliff effects.

Toxic Stress

Prolonged, severe activation of the body's stress response that results in chronically elevated cortisol, reduced frontal lobe gray matter, compromised immunity, and shortened life expectancy.

Empathy (Brené Brown)

The capacity to feel with others in their circumstances, which fundamentally requires setting judgment aside and engaging in active perspective-taking.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's educational concept that a child's mind is a blank slate, absorbing external instruction through direct adult modeling and environmental inputs.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Educational Philosophy

The perspective that children possess natural inner curiosity and inherent agency, requiring educational approaches that allow them to guide their own learning exploration.

No Child Left Behind Act (2002)

Federal educational legislation signed by George W. Bush that enforced educational accountability via standardized testing, rewarding high test performance and penalizing underperformance with resource removal.

Common Core State Standards (2009)

A set of standardized curricula benchmarks established across states to ensure educational consistency and emphasize critical thinking, though criticized for neglecting gifted and struggling learners.

Agency-Based Approach (Sir Ken Robinson)

An educational model focusing on student curiosity, individual learning styles, and creativity over standardized testing and hierarchical compulsion, frequently illustrated by the Montessori method.

Teacher Attrition Rate

The rate at which certified teachers exit the profession, documented in the course text as $46\%$ leaving within their first five years due to severe burnout and limited resources.