Develop an understanding of child indicators and receive a certification from the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), a globally-recognized academic and
professional association, with its own publications, journals, conferences, and identity. ISQOLS is collaborating with the Management Institute for Quality-of-Life Studies (MIQOLS)
in the administration of this certification program with the co-sponsorship of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based national foundation devoted to developing a brighter
future for millions of children and young people.
Learn how to use of child indicators in ongoing projects to promote child wellbeing
Over the past few decades there has been a significant increase in the production and use of statistical indicators of child wellbeing, leading to a global child indicator movement.
A major goal of this course is to provide students with a rich and detailed description of child indicators and their use.
Support from a leader in the field of child indicators
An official certification on successful completion of the course work and examination
Course Modules
Introduction and Overview
The first module (Chapter 1) provides an overview of the child indicator field with a particular focus on the use of child indicators in ongoing projects to promote child wellbeing.
Some of the key concepts regarding child indicators are introduced and described, including the concept of a child indicator. This module contains information on the origins of the
child indicator movement as well as material on why indictors are so important for promoting the wellbeing of children.
Topics in this module include:
key terms and concepts
development of the child indicator field
connections to child indicator movement
development of an organizational infrastructure
why data and research are particularly important for children
Analytic Frameworks and Perspectives for Measuring Child Wellbeing
The second module (Chapter 2) covers several of the leading frameworks used by those working in the child indicator field.
Many different disciplines and perspectives are reflected in the work on child indicators, so it is not
surprising there are many different analytic approaches and frameworks for studying child wellbeing. It is worth
noting that some successful child indicator projects are undertaken with little or no acknowledgement of
theoretical framework. In practice, selection of indicators for a project or study may depend as much on what
data are available and organizational resources as it does on a theoretical approach.
Topics in this module include:
the United Nations convention on the rights of the child
child development perspective
ecological model of child wellbeing
sociology of children
subjective child wellbeing measures
Uses of Child Wellbeing Indicators
The third module (Chapter 3) covers several of the most common uses of child wellbeing indicators.
Most of the uses covered here are based on projects or activities that use child indicators to promote child
wellbeing. The application of child indicators often depends on the purpose of the project and a given
indicator, or indicator project, may have many uses.
Topics in this module include:
increasing public awareness about child wellbeing
monitoring child wellbeing
goal setting for child wellbeing
evaluating prgrams and policies related to children
identifying child-centered problems
using indicators in research and analysis
Developing and Evaluating a Set of Child Wellbeing Indicators
The fourth module (Chapter 4) focuses on developing and evaluating a set of child wellbeing indicators.
Finding statistical indicators of child wellbeing is one of the most important activities of a child indicator
project. When one is looking for indicators for a specific location or a specific group, it can be especially
difficult to find the right piece(s) of statistical data. Several potential sources of indicator data are
examined here. Many of the key criteria for judging data are presented and discussed in this module. It is
vital to recognize that not all statistics related to children are indicators of child wellbeing.
This module includes ideas about domains or clusters of indicators that are often used. The first part of this
focuses on finding appropriate child wellbeing indicators and the second part focuses on evaluating such
indicators.
Topics in this module include:
indicators of child wellbeing
statistics and indicators
indicators for individuals and population indicators
key questions related to indicator selection
roles and relationships
identifying indicators of interest
where to look for potential indicators
different forms of availability of data
selection criteria and considerations
limitations of data
Data Analysis and Tabulation
The fifth module (Chapter 5) is about data analysis and tabulation.
Once data have been collected, staff of an indicator project must decide how to analyze or tabulate the data
and how to present it. Appropriate choices about analyzing and presenting data depend on the goals of project,
resources of the organization, and the audience. For example, the extent to which reports are analytical
versus descriptive varies widely. This module provides information on some the key questions and issues
regarding data analysis and presentation.
Topics in this module include:
description and analysis
level or type of statistical analysis
comparative analysis
comparisons using ranking
identifying specific place names
use of statistical significance testing
building an index of child wellbeing
the issue of false precision
the challenge of disaggregation of data
understanding the meaning of numbers and rates
outliers
data limitations
Producing a Report and Disseminating Data
The sixth module (Chapter 6) describes the process of producing a report and disseminating it.
To maximize the impact of the child indicator data that has been collected and analyzed, it is important to
think about how best to make that data available in an article or on a website and this often involves producing
material for a public audience. There are important differences in writing for a public audience compared to
writing for a technical or scholarly audience. Several key factors in creating a report for a non-technical
audience are reviewed in this chapter. The module also covers some of the "spinoff" products one might want to
consider.
Topics in this module include:
understanding the audience
communication and child indicators
strategic and opportunistic communication
presenting data from a comparative perspective
dissemination medium such as paper or computers
report production schedule
working with an editor
graphs and maps
auxiliary products
Examples of Indicator Projects and Reports
The seventh module (Chapter 7) gives some examples of indicator projects and reports.
There are a large and growing set of child indicator projects one could point to as examples. In this module,
eight indicator projects are identified and described in some detail. The examples shown here include a mix of
projects conducted by government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The projects described in
this module are all successful, well-documented, projects with recurring reports. The module is meant to
provide readers with a set of diverse examples.
Topics in this module include:
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre Report Cards
UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
KIDS COUNT Project
America’s Children: Key Indicators of Wellbeing
KIDS COUNT on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Kids Count Mexico
The Field of Child Indicators Studies in South Korea
Graciela H. Tonon is a Social Worker with a Ph.D. in Political Science (USAL, Argentina) and a Master in Political Sciences. She did Postdoctoral studies at the
University of Firenze, Italy. She is Professor of Community Social Work and Children at Risk of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Director of the Social Institute of Social Sciences UNI-COM of the National University of Lomas de Zamora.
She is also Professor of Quality of Life: theory and methodology and Director of the Master's Program in Social Sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Palermo, Argentina. She received the ISQOLS Distinguished Service
Award for Contributing Substantially to a Better Understanding of Quality of Life Studies in 2016. Her editorial responsibilities include Editor of the International Quality of Life Handbook Series, Springer-ISQOLS; Editor of the Book
Review Section of the Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer-ISQOLS. She is also the Director of the Journal of Social Sciences, of the University of Palermo, Argentina. She is currently Vice President of Publications of
the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. She has published extensively in the fields of Quality of Life, Research Methodology, Children, Community and Public Policy in English and Spanish. At a professional level, she has
worked for 25 years as a social worker assisting at-risk and abused children, in the fields of schools, health and the Court of Justice.
The program is self-paced and facilitated mostly one-on-one through personal communication with the instructor. Course participants are assigned an online training manual.
After reading the manual and interacting with the instructor, the participant is assigned several case studies to analyze. The instructor then certifies the participant upon
successful completion of these case analyses. Since there is no set timeline, the length of the course will vary based on the how quickly the student can master the material.
Certification
ISQOLS members can take the course for certification for $700.
Non-ISQOLS members can take the course for certification for $900.
Benefits include:
Access to the lecture slides
Access to the lecture videos
Discount from Springer to purchase the textbook that supports the course
Direct communication with the instructor by e-mail and/or video conferencing
Certification upon demonstrated learning (evaluated through successful completion of several exams)
Audit
ISQOLS members can audit the course for $50.
Non-ISQOLS members can audit the course for $200.
Benefits include:
Access to the lecture slides
Access to the lecture videos
Discount from Springer to purchase the textbook that supports the course
No. However, to make the most out of the material provided in this course, it is recommended that the applicants have at least some background in social sciences and rudimentary knowledge of population statistics.
ISQOLS can provide educational credit in terms of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for the Child Indicators Certification Program. 1 CEU is equivalent to 10 contact hours. The Child Indicators Projects Certification Program involves an estimated 10 contact hours in total. This translates into 1 CEU. As such, the program provides 1 CEU.
Those interested in receiving the CEUs should provide enough information to their own educational institution about the ISQOLS certification program and their own institution would determine if they would accept these CEUs.
Many occupations require CEUs to stay licensed in their profession (counselors, life coaches, teachers, etc.). Those who wish to use the certification program for CEUs in meet continuing education requirements of their profession should contact their state/country licensing board and submit information about the course.
This certification is provided by the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), a global organization with a mission to promote and encourage research in the field of quality-of-life (QOL), happiness, and wellbeing studies.
ISQOLS has members all throughout positioned in academic institutions as well as stakeholder groups, and are well-respected for their contributions to QoL. As such, an official certification would be beneficial to anyone who wants to
apply psychological science of wellbeing to guide academic research projects, policy making, managerial decision-making, population statistics, and/or coaching and counseling with respect to child indicators.
The principal benefits you will obtain from the certification course are:
a philosophical and academic foundation of much of the research on child indicators, most of the commonly used analytical frameworks, and knowledge of key terms and concepts;
understanding the uses of child wellbeing indicators, and how to use this knowledge to evaluate programs and policies and identify child-centered problems;
knowledge about how to develop and evaluate child indicators and where to look for existing data that may be available;
mastery of the skills needed for data analysis and tabulation of child indicators;
understanding of the report production and dissemination process, as well as auxiliary products.
This course is administered by a leader in the field of child indicators, Dr. Graciela H. Tonon. All the webinars will be available for the student to review,
and they will additionally gain access to the textbook, an excellent resource, at a discounted price from Springer.
International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS)
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