Federal funding for this website ended in 2003, therefore few materials have been added since that time. Fortunately, there is continued interest in culturally and appropriate materials, curriculum, and programs. Because of this, we have allowed this site to remain as an archive. Please feel free to use this site, but recognize that it is no longer current.
Suggestions for Choosing Materials
Suggestions for Choosing Materials are provided to help you examine materials in the light of your own particular needs, preferences and constraints. We suggest several questions that you may wish to consider if you work directly with children and families, if you are a parent or a family member seeking or using services, or if you work in personnel development. We also offer an ERIC Digest—Selecting Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Materials: Suggestions for Service Providers by Rosa Milagros Santos and Debbie Reese—on suggestions for service providers selecting culturally and linguistically appropriate materials. It's also available in Spanish: "Seleccionando materiales adecuados cultural y linguísticamente: Sugerencias para los proveedores de servicios" (PDF)
Suggestions for choosing materials:
If you are a parent or a family member seeking or using services
There are many occasions when you might look for materials to assist you, your child, and your family:
- To seek new services
- To learn more about existing services
- To find ways to improve services
In the collection of reviewed materials we provide you with a summary of the material, information about availability, and at least two critical reviews by experts. Each review addresses the strengths and limitations of the material and when appropriate, provides suggestions for adapting materials. The developer's information may describe the clients who actually have used a material, as well as how the material was created. We hope that this information will help you determine how closely the material will match the needs of your family and child. We know that families may differ in many ways: membership, values, belief, traditions, characteristics, and roles. We encourage you to examine the materials in the light of your own particular needs, preferences and constraints. We suggest the following questions to help you in choosing a material.
1. Consider the clients.
- How closely does your family or child resemble those for whom the material was developed? If you see many differences, how important are they?
- Does the material contain assumptions, beliefs or values that are similar to those of your family?
- Does the language style and dialect match what your family uses?
- Does the material describe provider, family or child roles that are similar to those in your family?
- Do you have the time, skills and resources to use this material?
2. Consider strengths and limitations of the material.
- To what extent do the strengths of the material identified by you and the reviewers outweigh the limitations?
- Can the limitations be addressed? If so, see Adaptations
3. Consider adaptations of the material.
- To what extent can you adapt the material to meet your needs? Sometimes the reviewers recommend adaptations, some of which are made more easily than are others.
If you can make changes
- What adaptations can you make regarding content to ensure a "good fit" for your family?
- Are there better ways to use or present information to meet your family's needs, than currently described?
- Do you have the time and resources to make adaptations?
If you cannot make changes
- Can you use some but not all of the material and still produce desired outcomes?
Suggestions for choosing materials:
If you work directly with children and families
There are many occasions when you might look for materials to support your work with children and their families:
- To develop new services
- To modify current services
- To find ways of improving services
In the collection of reviewed materials we provide you with a summary of the material, information about availability, and at least two critical reviews by experts. Each review addresses the strengths and limitations of the material and when appropriate, provides suggestions for adapting materials. The developer's information may describe the clients who actually used a material, as well as how the material was created. We hope that this information will help you determine how closely the material will match the needs of your clients. We know that your program may differ in many ways, including delivery and range of services as well as characteristics of the clients and the providers of those services. We encourage you to examine the materials in the light of your own particular needs, preferences and constraints. We suggest the following questions to help you in choosing a material.
1. Consider the clients.
- How closely does the community you serve resemble those for whom the material was developed?
- Is the material based on assumptions, beliefs or values that are acceptable to most members of the community you serve?
- Are the provider, family or child roles described in the material consistent with those found in the community you serve?
- Does the material consider the time, expense, and other resources needed to use it adequately?
- If the material is presented in a language other than English, does the language style and dialect match that of the community to be served?
2. Consider strengths and limitations of the material.
- To what extent do the strengths of the material identified by you and the reviewers outweigh the limitations?
- Can the limitations be addressed? If so, see Adaptations.
3. Consider adaptations of the material.
- To what extent can you adapt the material to meet the needs of the learners you serve? The reviewers may recommend adaptations, some of which. are more easily made than others
If you can make changes
- What adaptations can you make regarding content to ensure a "good fit" for the families and children served by your program?
- Are there better ways to present the material to your clients?
- Are your resources sufficient for making these adaptations?
If you cannot make changes
- Can you provide a supplement to the item, such as a letter or brochure that will address your concerns?
- Can you use some of the material and still produce desired outcomes?
- Can the material serve as a model for developing a more appropriate material?
Suggestions for choosing materials:
If you work in personnel development
There are many occasions when you might look for materials to support the work of service providers, preservice students and inservice participants:
- To provide direct instruction
- To increase their awareness of resources in their discipline
- To assist them in improving services
In the collection of reviewed materials we provide you with a summary of the material, information about availability, and at least two critical reviews by experts. Each review addresses the strengths and limitations of the material and when appropriate, provides suggestions for adapting materials. The developer's information may describe the context in which the material has been used (with whom and by whom) as well as how the material was created. We know that training needs may differ in many ways, depending on the characteristics of the clients, the services that the community of learners provides, and the population whom they serve. We encourage you to examine the materials in the light of your own particular needs, preferences and constraints. We suggest the following questions to help you in choosing a material.
1.Consider the clients.
- How closely does the community of learners you serve resemble those for whom the material was developed?
- Is the material based on assumptions, beliefs or values that are acceptable to most members of the community you serve?
- Are the activities presented in this material ones which consider the cultural preferences of learners and provide a range of formats for fostering participation?
- Does the material consider the time, expense, and other resources needed to adequately use it?
- If the material is presented in a language other than English, does the language style and dialect match that of the community to be served?
2. Consider strengths and limitations of the material.
- Do the strengths of the material identified by you and the reviewers outweigh the limitations?
- Can its limitations be addressed? If so, see Adaptations.
3. Consider adaptations of the material.
- To what extent can you adapt the material to meet the needs of the learners you serve? The reviewers may recommend adaptations, some of which are made more easily than others.
If you can make changes
- What adaptations can you make regarding content to ensure a "good fit" for your clients? For instance, does the content match their learning needs? Is the content sensitive to culturally different learning styles, values and practices?
- Are there better ways to present the material to your clients (e.g., in print or other media, in face-to-face interactions, or electronically) than currently recommended?
- Are your resources sufficient for making these adaptations?
If you cannot make changes
- Can you address your concerns and identify appropriate ways of using the material, through supplemental activities, discussion, or other materials?
- Can technology assist you in making adaptations (e.g., web-based threaded discussions, internet resources)?
- Can you use some but not all of the material and still produce desired outcomes?
- Can you use the material as a model to develop a new document, given your current resources?
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign