NAEYC Technology and Young Children Interest Forum

Website Evaluation Rubric*

DIRECTIONS:

  1. The results of each web site review will be used to determine which web sites will be linked to the NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum web site.
  2. Consider each category (not each item) using the rubric below. Specific items are included under each category below in order to provide examples of what might be considered within the category.
  3. Cite rationale for category rating by indicating the specific items that were strong/weak (particularly important when lower overall rating resulted). This rationale can be listed in the comments category.
  4. Use results provided for each separate category to decide on an overall "accept" or "reject" decision. If 4 categories are acceptable, the reviewer considers the web site acceptable to addition to "Technology and Young Children."

CATEGORIES FOR CONSIDERATION (and examples to consider):

Identifying Information and Currency of Site

  1. The title of the web site is clearly visible on the site's homepage.
  2. The sponsoring organization, agency, company or person(s) is listed on the homepage or a link to such information is provided on the homepage.
  3. A means for contacting the web site sponsor is provided.
  4. Apparent audience is clearly stated either on the homepage itself or on an "about us" page. 
  5. The site shows signs of regular and frequent maintenance and management:
  • The page is dated.
  • The last update is recent.
  • The links are current, without many that have expired or moved.

Authority, Fiscal Sponsors and Commercial Considerations

  1. The purpose of the site is clearly stated.
  2. If advertising is included at the site, has it had a biasing impact on the content?
  3. The guiding principles and goals of the web site's authorsponsor(s) are compatible with the guiding principles and goals of the NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum.
  4. The site combines educational, research and scholarly information when there is commercial or non-commercial product or service marketing.
General Content Issues
  1. Text is generally free from grammatical, typographical, and spelling errors.
  2. Page titles/headings accurately describe the information that is presented.
  3. The content is up-to-date, stating the date created.
  4. There is copyright information or a set of authorship considerations related to downloading pages on the site.
  5. Authors of individual documents are identified. Providing other professional information about the author is preferable.

Quality of Information Issues

  1. To the best of your understanding, the content is in agreement with currently held standards of best practice, currently held beliefs about child development, current regulations regarding health and safety, etc.
  2. To the best of your understanding, the content is objective or where a bias is presented, it clearly identified (ex. Identifies "effective curriculum" according to published evidence of program efficacy or clearly states that it is a matter of the web page creator's opinion or personal experience)
  3. The links to other sites are substantive and useful.
  4. The information is primarily educational and accessible from the web site (available to view, download, print and reproduce) rather than primarily commercial.
  5. The web site provides unique information or provides a comprehensive collection of related information.
  6. The site claims to describe or provide the results of research or scholarly effort and cites references.
  7. The information provided on the web site is of benefit to the "Technology and Young Children" target audience and in keeping with the mission statement of the NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum.

Navigation and Design

  1. The design is clean, functional, and appealing.
  2. The design is consistent across pages (increases efficiency in locating information).
  3. There is an easy-to-follow menu, table of contents or site map.
  4. It is easy to move back to a previous page, or to the home page.
  5. Instructions are provided for using interactive features (ex. search engines).
  6. There are options for text only, non-frames and/or non-tables views of this web site.
  7. The web site is accessible to people with disabilities (ex. look for a "Bobby Approved" logo, or for alternate text provided as a substitute for photos and images to guide people with visual impairments).

Server Performance and Technical Issues

  1. Pages (including graphics) load quickly.
  2. Other (than graphic) non-text features work appropriately.
  3. Non-text features (graphics, sound, video, etc.) serve a purpose related to content that is meaningful for the user.
  4. When private information is requested (e.g. credit card transactions), transactions are secure.
  5. The site is generally accessible (not "unable to connect.")

NAEYCTEC

 

Unacceptable

 

Acceptable

 

Majority of items in this category were missing or unfavorably reviewed. Site could benefit from substantial revision in this category.

 

Comments regarding this section.

 

More than half of the items in this category were acceptable. There were few or no items that created questions for the reviewer regarding quality or design.

Identifying Information and Currency of Site

Assess Authority, Fiscal Sponsors And Commercial Considerations

General Content Issues

Quality of Information Issues

Navigation and Design

Server Performance And Technical Issues

Site Reviewed (Title, URL) :
Date Reviewed:
Reviewed by:

*The evaluation criteria and rubric were developed by NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum Members Laura Zionts, Kathy Reschke and Bonnie Blagojevic. Special thanks to ERIC/EECE for sharing information about web site selection criteria and to the Interest Forum members who helped to test and evaluate this tool.