The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Select a category below to narrow the list of publications about complementary learning. Click on a column heading to sort, and then select a title to view the publication. If you are looking for a specific document, topic, or author, visit our Publications & Resources section to conduct an advanced search.
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Expanded Learning Opportunities — Pathways to Student Success
This paper highlights research on the promise of expanded learning approaches — including after-school, summer, extended day, and community networks—for education reform.
The Federal Role in Out-of-School Learning: After-School, Summer Learning, and Family Involvement as Critical Learning Supports (Voices in Urban Education, Summer 2009)
Our article in Voices for Urban Education makes a research-based case for the federal provision of out-of-school complementary learning supports.
Complementary Learning Connections With Out-of-School Time Programs in Nebraska
When families, schools, and out-of-school supports work together, children are more likely to succeed. Lisa St. Clair writes about how the Nebraska State Parental Information and Resource Center is using a complementary learning approach to link family support programs with schools, early childhood programs, and out-of-school time programs.
Featured Teaching Case: After School for Cindy
Harvard Family Research Project’s Teaching Cases support teacher training and professional development by highlighting challenges that schools, families, and communities may encounter in supporting children’s learning. In this month’s FINE newsletter, we feature After School for Cindy, which explores the roles that family members, school staff, and community organizations play in one child’s out-of-school time and demonstrates the importance of family engagement across learning contexts.
Family Involvement Across Learning Settings
Families play important roles in supporting children’s learning not just in school but also in the many out-of-school contexts in which they learn. Harvard Family Research Project’s Helen Westmoreland talks about how families and nonschool learning settings, such as out-of-school time programs, museums, and libraries, can work together to promote student achievement.
A Day in the Life: Family Engagement in Citizen Schools
Emily Schneider-Krzys, the Deputy Program Director of Citizen Schools in Texas, explains how the Citizen Schools program’s focus on creating networks, building intentional relationships, and establishing consistent communication helps to engage families and support student learning.
From Periphery to Center: A New Vision for Family, School, and Community Partnerships
Written by Harvard Family Research Project's Heather Weiss and Naomi Stephen, this chapter presents a comprehensive, integrated family, school, and community partnership framework that can help level the playing field for disadvantaged children and ensure that they have access to the parental involvement and community engagement practices of their more advantaged peers in order to enhance their learning.
Strengthen What Happens Outside School to Improve What Happens Inside
This article by Harvard Family Research Project in the April 2009 issue of Phi Delta Kappan offers research-based recommendations for federal education legislation.
The Federal Role in Out-of-School Learning: After-School, Summer Learning, and Family Involvement as Critical Learning Supports
Four decades of research demonstrate that it is necessary to redefine learning—both where and when it takes place—if the country is to achieve the goal of educating all of its children. This report from Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) makes a research-based case for federal provision of out-of-school complementary learning supports, so that all students gain the skills necessary for success in the 21st century.
Supporting Student Outcomes Through Expanded Learning Opportunities
This paper looks at the role of after school and summer learning programs in supporting student success. The paper explores how to bridge the divide between out-of-school time programs and schools by offering research-derived principles for effective expanded learning partnerships. It was commissioned by Learning Point Associates and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS) as part of a report on school reform and expanded learning.
Complementary Learning: Recommended and Related Readings
This annotated bibliography compiles recent publications on complementary learning and related concepts, demonstrating a growing national momentum for connected nonschool supports.
Complementary Learning: Emerging Strategies, Evolving Ideas
This paper distills insights and lessons learned from Harvard Family Research Project's fall 2007 professional development institute, Closing the Achievement Gap: Linking Families, Schools, and Communities Through Complementary Learning. Inspired by the innovation and collaboration we witnessed at the institute, we share emerging strategies for creating complementary learning and evolving ideas about next steps for the field. The paper highlights the insights of presenters, participants, and representatives from four case study communities.
What is Complementary Learning?
This short publication will give you a quick overview and some concrete examples of complementary learning. It includes information about what complementary learning looks like, some examples of complementary learning systems in practice today, and a description about what is different about complementary learning from traditional programs and services. Finally, we'll introduce you to Marcus, a fictional teenager whose story illustrates how complementary learning can positively affect the lives of students from birth through adolescence.
Building the Future of Family Involvement
This double issue of The Evaluation Exchange examines the current state of and future directions for the family involvement field in research, policy, and practice. Featuring innovative initiatives, new evaluation approaches and findings, and interviews with field leaders, the issue is designed to spark conversation about where the field is today and where it needs to go in the future.
Complementary Learning in Action: Jacksonville Children's Commission
This profile from the Complementary Learning in Action series describes how the Jacksonville Children's Commission aims for a coordinated system of care from birth through adolescence.
Complementary Learning in Action: The SUN Service System
This profile from the Complementary Learning in Action series tells the story of Multnomah County's (Oregon) SUN Service System, an antipoverty and prevention effort that connects educational, social, health, and other services under one umbrella.
Complementary Learning in Action: Alignment Nashville
This profile from the Complementary Learning in Action series illustrates how Alignment Nashville brings together diverse community members and organizations to leverage existing resources in support of Nashville's youth and the Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Building Villages to Raise Our Children: Six Volume Set
This set of six volumes offers practical advice for establishing and managing a family support program.
Family Involvement in Elementary School Children's Education
This research brief synthesizes the latest research that demonstrates how family involvement contributes to elementary-school-age children's learning and development. The brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—specifically, the research studies that link family involvement during the elementary school years to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works.
Lessons From Family-Strengthening Interventions: Learning From Evidence-Based Practice
Examine how effective family-strengthening interventions can positively impact families and children in this practitioner-friendly brief from Harvard Family Research Project. Lessons From Family-Strengthening Interventions: Learning From Evidence-Based Practice is based on our review of interventions that have been rigorously evaluated through experimental and quasi-experimental studies. We offer educators, service providers, and evaluators recommendations for creating successful programs and evaluations.
Building and Evaluating Out-of-School Time Connections
This double issue of The Evaluation Exchange focuses on creating and evaluating connections between out-of-school time (OST) programs and the other settings in which children and youth live, learn, and play.
Challenges and Opportunities in Moving Family Involvement Research Into Practice (Presentation)
This presentation by HFRP staff was part of a conference entitled “Family–School Relations During Adolescence: Linking Interdisciplinary Research and Practice.” The conference was held July 20–21 and was hosted by the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, sponsored by the American Psychological Association. The goal of the conference was to establish better links among research, practice, and policy related to family educational involvement during adolescence, particularly for families from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.
Family Involvement in Early Childhood Education
This research brief synthesizes the latest research that demonstrates how family involvement contributes to young children's learning and development. The brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—specifically, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works.
After School for Cindy: Family, School, and Community Roles in Out-of-School Time Teaching Case
Second grade teacher Nikki believes that participation in a formal after school program would help her student Cindy academically at school. However, Cindy's single working mother Marla prefers to keep Cindy with her in the afternoons after her numerous struggles with securing quality affordable care in the community. What are the roles of family, school, and community in promoting children's learning and development in out-of-school time?
Complementary Learning
The topic of this issue of The Evaluation Exchange is complementary learning. Complementary learning posits that we can bolster children's learning and achievement by linking and aligning both the school and nonschool arenas in which children live, learn, and play. This means, for example, linking schools with early childhood programs, out-of-school time programs, and other programs based in the community. In this issue we delve into the kinds of mechanisms that can create these linkages and sustain their effectiveness, and highlight promising approaches for evaluating the complementary-learning practices that already exist, both in terms of what outcomes to focus on and what methodologies to use.