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.
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Expert Commentary to “Daddy Says This New Math Is Crazy”: Three Tips for Teachers
Based on her work with the Nana y Yo y las Matemáticas project, Marlene Kliman writes about three strategies teachers can use to engage families in their children’s math education, especially when today’s math curriculum diverges from traditional practices.
Reinventing Systems: Collaborations to Support Families
This volume provides in-depth descriptions of four initiatives that have achieved broad reforms so that social services are more unified and accessible to families. Initiatives in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and West Virginia are covered.
Parent Involvement and the Social and Academic Competencies of Urban Kindergarten Children
This study shows positive social and academic outcomes for low-income, minority kindergarten children whose parents promote learning in the home and contact schools regularly.
A Strong Start for Family Engagement in Massachusetts
Through its Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge funds, Massachusetts has created strategic partnerships with museums and libraries, public television, family and community programs, community nonprofits, and public transportation to build a robust and growing statewide family engagement system.
We Were a "Hard-to-Reach" Family
Former Head Start parent, Nikia Parker, started out as a “hard-to-reach” parent but developed a strong, positive relationship with her family’s Early Head Start home visitor, which enabled her to not only effectively support her own children, but also take on advocacy and leadership roles within the larger Head Start community.
The Transition to Afterschool: One City’s Approach to Connecting Young Children and Their Families to Learning and Enrichment Opportunities—Part Two
How can you create a resource to help families of young children successfully transition to afterschool? What questions should be addressed? This video looks at one city’s approach to helping connect families and their young children to afterschool enrichment opportunities.
Ready for Success: Creating Collaborative and Thoughtful Transitions into Kindergarten
Because early social performance and academic achievement are predictors of later school success, ensuring that children get off to a good start in kindergarten is critical. This brief, by Harvard Family Research Project's Christine Patton and Justina Wang, examines important elements of high-quality kindergarten transition strategies and profiles promising practices from six states that take an integrated and collaborative approach to helping kindergartners enter school ready for success.
Faith-Based Organizing for School Improvement in the Texas Borderlands: A Case Study of the Alliance School Initiative
At two public schools in the Texas borderlands, a faith-based organization and a school–community partnership come together to improve parental engagement.
Head Start as a Family Support Program: Renewing a Community Ethic
This report discusses the efforts of six Head Start programs to address the challenges and goals raised in the 1993 report, Creating a 21st Century Head Start. It assesses their progress in several key areas: expanding enrollment, strengthening parent involvement, addressing issues such as homelessness and substance abuse, improving staff training, bridging research and practice, and collaborating with schools and social service agencies, and addressing issues such as homelessness and substance abuse.
Joining Forces: Families and Out-of-School Programs as Partners in Supporting Children’s Learning and Development
Harvard Family Research Project’s Senior Research Analysts Heidi Rosenberg, Erin Harris, and Shani Wilkes explore how the relationship between families and afterschool is shifting from a focus on increasing afterschool program participation toward a focus on parents’ supporting children’s learning and development in afterschool settings.
Creating Conditions for Effective and Ongoing Family Engagement
In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Senior Research Analyst, Heidi Rosenberg, looks at the ways in which schools, programs, and other community institutions can help facilitate continuous family engagement to help children succeed.
What About the Parents?
Katie Salen Tekinbaş outlines strategies and activities that New York City public school Quest to Learn has implemented to ensure that families are engaged in the digital learning life of students.
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.
Lessons From Museums and Libraries: Five Ways to Address Families’ Digital Learning Needs
Culture expert Marsha L. Semmel notes that museums and libraries are increasing their offerings for families in support of such vital 21st-century learning skills as problem solving, digital media literacy, and creativity. Learn how these institutions play important roles in addressing our children’s digital learning needs.
Generating Family-School Partnerships Through Social Marketing
The outgrowth of a meeting of six national organizations promoting family-school partnerships, this article discusses methods to enhance family involvement through social marketing. By arguing that schools should view parents as “customers,” teachers and administrators can reach out to parents in effective and successful ways.
Sharing Assessment Data With Preschool Families in Preparation for Kindergarten
What are the benefits and challenges of sharing assessment data with preschool families? How can you do so effectively? A preschool teacher writes about her experiences, and provides valuable tips on how to share data with families in preparation for kindergarten.
Challenges in Evaluating Comprehensive School-Linked Services: Toward a More Comprehensive Evaluation Framework
Presented at the 1995 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, this paper discusses the evaluation challenges facing complex school-linked services and describes and assesses how 18 such initiatives have been evaluated. Includes detailed charts and tables.
Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: A Model to Facilitate Meaningful Partnerships for Families and Schools
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studied the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention model where parents, educators, and service providers work collaboratively to address children's developmental needs in a Head Start program.
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.
Reading, Writing, and Reform in the Bronx: Lessons for Community Engagement in Schools
Five community-based education organizing groups use various strategies to build trust and commitment among parents and teachers.
Math Is Everywhere, When We Know What to Look For
Learning mathematics starts in infancy and happens anywhere, anytime. In this commentary, Taniesha Woods explores what young children need to know about math, what environments rich in mathematics learning look like, and how families can support children’s math development.
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.
Family Engagement as a Shared Responsibility in a Digital Learning Environment
HFRP director Heather B. Weiss examines how families and others involved with children and youth can ensure that children obtain the access, supports, and opportunities that they need to get the full benefits of digital media for learning.
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.
Reframing Family Involvement in Education: Supporting Families to Support Educational Equity
This research review, part of the Equity Matters research initiative at the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, argues that family involvement in education is a powerful but neglected tool to support children’s learning and development. Disadvantaged children are both more likely to benefit from increased family involvement and to come from families who face the greatest barriers to such involvement. To reframe public understanding of the benefits of family involvement in children’s education, this paper lays out a research-based definition and more equitable approach to family involvement and positions it as a key cross-cutting component of broader comprehensive or complementary learning systems.