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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Parents as Educational Leaders
Bruce Wilson and Dick Corbett describe an evaluation of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership.
Upcoming Evaluations
HFRP takes a look at upcoming family involvement and complementary learning evaluations.
Empowering Parents to Improve Education: Evidence from Rural Mexico
Paul Gertler, Harry Patrinos, and Marta Rubio-Codina summarize a study on the outcomes associated with a school-based management intervention in Mexico.
Family Involvement Policy: Past, Present, and Future
Family involvement experts discuss federal, state, and local policies—where these policies have been, where they are headed, and what strategies are necessary to seize the current policy window.
Local School Councils and Parent Involvement in Chicago
Melissa Marschall’s study on Latino parents’ participation in school governance underscores this issue’s theme of the importance of coconstructing family involvement.
Getting Serious About Excellence With Equity
Ronald Ferguson, Director of the Achievement Gap Initiative and Lecturer at Harvard University, proposes that parents must be part of a broader movement for excellence with equity.
Developing a Parent-Derived Measure of Latino Family Involvement
Christine McWayne and Gigliana Melzi from New York University’s Department of Applied Psychology discuss their investigation of Latino family involvement in early childhood education.
Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools
Helen Westmoreland of HFRP reviews Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools by Rudy Crew.
Whole Children, Whole Families, Whole Communities
Jonathan Zaff and Danielle Butler from America’s Promise Alliance look at how winners of the 100 Best Communities for Young People employ family involvement strategies.
A Conversation With Rudy Crew
Rudy Crew, Superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, talks about his book, Only Connect, and his efforts to close the achievement gap in Miami-Dade County.
Measuring the Implementation and Impact of the Kentucky Family Resource Centers
John Kalafat from Rutgers University describes how he and his colleagues used Innovative Configuration Analysis to evaluate a statewide family resource initiative’s implementation and impact.
Implementing Family and Community Engagement: Opportunities and Challenges in Boston Public Schools
Abby Weiss and Helen Westmoreland look at the lessons learned from the evolution of Boston Public Schools’ family and community engagement strategy.
Overcoming Practical Obstacles to Meaningful Program Evaluation: The Booklet Approach
Steven Harvey and Gregory Wood describe how they created a methodology to capture data across a series of parenting workshops.
Supporting Family Engagement Through District-Level Partnerships
Mavis Sanders from Johns Hopkins University looks at how school districts can promote family–school partnerships by collaborating with community based organizations.
Cost-Effectiveness and Cost–Benefit Analyses of Family Involvement Initiatives
Brian Yates from American University explains the value of both cost-effectiveness and cost–benefit analyses in promoting investments in family involvement.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Building the Future of Family Involvement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Standards for Success: Linking Families, Schools, and Communities to Support Student Achievement
Sheri DeBoe Johnson from the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) discusses the PTA’s newly revised National Standards for Family–School Partnerships.
A Strategic Evaluation Approach for the Parental Information and Resource Centers
Helen Westmoreland and Suzanne Bouffard describe the evolving evaluation strategy for the national Parental Information and Resource Centers program, the program’s potential to build the family involvement field, and the role of the National PIRC Coordination Center.
Beyond the Bake Sale: How School Districts Can Promote Family Involvement
This article is adapted from Chapter 9, “Scaling Up: Why Can’t All Schools in a District Create Strong Partnerships With Families?” of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family–School Partnerships by Anne Henderson, Karen Mapp, Vivian Johnson, and Don Davies.
New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue’s theme.
Strengthening Family Ties
Sharon Hemphill and Holly Kreider describe how the Boys & Girls Clubs of America is implementing and evaluating an initiative that goes “beyond the walls” to support families in order to promote children’s success.
After School Programs as an Oasis of Hope for Black Parents
Gerard Robinson discusses how and why low-income and working-class Black parents are involved in enrolling their children in after school programs.
A City-Wide Effort to Support and Involve Families
Brenda Miller and Ginger Peacock Preston from the Jacksonville Children’s Commission describe how the city of Jacksonville, Florida, is integrating family involvement into a system of care for children and families.
Promoting Parent–School Relationships During the Transition to Kindergarten
Amy Schulting from Duke University explores the role of teacher outreach to families during the transition to kindergarten.
Evaluation and InterAction
Ken Giunta and Todd Shelton of InterAction answer HFRP's questions about their approaches and ideas on evaluating advocacy.