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.
Volume VIII, Number 2, Fall 2002
Issue Topic: Evaluation for Continuous Improvement
New & Noteworthy
Bare, J. (2002). Try my elixir. Foundation News & Commentary. 43(1), 22–24. Acknowledging that non-evaluators tend not to care much about how evaluators do their jobs, Bare presents 10 ways to communicate the value of evaluation to grantmaking colleagues.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Children at risk: State trends 1990–2000. (2002, March). Baltimore, MD: Author. A Population Reference Bureau/Kids Count report based on the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, which finds that, while conditions for children improved overall in the last decade, the child poverty rate remained practically unchanged. www.aecf.org/kidscount/c2ss
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pursuing Perfection initiative is “intended to help physician organizations and hospitals dramatically improve patient outcomes by pursuing perfection in all of their major care processes.” www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/PursuingPerfection/PursuingPerfection.htm
Leichter, H. M., & Tryens, J. (2002, September). Achieving better health outcomes: The Oregon benchmark experience. New York: Milbank Memorial Fund. This report examines and assesses the history of benchmarking for health by the Oregon Progress Board. www.milbank.org
Mosteller, F., & Boruch, R. (Eds.). (2002). Evidence matters: Randomized trials in education research. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press. This book explores the history and current status of research on practices in education, particularly the need for credible studies of the effects of education programs. The contributors focus on randomized field trials, but also consider other approaches to generating empirical evidence, such as sample surveys, narrative studies, and exploratory research. www.brook.edu/press/books/evidence_matters.htm
The Pew Partnership for Civic Change’s Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative is a nationwide project to equip a diverse group of citizens, or “civic entrepreneurs,” to play a greater role in decision making in their communities. It includes a LeadershipPlenty training curriculum, which has an evaluation component. www.pew-partnership.org/pcei/pcei.html
The Results and Performance Accountability Implementation Guide, developed by Mark Friedman, is an Internet-based guide for individuals and groups looking to implement some form of results or performance accountability in their organization or community. www.raguide.org
New Resources From HFRP
A new teaching case on the standards movement in education is available on our FINE (Family Involvement Network of Educators) website—Defining “Fine”: Communicating Academic Progress to Parents.
We have just published two new research briefs in our Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation series.
- Brief number 3, published in July 2002, entitled Documenting Progress and Demonstrating Results: Evaluating Small-Scale Out-of-School Time Programs, provides small out-of-school time programs with the techniques, tools, and strategies they need to improve their programs and track their effectiveness over time.
- Brief number 4, published in August 2002, entitled Beyond the Head Count: Evaluating Family Involvement in Out-of-School Time, offers an overview of how out-of-school time programs involve families and how they can evaluate family involvement.
Click here to view the entire series of out-of-school time research briefs or email us at hfrp_pubs@gse.harvard.edu to order hard copies.