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www.HFRP.org

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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Dear FINE Member,

Here are this month's FINE member announcements. Please feel free to forward this information to friends and other education colleagues.

New on the FINE Website

New From Harvard Family Research Project

  • The Evaluation Exchange: Evaluating Family Involvement Programs

    This issue of The Evaluation Exchange brings together the current knowledge base of programs in family support and family involvement, providing a continuous perspective on family processes with regard to children's learning and development from a child's early years through adolescence. Articles address the challenges of evaluating family programs, such as the need for conceptual clarity, methodological rigor, accountability, and contextual responsiveness. Rounding out the issue are examples of ongoing evaluations of parent leadership and organizing to ensure that schools serve all children at high standards.

    We sent a hard copy of this new issue of The Evaluation Exchange to all FINE members. If you do not receive a copy in the mail within the next few weeks, please send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu with your correct mailing address. If you would like to receive multiple copies of The Evaluation Exchange to disseminate to staff or colleagues, please send a request to fine@gse.harvard.edu.

Recent Articles and Reports

  • Intermediary Organizations as Capacity Builders in Family Educational Involvement

    In the latest issue of Urban Education, researchers at Harvard Family Research Project argue that intermediary organizations play a crucial role in capacity building for family involvement. Intermediaries can provide alternatives to school-centered approaches to family involvement and engage families with intensive support that schools seldom offer.

  • New Relationships With Schools, Volume II

    The second volume of New Relationships With Schools continues to document efforts by organizations that take on educational issues as a way to advance broader community goals. The Kettering Foundation commissioned the Collaborative Communications group to study the strategies used by these organizations to build relationships with schools and advocate for improvement in public education. To complement the three case studies included in the first volume, the second looks deeply at three more organizations.

Toolkits

  • Becoming a Community School: A Step-by-Step Guide to Bridging the School-Family Gap

    The Project for School Innovation has developed another practitioner guide based on the successful strategies of one school to support its families through a range of social and educational school-based services. The Robert L. Ford Elementary School in Lynn, Massachusetts, serves a low-income population with 57% English-language learners, yet Ford students are achieving at high levels. The guide provides advice on how to bring families into the school and how to establish and benefit from university and community partnerships. The guide is available for purchase from the publisher at the link above.

  • Family Literacy Nights: Building the Circle of Supporters Within and Beyond School for Middle School English Language Learners

    The Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence conducted a 3-year project to provide literacy nights for the families of low performing Asian American English language learners. The report discusses implications for practitioners, details the challenges encountered in forming home-school partnerships, and provides strategies for parents and researchers. The report is available for purchase from the publisher at the link above.

  • Parent Leadership Starter Kit

    This toolkit from KSA Plus Communications helps parent leaders become more effective advocates and decision makers. It describes evidence showing the importance for parent leadership, includes school assessments, and provides advice on how to use data, report cards, and other No Child Left Behind tools. The kit is available for purchase at the link above.

  • School-Parent-Community Partnerships Resource Book (Acrobat file)

    This resource guide was developed by the Indiana Department of Education as part of its statewide school improvement plan. The guide provides a comprehensive review of nationally accepted standards on parent involvement, considerations for implementing and evaluating parent involvement programs at the local level, and sample tools such as parent, teacher, and administrator surveys, a team work plan, and compacts for teachers, students, and parents.

Website to Watch

  • Breakthrough High Schools on Principals.org

    On its Principals.org website the National Association of Secondary School Principals honors high schools that are successful despite their high poverty, high minority student populations by labelling them as Breakthrough High Schools. These schools earn this title by demonstrating significant student achievement and high graduation and college admission rates. The individual school profiles include descriptions of parent and community involvement plans and activities.

Contact Us

Have a problem with the website or questions and comments concerning our work? Send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.

Enjoy!

FINE - The Family Involvement Network of Educators

© 2016 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College
Published by Harvard Family Research Project