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.

Terms of Use ▼

• Permission to Use Materials: In consideration for your agreement to the terms and conditions contained here, the President and Fellows of Harvard College, c/o the Harvard Graduate School of Education, grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use Harvard Family Research Project publications hosted on the Global Family Research Project Site.
• User may download material from the Site only for User's own personal, non-commercial use. User may not otherwise copy, reproduce, retransmit, distribute, publish, commercially exploit or otherwise transfer any material. The burden of determining that use of any information, software or any other content on the Site is permissible rests with User.
• User will seek permission or licensing for any commercial use requests from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Sponsored Projects.

• Home
• Research Areas
  • Complementary Learning
  • Family Involvement
  • Out-of-School Time
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Evaluation
  • Other Research Areas
• Publications & Resources
  • Search Publications
  • Browse Our Publications
  • Publications Series
  • Copyright and Reprint Permissions
• HFRP News
  • News & Announcements
  • Blog: New Directions in Family Engagement
  • In the Media

• Complementary Learning
• Family Involvement
  • Overview
  • Professional Development
  • Informing Family Engagement Policy
  • FINE: Family Involvement Network of Educators
  • Projects
  • Publications & Resources
• Out-of-School Time
• Early Childhood Education
• Evaluation
• Other Research Areas

• Large text size
• Normal text size
• Small text size
• Print this page

Dear FINE Member,

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

New on the FINE Website

• Research Digest: Family Support Services Promote School Readiness

  This study by Shari Golan, Donna Spiker, and Carl Sumi demonstrates that a wide variety of parent and child factors are linked to school readiness and that parenting education and support services promote family activities that relate to positive child outcomes.

• Research Digest: Mothering the Mind and Soul: African American Mothers' Beliefs and Practices to Ensure Academic and Social Success for Their Daughters in High School

  In this study by Barbara Morrow Williams, interviews with African American mothers of successful high school daughters show that mothers maintain intense interest and direct involvement in multiple aspects of their daughters' educational lives but keep little contact with school officials.

Recent Reports on Head Start

• Child Trends Analysis of Head Start

  Child Trends, an organization that maintains a data bank on outcomes for children, recently created an updated analysis of the Head Start program. The analysis finds that non-Hispanic black children were five times as likely as non-Hispanic white children and twice as likely as Hispanic children to be enrolled in Head Start in 2001.

• Still Going Strong: Head Start Children, Families, Staff, and Programs in 2004

  This research brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy is the most recent in a series of reports using Head Start data to analyze trends in the program. Key findings include the fact that Head Start parents make up more than half of the program's volunteers and that 82% of programs specifically encourage fathers to participate.

Books and Reports

• Building School–Community Partnerships: Collaboration for Student Success

  This new book by Mavis Sanders of Johns Hopkins University discusses the importance of collaboration between schools and local organizations, universities, and businesses and provides guidance for educators looking to establish such connections. The book is available for purchase from the publisher at the link above.

• CSRQ Center Report on Elementary School CSR Models

  In this report, the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center reviews 22 comprehensive school reform models. Program aspects evaluated include student achievement and family and community involvement. The full report or the executive summary can be downloaded from the link above.

• Parents' Reports of School Practices to Provide Information to Families: 1996 and 2003

  This report from the National Center for Education Statistics examines the information schools send home to parents and the frequency of parent participation in school. Results show that school-family communication and parent involvement are positively related.

Survey Data

• National Survey of Parents Data

  The Child Care and Early Education Research Connections recently made available data from the 2000–2001 National Survey of Parents, which investigated how and with whom parents spend their time. Researchers can fill out a brief registration form and download the data for free from the link above.

Tool Kit

• Canadian Parenting Workshops: Preparing Children for School Success

  Created by Ryerson University's School of Early Child Education, this set of 10 workshops focuses on teaching parents how to support their children's schooling and development. The materials, available in English and French, include a facilitator's guide, handouts for parent participants, and evaluation instruments. The package is available for purchase at the link below.

Upcoming Events

• Parents as Teachers Conference '06: Understanding Human Diversity

  The Parents as Teachers conference will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, March 20–23, 2006. The program will cover strategies for multicultural parent support, aimed at an audience of early childhood specialists, teachers, parent educators, and family workers.

• Family Support America 11th Biennial International Conference

  Family Support America will celebrate its 25th anniversary at its conference in Chicago, March 26–29, 2006. The program will cover a variety of family support topics for professionals, practitioners, and parents. Families and Schools Together will hold its Parent Leadership Conference in conjunction.

• Strengthening Communities Through Education

  Hosted by Cambridge College and the National Community Education Association, this conference will address partnerships between schools and communities, parent participation in out-of-school learning, and full service community schools. The conference will take place April 7–8, 2006 in Albany, New York.

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