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

• Research Digest: Reading, Writing, and Reform in the Bronx: Lessons for Community Engagement in Schools

  Celina Su explores how five community-based education organizing groups use various strategies to build trust and commitment among parents and teachers.

• Syllabus: Parents and Teachers Together: Creating Schools Our Children Deserve

  Dana McDermott, assistant professor at the School for New Learning, DePaul University, teaches a course that addresses the barriers to parent and teacher decision making in public schools and explores innovative initiatives and models that give teachers and parents a stronger voice.

• Member Insight: How Can Grandparents Be Involved in Their Grandchildren's Learning?

  Dorothy Rich, founder and president of the MegaSkills Education Center, describes the creative ways she and her grandchildren teach and learn together during everyday activities.

Recent Reports

• Parent-Teen Relationships and Interactions: Far More Positive Than Not

  Child Trends explores the quality of parent-teen relationships and the kinds of parent-teen interactions associated with improved academic outcomes. Data from both the U.S. and 21 other industrialized countries shows that adolescents who have positive relationships with their parents tend to have better academic outcomes. In the U.S. most teens report that they think highly of their parents and enjoy spending time with them.

• The Context and Meaning of Family Strengthening in Indian America

  This report to the Annie E. Casey Foundation by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development investigates the role of families in improving child and community welfare in American Indian communities, and offers recommendations for native family strengthening to the philanthropic community. The report finds that the most effective family strengthening interventions are those designed and delivered by native communities themselves.

• Mentoring As a Family Strengthening Strategy

  The latest policy brief from the Family Strengthening Policy Center explores how mentoring can serve as a family strengthening strategy. Part of the brief looks specifically at the potential benefits of increasing family involvement in mentoring programs for youth, and ways mentoring programs seek to engage families.

• Convivencia to Empowerment: Latino Parent Organizing at La Familia

  This article in The High School Journal (Volume 88, Issue 2) describes La Familia Initiative, a Latino parent-organizing project at a public middle school. The paper also investigates how traditionally underserved families and communities can participate effectively in the education of their children when the conditions for their involvement are facilitated, and when their ways of participating are validated and developed. Only the article's abstract is available at the link above.

Toolkits

• Strengthening Parental Involvement in Middle and High Schools: Cultivating Communication and Connections

  Direct parent involvement with children's schools often decreases dramatically during the middle and high school years, yet involvement is still very important at this age. This paper offers advice on what educators can do to improve their communication and connections with parents of teenagers.

• Telenovelas Educativas

  The media department of Oxnard College, part of the ENLACE partnership, produced two short Spanish-language videos that address college access issues faced by Latinos. The videos feature realistic stories in the style of the popular telenovelas seen on Spanish-language television stations to explain sources of financial aid and academic preparation for college admission to Latino families.

• Teacher Professional Development: A Primer for Parents and Community Members

  This primer on the importance of professional development for teachers is designed to give parents and community members an overview of professional development, and identifies steps they can take to support quality professional development for teachers.

• Resident Leadership – Empowering Citizens in Their Communities

  The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently launched a new section on its website addressing how to mobilize and develop resident leadership. It provides information on how to help community members, policymakers, nonprofits, and businesses integrate resident participation in community leadership and decision making.

Event

• Leadership Development Conference

  The National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University will conduct its spring 2005 Leadership Development Conference on school, family, and community partnerships from March 17th to 18th. The conference will bring together leaders from schools, districts, states, and organizations who are developing research-based programs of family and community involvement linked to school improvement goals for student success.

Grant Opportunity

• NEA Foundation Innovation Grants and Learning and Leadership Grants

  The NEA Foundation's next round of Innovation Grants will be reviewed beginning February 1, 2005. Grants of $2,000 to $5,000 are available for collaborative efforts by two or more colleagues to develop and implement creative project-based learning that results in high student achievement for underserved students. Several of the recently awarded Innovation Grants include family involvement components.

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