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 announcements. Please feel free to forward this information to friends and other education colleagues.

New on the FINE Website

• Call for Promising Practices

  Harvard Family Research Project is seeking information about promising practices, programs, and initiatives that engage parents in children's early learning and development (from birth to age 7) to feature in its future publications. Please send your information to us at fine@gse.harvard.edu.

• Research Report: “Syneducation” (Synekpaidefsis): Reinforcing Communication and Strengthening Cooperation Among Students, Parents, and Schools

  Iro Mylonakou and Ioannis Kekes describe an action research project where parents, students, and teachers at a Greek elementary school worked together to design and implement a shared education program for parents and students.

• Research Digest: Accomplished Teachers and Their Interactions With Parents: A Comparative Analysis of Strategies and Techniques

  Rick Ginsberg and Lauri Hermann-Ginsberg compare how certified and noncertified teachers interact with parents and find that certified teachers have more positive attitudes, are more tenacious in their approaches, and have more strategies for engaging families than noncertified teachers.

• Member Insight: How Can We Prepare Teachers to Work With Culturally Diverse Students and Their Families?

  Based on research on communication patterns during parent–teacher conferences, Bonnie Rockafellow, Education Consultant for the Michigan Department of Education, provides advice for preparing teachers to communicate more effectively with families during formal conferences.

Research on Academic Achievement Gaps

• School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps

  This issue of The Future of Children focuses on children's early lives in an effort to better understand the emergence of racial gaps in educational outcomes. The issue includes eight articles written by leading scholars addressing the size of the gap, what is known about its causes, and potential policy solutions.

• A Matter of Class: Educational Achievement Reflects Family Background More Than Ethnicity or Immigration

  This article in the latest issue of RAND Review argues that socioeconomic factors have a more significant impact on educational achievement than race, ethnicity, or immigrant status. This conclusion is based on the results of two recent RAND studies, one looking at the school readiness of children in Los Angeles neighborhoods and another looking at mathematics achievement among high school students.

• Closing the Gap: High Achievement for Students of Color

  This Research Points brief from the American Educational Research Association reviews research on school-based and college-based support programs for minorities that have been effective in reducing the achievement gaps. The brief describes the key features of effective programs from elementary school to higher education.

Other Reports and Articles

• Interactions: A Summary of Research on School-Community Relationships

  This brief report from AEL reviews the purpose and benefits of school-community connections and discusses the different types of connections, such as home-school relationships, schools as community centers, and communities as curriculums. It describes the process of developing school–community collaborations, the obstacles to achieving them, and addresses evidence of impact and evaluation dilemmas.

• The Mediating Role of Fathers' School Involvement on Student Achievement

  This article in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology describes an exploratory study designed to identify the role of fathers' involvement in mediating contextual influences on children's learning. Findings revealed a significant relationship between aspects of father involvement in their children's education and student achievement beyond that accounted for by mother involvement. The article is available for purchase at the link above.

Transcript

• Creating Home/Program Partnerships That Work: Supporting Children With Problem Behavior

  The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning hosts periodic live chat sessions on topics related to the social and emotional development of young children. The transcript of this recent chat session on home and program partnerships is available online in both English and Spanish.

Toolkit

• Building the Foundation for Bright Futures: Final Report of the NGA Task Force on School Readiness

  The Governors Association Task Force on School Readiness spent 2 years identifying actions that governors and states can take to support families, schools, and communities in preparing children for school. The final report describes these policy recommendations and a companion guide ties the recommendations to concrete examples.

Public Opinion

• National PTA Survey on Local Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act

  The National PTA surveyed its members about the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on local schools and districts. Eighty-five percent of respondents believe that NCLB is having a positive impact on student achievement. Fifty-five percent of respondents said that parent involvement provisions of NCLB are being implemented in their school or district, but 32% were unsure of the level of implementation and 13% believed that no provisions were implemented in their school.

• Life After High School: Young People Talk About Their Hopes and Prospects

  Public Agenda surveyed young adults ages 18–25 to learn more about the factors behind decisions to go to college or seek employment after high school. The vast majority of young adults believe in the value of going to college. For those who do go on to college, parents' expectations and the support of a teacher or counselor in high school played an important role in their decision.

Upcoming Events

• Unifying Family Support Programs: Creating Policy, Power, Voice, Skills, and Results

  Sharpen your skills, advance your program's capacity, and learn about emerging funding trends at Family Support America's 2-day, intensive skill-building conference from April 3–5, in Jacksonville, Florida.

• Oceans of Opportunity: The 29th Annual Massachusetts Title I Conference

  Early registration materials are available for the annual Massachusetts Title I conference to be held in Hyannis, Massachusetts, May 10–13. The Department of Education will be sponsoring a parent, family, school, and community involvement workshop series (five parts) on May 11th and 12th. Information about this workshop series is not yet available online.

• Parent Involvement: No Excuses: The Region III Annual In-Service Training Conference National

  This in-service training conference will be held April 21–24 in Virginia Beach. Sessions will address strategies for enhancing parent–school–community relations. The conference is open to the public. For more information contact Carolyn Reynolds at 800-624-9120 (x5447) or at reynoldc@ael.org.

Funding Opportunity

• Parent Involvement in Education Grants

  General Mills' Box Tops for Education will distribute $2,000 Parental Involvement in Education grants to school-sponsored parent groups across the country. Grant applicants should explain how they would use the grant to establish a new family involvement program or enhance an existing program in an innovative and creative way. Applications are due April 1st.

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