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.
October FINE Newsletter: FINE Member Survey and More Family Involvement Resources
October 2007
Dear FINE Member,
We at FINE are committed to the notion of learning and continuous improvement. In that spirit, this month we take a step back and ask FINE members what they like about FINE and what we could improve upon. After a brief hiatus, we will return with our analysis of the results of our FINE Member Survey. Expect to receive results from the survey, along with more field-building family involvement resources, when the FINE announcement resumes in January.
New From FINE
- FINE Member Survey
Your input is important to us! Please complete a short (approximately 5-minute) survey about FINE to help us as we strive to provide you with the information and resources you need. Please visit the link below to complete the survey by November 14.
Articles and Reports
- The Next Generation of Antipoverty Policies
The newest issue of The Future of Children explores the increasing poverty rate over the past two decades and, through a series of chapters by renowned scholars, presents proven and recommended policy strategies to help combat poverty in America. Many of the articles in this issue explore the government’s role in supporting families through work conditions, child care provisions, and improved educational opportunities.
- Do Title I School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Affect Student Achievement?
This RAND research brief summarizes the results of a research study on how school choice and supplemental education services (SES)—core ingredients of NCLB’s parent involvement provisions—impact student achievement. The brief concludes that SES positively affects student achievement, that school choice has no effect on student achievement, and that differences exist among those who use various services.
- Public School Practices for Violence Prevention and Reduction
A recent issue brief by the National Center for Education Statistics describes results from a 2003-2004 survey of school-level violence prevention, honing in on three strategies schools use to reduce crime: efforts to involve parents, safety and security procedures, and discipline policies. The brief reports that more than half of the schools in their sample formally obtained parent input on school crime policies and provided training to parents to deal with behavior issues. About one fifth of schools also involved parents in the school building to maintain discipline.
- Youth Service-Learning: A Family-Strengthening Strategy
This policy brief from the Family Strengthening Policy Center of the National Assembly frames service-learning as a strategy that promotes healthy families and communities, and synthesizes research on the benefits of service-learning for a broad range of stakeholders, including children, youth, families, and communities. The highlighted benefits for families include connecting parents and siblings to community resources, helping youth become competent and effective contributors to the family, and helping family members learn new skills. The brief highlights examples of successful service-learning programs in action, describes challenges at the federal, community, policy, and programmatic levels, and offers recommendations to help improve access to and quality of service-learning, particularly in low-income and ethnic minority communities.
Tool Kits
- Empowering Parents School Box
This fall, the U.S. Department of Education released a tool kit to empower and support parents to be involved in their children's education. The tool kit provides information on No Child Left Behind and tips and tools parents can use to support learning at home and in school, as well as posters and brochures. For a free copy of the tool kit, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit the website.
Upcoming Events
- Parent Leaders: An Untapped Resource
The Center for Parent Leadership at the Prichard Committee announces its 2-day seminar, to be held in Lexington, KY, on November 13–14. Through participating in interactive sessions and hearing real-life success stories, participants will learn about best practices for planning and implementing effective parent leadership programs in their own settings.
- On Their Turf: Creative Approaches to Supporting Teens & Young Families
The 2007 national conference from the Healthy Teen Network will take place in Baltimore, MD, November 14–17. The conference will feature creative approaches for engaging teens and young families in addition to exploring issues related to teen pregnancy and prevention.
Contact Us
If you experience a problem reading this newsletter or have questions and comments concerning our work, we would love to hear from you. Please send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.
Enjoy!
The FINE Team at Harvard Family Research Project