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.
September FINE Newsletter: 2003 Family Involvement Bibliography
September 2003
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
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2003 Six-Month Bibliography of Family Involvement Research
Our latest bibliography includes journal articles, books, and dissertations related to research in educational family involvement published from January to August 2003.
New Books
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Learning Together: Children and Adults in a School Community
Learning Together, co-authored by Barbara Rogoff and parents, teachers, and children from an innovative elementary school, examines how parents can contribute to children’s classroom learning.
Rogoff explains the relevance of this book to FINE members: “Although educators have a clear idea of how to help children learn in schools, the importance of parent involvement and learning has often been overlooked. However, parents’ roles are often crucial not only in children’s learning, but also in efforts to improve schools. In this book, we examine the processes by which parents and teachers and children can work together as a community, learning together.”
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The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn From Each Other
In The Essential Conversation Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot examines parent-teacher conferences from the perspectives of parents and teachers.
Lawrence-Lightfoot describes the relevance of her new book to FINE members: “In this book I wanted to look very specifically at the drama and angst in parent-teacher conferences, as no one has really talked about the emotionally filled social and cultural dynamics of these important dialogues. I also wanted to argue that what happens in that dialogue mirrors larger forces in society, particularly around culture, race, economic status, and educational background.”
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Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools?
Using research by the Kettering Foundation on the politics of education, David Mathews explores the history of community-created schools in 19th-century frontier Alabama. He traces the collaborative relationships that developed between these communities and their schools, and finds lessons for how to implement better cooperation and civic engagement in schools today.
Recent Reports
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These companion reports, commissioned by the Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth and Families and prepared by Nancy Goodban, profile 23 home visiting programs for families with young children in San Mateo County, and offer examples of best practices.
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New Relationships With Schools: Organizations That Build Community by Connecting With Schools
Based on research by the Collaborative Communications Group for the Kettering Foundation, this report identifies organizations that have taken on educational issues as a way to further community goals. Three organizations that have successfully achieved engagement in local public schools are profiled in depth.
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Partnerships for Change: Community-Union Collaboration in Public Education
In April the Center for Community Change brought together local teacher unions and community organizations from eight different school districts in order to explore how unions and community organizations work together to improve schools. Outcomes and insights from this meeting are described in this article in the latest issue of Education Organizing (issue 13).
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Cross-Sectoral Alliances in Education: A New Approach to Enhancing School Capacity
In order to study the impact and effectiveness of alliance building for school improvement, the Center on Educational Governance at Rossier School of Education has prepared this report on the types of organizations that build alliances with charter schools, how policy conditions encourage or discourage alliances, and implications for educational practice and policy.
National Campaigns
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The NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund just launched a six-year lobbying campaign for better childcare, preschool, and after school. By mobilizing women and families to speak up about the critical need for increased government funding in these three areas, this campaign hopes to make childcare a key political issue in the next three election cycles. To launch the initiative, the organization published Family Initiative: Better Child Care, Preschool and Afterschool, a report explaining the childcare and early education choices parents have today.
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National Campaign to Strengthen Families Newsletter
The latest National Campaign to Strengthen Families newsletter focuses on father involvement in children’s lives. The issue links to four Anne E. Casey Foundation reports on fatherhood (all Acrobat files):
Toolkits
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Toolkit on Family Support and Involvement
A toolkit for local Smart Start partnerships has been published by the North Carolina Partnership for Children. It resulted from a project investigating parents’ role on Smart Start boards and their perceived effectiveness in decision making. Findings conclude that mandates for parent involvement in governance are not enough to ensure full participation. To improve inclusion, the project developed strategies for how to involve nontraditional stakeholders at the community level in changing early childhood practices and policies. (Look for the “Toolkit” heading on this page; there is a charge for the kit.)
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Read and Rise: Preparing Our Children for a Lifetime of Success
Developed by Scholastic for the National Urban League, this resource guide provides parents with tools to help children gain necessary early literacy and pre-reading skills for school. The guide includes research-based information on literacy behaviors at various ages, literacy goals for each grade, ideas and activities for engaging children in reading, and advice on choosing the right books for your child.
Public Opinion
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35th Annual Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
This year’s poll focuses on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The public and parents see themselves as not well informed about NCLB. The poll also reveals a wide gap between the focus of NCLB and the public's priorities for public school reform. For example, a majority of those polled have little interest in school vouchers, prefer state or local control to federal control of curriculum content, and want school performance to be based on student improvement rather than one-time testing.
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Digging Deeper: Where Does the Public Stand on Standards-Based Education?
Prepared by Bryan Goodwin for Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), this issues brief details findings from focus group research into public opinion on standards-based education. McREL found that although people generally support standards-based education reforms, they hold many other concerns related to education not addressed by current reform efforts.
New Website
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This new website is designed to promote meaningful student involvement in educational reform. A program of the FreeChild Project, www.SoundOut.org spotlights student activist groups across the country, encourages dialogue among students and adults engaged in school reform, and provides resources for meaningful engagement.
Workshop
- The Many Faces of Parent Involvement: A Workshop on Making Parent Involvement Work for Your School
The Lawrence Family Development Charter School is sponsoring this free workshop on Wednesday, October 1, 2003 in Worchester, Massachusetts. The workshop includes perspectives from charter schools with success in parent involvement, a guest speaker from FINE, and a manual on best practices. Email cfink.lfdcs@verizon.net for more information.
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