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www.HFRP.org

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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WORKING WITH TEACHERS AND FAMILIES DEVELOPMENT PERIODS
COMPLEMENTARY LEARNING CONNECTIONS

Commentary from the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group on the Race to the Top Fund

The National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group, a collaborative of leaders in the family engagement field including Harvard Family Research Project’s (HFRP) Heather Weiss, submitted recommendations for the Race to the Top Fund’s proposed priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria. The recommendations provide a framework for elevating and integrating family involvement into how the Race to the Top Funds are disseminated, governed, and evaluated for effectiveness.

National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group (August 25, 2009) Research Report

Communication Is Key to Strong Family‒School Partnerships During the Transition to School

One way to help educators better understand how parents and teachers think and feel during the transition to school is by pairing the Bridging Worlds case with an Empathy Map.

Jesús Paz-Albo (August 25, 2015) Research Report

Community Partnerships to Support High School Success

Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to keeping teens in school and successfully completing high school, AT&T Foundation and United Way Worldwide (UWW) started a new initiative—Family Engagement for High School Success. The goal of this grant was to identify promising family engagement strategies with a strong likelihood of raising high school graduation rates, and to share that information with communities around the country. Together with HFRP, UWW worked with communities to develop plans for high school success. This report highlights the innovative approaches developed and the early outcomes at eight of the UWW grantee sites

Harvard Family Research Project (February 2011) Research Report

Community-Based Family Support in Public Housing

This book examines the history of public housing, women's key leadership roles in those communities, and the experiences of eight family support programs located in public housing developments. In-depth case studies provide lessons on how entities as diverse as public housing authorities, community-based agencies, and research institutions work to empower these often-neglected communities.

Mary Lassen (1995) Research Report

Community-Based Initiatives

This issue provides a broad overview of the status of evaluations of community-based initiatives (CBI) and begins an ongoing dialogue among practitioners, evaluators, and funders about how to address the challenges involved in evaluating them.

Evaluation Exchange Issue

Complementary Learning Connections With Out-of-School Time Programs in Nebraska

When families, schools, and out-of-school supports work together, children are more likely to succeed. Lisa St. Clair writes about how the Nebraska State Parental Information and Resource Center is using a complementary learning approach to link family support programs with schools, early childhood programs, and out-of-school time programs.

Lisa St. Clair (August 2009) Research Report

Complementary Learning in Action: Jacksonville Children's Commission

This profile from the Complementary Learning in Action series describes how the Jacksonville Children's Commission aims for a coordinated system of care from birth through adolescence.

Suzanne Bouffard , Helen Malone (November 2007) Research Report

Comprehensive Community Development and Family Support: An HFRP Report Highlights Central Themes and Common Ground

Louisa Lund from Harvard Family Research Project summarizes the findings of her paper on common themes in community development.

Louisa Lund (1997) Evaluation Exchange Article

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: A Model to Facilitate Meaningful Partnerships for Families and Schools

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studied the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention model where parents, educators, and service providers work collaboratively to address children's developmental needs in a Head Start program.

Susan M. Sheridan , Brandy L. Clarke, Diane C. Marti, Jennifer D. Burt, Ashley M. Rohlk (April 2005) Research Report

Connected Educators, Connected Families

Elementary school principal and “connected educator” Joe Mazza discusses how he has integrated technology—including social media—into his school’s family engagement strategies to enhance his school’s ability to connect with families. He also stresses the importance of balancing technology-based engagement strategies with in-person relationship-building efforts.

Joe Mazza (February 7, 2013) Research Report

Connecting Good Research and Ideas with Policymaking

Three experts in conducting Family Impact Seminars share their techniques for bringing research about families to legislators in a way that not only grabs their attention, but also supports policy change.

Karen Bogenschneider , Bettina Friese, Ph.D., Karla Balling (Spring 2002) Evaluation Exchange Article

Connecting Latino Families With Out-of-School Time Opportunities

Nathaniel Riggs describes the implementation and evaluation of the Generación Diez program, which connects Latino families with after school programming, social services, and the school community.

Nathaniel Riggs (Fall 2006) Evaluation Exchange Article

Continuous Improvement: Being Responsive When There is Need for Change

Deborah J. Brown, external evaluator for Save the Children, discusses how continuous improvement processes have helped strengthen one of Save the Children’s language development and pre-literacy programs, Early Steps to School Success.

Deborah J. Brown (September 17, 2013) Research Report

Cost-Effectiveness and Cost–Benefit Analyses of Family Involvement Initiatives

Brian Yates from American University explains the value of both cost-effectiveness and cost–benefit analyses in promoting investments in family involvement.

Brian T. Yates, Ph.D. (Spring 2008) Evaluation Exchange Article

Counseling and Intervention in Multicultural Settings

This course focuses upon the unique challenges diversity brings to the provision of counseling and psychological services to children, youth, and parents. Students will learn the history, culture, and expectations of various ethnic and cultural groups and develop the cross-cultural communication skills necessary to effectively work with families of varying cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Students will also explore how issues such as immigration, poverty, sexism, and racism affect counseling practices and the development of effective interventions.

Michael Hass (Fall 2001) Syllabus

Creating Conditions for Effective and Ongoing Family Engagement

In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Senior Research Analyst, Heidi Rosenberg, looks at the ways in which schools, programs, and other community institutions can help facilitate continuous family engagement to help children succeed.

Heidi Rosenberg (September 20, 2012) Research Report

Creating Coordination Among Families, Schools, and Communities: A Mock Team Meeting

Communication is key during the transition to school, and a mock team meeting based on the perspectives presented in the Bridging Worlds case helped school psychologists gain confidence talking with representatives from different learning settings.

Jon Lasser (August 25, 2015) Research Report

Credentialing Caregivers

This paper describes why family support is essential, given current social and economic trends, and stresses the need to bridge child care and family support. The author underscores the need for accessible family support training curricula that can be adapted to audiences of child care providers.

Christiana Dean (1998) Research Report

Culture Clash at Intermediate School #91

Disciplinary problems at an intermediate school in the Bronx are compounded by the lack of experienced teachers whose race and class backgrounds differ from their students'. When two students get into a fight, the new teachers seek solutions that sharply contrast with the norms of the students and their families. How can teachers come to understand the families and communities in which they teach?

Mary Katherine Moss (2002) Teaching Case

Current Issue - Scaling Impact

This issue of The Evaluation Exchange explores the promising practices and challenges associated with taking an enterprise to scale, along with the role that evaluation can and should play in that process. It is the second in our “hard-to-measure” series, which we inaugurated with our Spring 2007 issue on evaluating advocacy.

Evaluation Exchange Issue

Data Collection Instruments for Evaluating Family Involvement

As evidence mounts that family involvement can support children's learning, there is an increasing call in the field for common data collection instruments to measure home–school communication and other aspects of family involvement. This resource from Harvard Family Research Project compiles instruments developed for rigorous program impact evaluations and tested for reliability.

 

Helen Westmoreland , Suzanne Bouffard, Kelley O'Carroll, Heidi Rosenberg (May 2009) Research Report

Data for Measuring Growth: Poway Unified School District

As told to the FINE team by Linda Foote, Technology Integration Specialist for Poway Unified School District, this article discusses how data helps students create their learning goals and helps parents create family goals to support their children’s learning. The article also shares ideas for how to build community around data. 

Harvard Family Research Project (October 2010) Research Report

Data on Data: A Resource Guide to Engaging Families with Student Data

This resource from HFRP offers a compilation of articles on families’ use of data to support, guide, and advocate for student achievement and schoolwide improvement. Resources are grouped into three categories: Perspectives that offer lessons learned from family and community use of data, program examples that illustrate what it takes to make data actionable for families, and tools that help everyone understand how data can be analyzed.

Harvard Family Research Project (October 2010) Research Report

Data Sharing Through Parent Portals: An Exploration of Parental Motivation, Data Use, and the Promise of Prolonged Parent Involvement

In this Research Digest, Barbara Starkie highlights key findings from her recent study that examined why and how parents use online parent portals to view student data.

Barbara Starkie (April 18, 2013) Research Report

Defining “Fine”—Communicating Academic Progress to Parents

Molly is surprised when her son's teacher recommends he attend summer school. She thought he was doing just fine and the family had been doing a lot to make the home a rich reading environment. How can teachers better communicate academic progress with parents? How can administrators support teachers in this effort?

Holly Kreider , Margaret Caspe (2002) Teaching Case

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Published by Harvard Family Research Project