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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

Staying on the Path Toward College: One Boy at the Crossroads

Paulo Domínguez is an intelligent sixth-grade boy who has recently become disengaged from schoolwork and is hanging out with peers whom his teachers and parents fear are a bad influence. How can community programs, schools, and families work together to keep Paulo on the path towards college as he transitions to middle school? An interactive version is also available.

Catherine R. Cooper, Elizabeth Domínguez, Margarita Azmitia, Erica Holt, Dolores Mena, and Gabriela Chavira (2014) Research Report

Strengthening Family Engagement Through Teacher Preparation and Professional Development

In this Commentary, HFRP’s M. Elena Lopez and Christine Patton discuss the importance of teacher preparation in family engagement, and highlight the ways in which we at HFRP are working to advance educator training and professional development in this field.

M. Elena Lopez , Christine Patton (December 5, 2013) Research Report

Successful Family Engagement in the Classroom: What teachers need to know and be able to do to engage families in raising student achievement

HFRP invited the Flamboyan Foundation—a private foundation focused on improving educational outcomes for children in Washington, DC and Puerto Rico—to share its classroom family engagement rubric with FINE. This rubric, and accompanying article, provides districts, school leaders, and teachers with a clear picture of what effective family engagement looks like in the classroom through concrete descriptions of how teachers demonstrate strong family engagement through their conversations and daily practice.

Lela Spielberg (March 2011) Research Report

Supporting Relationships and Family Engagement in the Transition to Kindergarten

Presenting the Bridging Worlds case with a Fishbowl activity helped educators came to understand the need to support relationships between families and schools during the transition period.

Jamilah R. Jor’dan (August 25, 2015) Research Report

Suspension at Aurora Middle School

Khoi, a well behaved student who recently emigrated from a Vietnamese refugee camp, is suspended from Aurora Middle School because he stood near a fight. His mother Mai feels helpless because she speaks limited English, and only knows that her son was unjustly suspended. What is the school's role in supporting culturally diverse families?

Sylvia Sensiper (1999) Teaching Case

Taking a Closer Look: A Guide to Online Resources on Family Involvement

This comprehensive resource guide compiles a wealth of information about family involvement from over 100 national organizations. It contains Web links to recent (published in and after 2000) research, information, and tools.

Heather Weiss , Kelly Faughnan, Margaret Caspe, Cassandra Wolos, M. Elena Lopez, Holly Kreider (2004) Research Report

Taking the Lead in Family Engagement: A Message to Our Followers on Presidents’ Day

Presidents’ Day is a time to reflect on the importance of leadership. Learn how policymakers, researchers, and practitioners are leading the field of family engagement.

Harvard Family Research Project (February 13, 2015) Research Report

Teaching Cases on Family Engagement: Early Learning (Ages 0–8)

HFRP's teaching cases involve real world situations and consider the perspectives of various stakeholders, including early childhood program and elementary school staff, parents, children, and community members. This handout provides a detailed list of our teaching cases on family involvement, focusing on the earlier years of a child's learning and development.

Harvard Family Research Project (January 2012) Research Report

Teaching for the Commonwealth: Linking Schools With Communities

This course is taught at the Jane Addams School of Democracy as a summer institute for teachers. This field-based course will examine broad strategies to link schools with communities to improve access, expand the learning resources, and strengthen or create structures that make formal and informal learning contiguous. An attentiveness to neighborhood as “place” will include the history of St. Paul's West Side in Minnesota, discussion of the public work initiatives underway, and interaction with neighborhood resource people. Participants in the course will have opportunity to reflect on their teaching as vocation and the civic dimensions of teacher.

John Wallace , Nan Kari, Sara Carpenter (June 17, 2002) Syllabus

Teaching Future Educators and Families: Helping Maximize Children’s Learning

In this article, Pérsida Himmele talks about hosting engagement workshops for families and using what she learns from families to inform future teachers and provide them with meaningful in-class experiences to practice their family engagement skills.

Pérsida Himmele (December 5, 2013) Research Report

Teaching Teachers to Work With Families

Family Research Project researchers reviewed teacher-certification requirements for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Recommendations for strengthening parent involvement programs in preservice teacher education are presented.

Leon Lynn (September 1997) Research Report

Teaching the Bridging Worlds Case

Cases are a powerful tool to support teacher preparation in family engagement. Read how five faculty members facilitated the case Bridging Worlds: Family Engagement in the Transition to Kindergarten and learn how the case influenced both students and faculty.

Harvard Family Research Project (August 25, 2015) Research Report

Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement

Harvard Family Research Project and the National PTA® have teamed up to bring you the third brief in our ground-breaking series about family engagement policy, highlighting the need for teacher education programs to prepare teachers to better work with families.

Margaret Caspe , M. Elena Lopez, Ashley Chu, & Heather B. Weiss (May 2011) Research Report

The Family Involvement Storybook: A New Way to Build Connections With Familes

This article describes five ways for teachers to use family involvement storybooks in their early childhood education classrooms. The article also includes a vignette about the impact of sharing a family involvement storybook in one third-grade class.

Ellen Mayer , Martha Kateri Ferede, Elaine D. Hou (November 2006) Research Report

The Parent Teacher Home Visit Project

When community organizations, schools, and local government work together with families, they can help children learn. Carrie Rose writes about the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, which draws on a community organizing model to sustain parent–teacher communication across students' school years.

Carrie Rose (January 2009) Research Report

Three Lessons in Developing a Systemic Approach to Family Engagement

Learn how the second-largest school district in California worked collaboratively to develop a systemic family engagement framework while putting family voice front and center.

 

Allison Rowland (July 26, 2016) Research Report

Tim Kelly: A School Responds to a Family in Need

Tim Kelly, a first grade student, comes to school hungry, dirty, emotionally needy, and academically unprepared. His teacher believes his lack of care at home is contributing to his poor school performance. How can a teacher individualize parent involvement?

Holly Kreider (1999) Teaching Case

Transforming Training

This paper defines the characteristics of family support in the child care context, highlights research showing the need for provider training to raise program quality, and discusses five vital topics for training child care providers in family support. The author argues for the need to develop one cohesive training system for providers.

Gwen Morgan (1998) Research Report

Transition as a Shared Responsibility: The Bridging Worlds Reader’s Theater

By coupling the Bridging Worlds case with a Reader’s Theater, we helped students examine the complexities involved in sharing responsibility for student learning during the transition to school.

Pérsida Himmele, Marcia Nell (August 25, 2015) Research Report

Transmedia Activities: Engaging Families to Improve Children's Early Mathematics Achievement

Make way for mathematics digital media! New research reveals that regular use of digital games and hands-on mathematics activities at home, along with parent training around digital media for learning, can improve mathematics outcomes for young children.

Betsy McCarthy (June 7, 2016) Research Report

Understanding Family Involvement in the Preparation of Graduate Students: Measuring Family-Centered Beliefs, Skills, Systems, and Practices

Family-centered practices by professionals serving families and their young children with disabilities have become a cornerstone of personnel preparation programs in early childhood intervention (ECI) and early childhood education. Our research project sought to develop a measure to examine the family-centered beliefs, skills, work systems, and work practices of ECI and ECE graduate students.

Angie Giallourakis , Kristie Pretti-Frontczak, Bryan Cook (September 2005) Research Report

Update: New Skills for New Schools

Since the 1997 publication of New Skills for New Schools by HFRP, the education reform landscape has changed, making it necessary to align teacher preparation and professional learning for family engagement with the goals of a twenty-first century education. Harvard Family Research Project is working to gather information about promising teacher education practices to prepare teachers to partner with families for student success. A preview of these practices—to be published in our forthcoming policy brief—is summarized in this update.

Margaret Caspe , M. Elena Lopez, Ashley Chu, and Heather B. Weiss (March 2011) Research Report

Valuing Families as Partners

Elena Lopez explores the benefits of creating strong partnerships between early childhood programs and families.

M. Elena Lopez (January 2010) Research Report

Voices from the Field: How Can Elementary Teachers Collaborate More Effectively with Parents to Support Literacy Learning?

In this FINE Newsletter Voices from the Field article, Carol St. George, EdD, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Rochester and Title I Family Involvement Coordinator for the Greece Central School District in New York, discusses her use of the Collegial Circle, a professional development activity that engages teachers with parents.

Carol St. George, EdD (March 2011) Research Report

What Words Don't Say

Martin, an African-American student struggles with peer problems at his elementary school. He experiences racism and classism. How can Martin's mother and his teacher dialogue about sensitive issues?

Ann Barger Hannum (2001) Teaching Case

© 2016 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College
Published by Harvard Family Research Project