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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All Publications & Resources WORKING WITH TEACHERS AND FAMILIES DEVELOPMENT PERIODS |
COMPLEMENTARY LEARNING CONNECTIONS
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Latino Families: Getting Involved in Your Children's Education
Spanish Translation Available. This Early Childhood Digest provides tips on how families can support their children in childcare, preschool, Head Start, and kindergarten.
Parents, Families, and Communities in Schools
This course examines effective methods for including parents, families, and communities in schools. Emphasizes a systems perspective that includes consultation and collaboration in addressing academic, career, and personal/social success for all students. Family dynamics and influences on school success will be addressed. Application of school counseling consultation, collaboration, and family support for all students will result in a school-based project integrated into a school's comprehensive counseling program. Essential professional practices addressed in this course.
Parent Involvement and Early Literacy
Parents’ involvement at school is related to children’s higher literacy, particularly for those from socially or economically disadvantaged families.
Mobile Technology and Family Engagement: Texting Intervention Increases Head Start Parents’ Engagement in Parent‒Child Activities
Text messaging parent‒child activity tips to families with young children is an effective way to support family engagement, especially among fathers. In this Research Digest, learn about a successful Head Start text-messaging program designed to complement ongoing family engagement services.
Participatory Action Research: Building Community Capacity Through Collaboration, Education, and Action
Priscilla Little, from Harvard Family Research Project, describes the implementation of the Milwaukee Participatory Action Research project and how it improved the evaluation and advocacy skills of all its participants.
Documenting Progress and Demonstrating Results: Evaluating Local Out-of-School Time Programs
A collaboration with the Finance Project, this brief provides practitioners of local out-of-school time programs with techniques, tools, and strategies for improving their program and tracking their effectiveness over time.
Family Involvement in Early Childhood Programs: How to Choose the Right Program for Your Child
What is family involvement and how can families choose early childhood programs that encourage it? This issue of Early Childhood Digest looks at these questions, and provides information on how to choose an early childhood program that encourages family involvement.
A Field is Born: Reflections on a Decade of Afterschool
Priscilla Little, an independent consultant working in afterschool research and evaluation, reflects on the transformation of afterschool from being merely a “safe haven” for kids whose parents are working to a core component of a holistic education. She also highlights six strategies for engaging families in afterschool programs.
Family Resource Centers: Where School Readiness Happens
Family resource centers are places where you can get information on raising and educating your child. This issue of the Early Childhood Digest describes family resource centers and how they can help you get your child ready for school.
What Matters in Family Support Evaluation?
M. Elena Lopez of HFRP interprets themes from a participatory evaluation and parent engagement institute.
Learning From Families
M. Elena Lopez, from Harvard Family Research Project, discusses expanding the role of family support to include supporting families’ using information to improve their communities.
Paths to School Readiness
This report details three school-based programs to show what makes comprehensive family support programs thrive. Home visiting and parent education in Brattleboro, Vermont are featured, as is extended child care in Leadville, Colorado, and school-linked services in Gainesville, Florida.
When Parents Assess Schools
M. Elena Lopez, from Harvard Family Research Project, discusses the role that data plays in helping parents assess, and then work to change, the performance of their children’s schools.
Valuing Families as Partners
Elena Lopez explores the benefits of creating strong partnerships between early childhood programs and families.
Evaluating Community-Based Initiatives
M. Elena Lopez and Cami Anderson of Harvard Family Research Project conduct a focus group of Executive Directors of five complex CBIs to learn about the evaluation and self-assessment efforts.
Beyond Input: Achieving Authentic Participation in School Reform
M. Elena Lopez and Holly Kreider of HFRP present a framework of authentic parent participation in school reform and its implications for evaluation.
Young Latino Infants and Families: Parental Involvement Implications from a Recent National Study
This study provides a deeper understanding of how cultural practices combine with other factors to shape parenting behaviors among families in the United States in the first year of children's lives. Several findings provide information about ways in which practitioners and Latino families can more effectively engage with young Latino children to influence their cognitive, social, language, and literacy development—and therefore facilitate their school readiness.
Intermediary Organizations as Capacity Builders in Family Educational Involvement
Article in Urban Education, 40(1), 78–105.
In this article the authors argue that intermediary organizations play a crucial role in capacity building for family involvement, by providing alternatives to school-centered approaches to family involvement and engaging families with intensive support that schools seldom offer.
Co-Constructing Family Involvement
M. Elena Lopez, Holly Kreider, and Margaret Caspe from HFRP discuss the co-construction of home-school partnerships to support children’s learning and development.
Transforming Schools Through Community Organizing: A Research Review
This paper reviews the literature on community organizing. It examines how community organizing differs from traditional parent involvement activities, outlines the characteristic strategies used to engage parents in organizing efforts, and describes the outcomes of these efforts.
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.
Family-Centered Child Care
This report provides a training framework to support families through child care programs. It describes six areas of practice through which providers can develop the knowledge and skills to partner with families. The report contains profiles of family-centered programs and examines how they have applied family support principles in their practice.
Something Borrowed, Something New: Libraries as Learning Hubs
We share several resources on libraries - modern, evolving community spaces of education and support for families and children.
How to Grow a Framework: Lessons From California
The California Department of Education’s Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts is a synthesis of research, best practices, and the state and federal program requirements that include family engagement, intended to guide school districts.
Pipe Cleaners and Popsicle Sticks: Making Ideas Visible
A modified human-centered design process inspires creativity, makes ideas visible, and keeps families’ experiences at the forefront in the transition to school.