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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

Preparing Educators to Engage Families: Case Studies Using an Ecological Systems Framework, Third Edition

Incorporating the use of HFRP research-based teaching cases and theoretical perspectives, this revised book looks at family engagement issues from the early years through pre-adolescence.

Heather B. Weiss, M. Elena Lopez, Holly Kreider, Celina Chatman-Nelson (October 31, 2013) Research Report

Seamless and Connected—Education in the Digital Age

Through connected learning, says Mizuko Ito, schools, museums, and libraries are employing innovative strategies, leveraging digital media to make learning more relevant and engaging to youth, and linking the crucial spheres in a learner’s life—peers, interests, and academic pursuits.

Mizuko Ito (April 24, 2014) 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

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

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

Promising Practices for Family Involvement

This ethnographic study examined 11 elementary principals who built relationships with low-income parents with limited resources . Effective principals set goals, expand services to children and families, provide parenting education, negotiate and celebrate cultural differences, build strong relationships, and support teachers.  In Principal, 78(3), 16–19. (Also available through the ERIC Database, ERIC number EJ579351.)

Holly Kreider , M. Elena Lopez (January 1999) Research Report

Home School Community Partnerships

This course is designed to acquaint and apprentice teachers in early childhood education to the theories, practices, skills, and knowledge(s) of home and school relationship building in home and school partnership literatures. There is a focus in this course to develop understandings of diverse contexts and ethics when working with families and children. In this course you will study yourself, the school, communities, families, and children you work for as well as the contexts of future teaching situations.

Janice Kroeger (Spring 2007) Syllabus

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.

Lorette McWilliams (September 2015) Research Report

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.

Lorette McWilliams (June 22, 2016) Research Report

Why We Need a Human Centered Approach to Family Engagement

Cultivating empathy can inspire educators to respond with more inclusive and equitable practices to engage families.

M. Elena Lopez (February 2016) Research Report

Family Engagement in Anywhere, Anytime Learning

Explore the world of anywhere, anytime learning with us! Read how researchers and practitioners are helping to close the opportunity gap by creating innovative spaces, developing strategic collaborations to ensure children’s success, and engaging families and children as partners in meaningful learning experiences, both in and out of school.

M. Elena Lopez, Margaret Caspe (June 9, 2014) Research Report

Public Libraries: A Vital Space for Family Engagement

Harvard Family Research Project and the Public Library Association call for libraries to join together with schools and community organizations to establish a system of family engagement that extends throughout a child’s life, supports children and families, and prepares children for success.

M. Elena Lopez, Margaret Caspe, Lorette McWilliams (August 9, 2016) Research Report

Why Thinking of Family Engagement as Continuous Across Time Matters

A key principle in the definition of family engagement is that it is continuous across time. In this commentary, we explore why thinking of family engagement in this way matters, and we learn about tools educators can use to develop the skills to promote it.

Margaret Caspe (March 8, 2016) Research Report

Q & A with Laura Overdeck of Bedtime Math: Helping Families and Children Cuddle Up to Math

In this Q & A with Laura Overdeck, learn how Bedtime Math is giving families and children comfort in talking about numbers in their daily lives, and helping families and afterschool programs get children excited about math in the world around them.

Margaret Caspe (May 24, 2016) Research Report

Four Important Things Research Tells Us About the Transition to School

The transition to school is a process—not just a one-time event—and begins during children’s preschool years and continues into and on through the early elementary grades. Find out four important things research tells us about the transition.

Margaret Caspe, M. Elena Lopez, and Chalatwan Chattrabhuti (March 19, 2015) 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

Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela

Spanish Translation Available in Storybook Corner. This online bilingual storybook about family involvement at school is designed to engage children and their families. For educators, the printable online storybook is an easy-to-use family involvement tool that supports literacy. The story was developed from research and is based on the real experiences of one Latino boy and his family who are acculturating to the U.S.

Ellen Mayer , Joe Cepeda (2007) 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

Five Lessons Learned About District Leadership for Family Engagement

Michele Brooks, the former assistant superintendent of family and student engagement for Boston Public Schools, shares her insights on district leadership for effective and sustainable family engagement.

Michele Brooks (February 8, 2016) Research Report

Building Bridges to Success

In 2010, Silicon Valley Community Foundation started a bold and innovative initiative designed to ensure success by third grade for all children in San Mateo County, California. It focuses on ready children, ready families, ready schools, and ready communities

Michelle Sioson Hyman (March 19, 2015) Research Report

Approaches to Parental Involvement for Improving the Academic Performance of Elementary School Children in Grades K-6

This report summarizes the most dependable evidence on the effect of parental involvement intervention programs for improving the academic performance of elementary school-age children. The authors show that parent involvement has a positive and significant effect on children's overall academic performance.

Chad Nye , Herb Turner, Jamie Schwartz (November 2006) Research Report

The Effects of Peer Influence on Parents’ Reading Behavior at Home With Their Children

Parents care about what other parents are doing. Read how an intervention as simple as sharing with parents how often other families read with their children can motivate and increase family engagement.

Orla Colgate and Paul Ginns (March 2016) Research Report

Making Data Meaningful

In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Christine Patton explores how the conversations that people are having about education data have changed, and outlines key components of effective data-sharing practices.

Christine L. Patton (April 18, 2013) 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

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

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