You are seeing this message because your web browser does not support basic web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.

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.

Terms of Use ▼


Browse by Topic
 | 
All Publications & Resources
WORKING WITH TEACHERS AND FAMILIES DEVELOPMENT PERIODS
COMPLEMENTARY LEARNING CONNECTIONS

New Strategies in Foundation Grantmaking for Children and Youth

This report examines trends in foundation grantmaking for children and youth among 19 foundations. The foundations include most of the largest and wealthiest and those whose grantmaking heavily focuses on children and youth. Survey results indicate that, because the problems of youth are interconnected and require comprehensive solutions, foundations are shifting their grantmaking strategies. Several are concentrating more resources on long-term, place-based community strategies designed to improve outcomes for children and youth.

Heather B. Weiss , M. Elena Lopez (1999) Research Report

Beyond the Classroom: Complementary Learning to Improve Achievement Outcomes

Harvard Family Research Project introduces complementary learning as a concept for improving learning outcomes without relying solely on school-based reform.

Heather Weiss , Julia Coffman, Margaret Post, Suzanne Bouffard, Priscilla Little (Spring 2005) Evaluation Exchange Article

Beyond the Parent-Teacher Conference: Diverse Patterns of Home-School Communication

Discussions about home-school communication generally focus on formal, scheduled school activities offered to all parents, such as parent-teacher conferences or back-to-school nights. In contrast, this paper examines a variety of alternative communication patterns that are important mechanisms for parents and teachers to gain information and make decisions about children. 

Heather B. Weiss , Holly Kreider, Eliot Levine, Ellen Mayer, Jenny Stadler, Peggy Vaughan (April 1999) Research Report

Making Family and Community Connections

This workshop is part of the Concept to Classroom series of multimedia workshops for teacher professional development. In this workshop, Heather Weiss and Joyce Epstein provide expert insights on creating partnerships among schools, parents, and members of the local community.

Heather Weiss , Joyce Epstein (2004) Tool for Practice

Beyond Random Acts: Family, School, and Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform

This paper, authored by Harvard Family Research Project, served as the foundation for panelists’ discussions at the National Policy Forum for Family, School, and Community Engagement. Beyond Random Acts provides a research-based framing of family engagement; examines the policy levers that can drive change in promoting systemic family, school, and community engagement; and focuses on data systems as a powerful tool to engage families for twenty-first century student learning.  Because education reform will succeed only when all students are prepared for the demands of the twenty-first century, the paper also examines the role of families in transforming low-performing schools.

Heather Weiss , M. Elena Lopez, and Heidi Rosenberg (December 2010) Research Report

Making Data Matter in Family Engagement

HFRP’s Heather Weiss and M. Elena Lopez authored a chapter on using performance data to engage families in the Handbook on Family and Community Engagement, published by the Academic Development Institute and Center on Innovation & Improvement, and available on the families-schools.org website.

Heather Weiss , M. Elena Lopez (September 2011) Research Report

Family Engagement as a Shared Responsibility in a Digital Learning Environment

HFRP director Heather B. Weiss examines how families and others involved with children and youth can ensure that children obtain the access, supports, and opportunities that they need to get the full benefits of digital media for learning.

Heather B. Weiss (April 24, 2014) Research Report

Family Engagement: Looking Back and Moving Forward

In this issue’s commentary, Heather Weiss, M. Elena Lopez, and Heidi Rosenberg honor FINE's 10th anniversary by looking at the growth and learning in the family engagement field over the last decade. Family engagement is shifting from a “random acts” approach—numerous social, fundraising and educational activities that lack broad and deep connections to school improvement goals—to a more systemic, integrated, and sustainable framework of true family engagement. This commentary discusses what that means for HFRP and FINE in 2011 and beyond.

Heather Weiss , M. Elena Lopez, and Heidi Rosenberg (December 2010) Research Report

The Federal Role in Out-of-School Learning: After-School, Summer Learning, and Family Involvement as Critical Learning Supports (Voices in Urban Education, Summer 2009)

Our article in Voices for Urban Education makes a research-based case for the federal provision of out-of-school complementary learning supports.

Heather B. Weiss , Priscilla M.D. Little, Suzanne M. Bouffard, Sarah N. Deschenes, Helen Janc Malone (Summer 2009) Research Report

Breaking New Ground: Data Systems Transform Family Engagement in Education

HFRP and the National PTA® have teamed up for the second issue in our series of ground-breaking policy briefs. Breaking New Ground cites six case studies from across the country that reveal innovative efforts by early childhood programs and school districts to use student data systems to improve family engagement. Each profile illustrates a segment of a data pathway beginning in early childhood and continuing through students' academic careers. The brief also includes a set of policy recommendations to help support the current trends in education that focus on twenty-first century learning and the vital role of technology.

Heather B. Weiss , M. Elena Lopez, & Deborah R. Stark (January 2011) Research Report

Bringing Families to the Table: Recommendations and Next Steps from the National Policy Forum for Family, School, and Community Engagement

One year after the National Policy Forum on Family, School, and Community Engagement, this report looks back at the major themes of the Forum discussions and offers a set of recommendations for driving family engagement in education as we move forward.

Heather B. Weiss , Elena Lopez & Heidi Rosenberg (November 2011) Research Report

Family Involvement Interventions: Shining the Spotlight on Evaluation (Symposium)

This panel symposium, held at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Chicago on April 10, 2007, followed up on HFRP's family involvement sessions at previous AERA meetings in 2005 and 2006. The 2007 symposium featured discussion regarding the evaluation of family involvement interventions

Heather Weiss , Pat Davenport, Chad Nye , Dana Petersen, Margaret Caspe, James Rodriguez (April 10, 2007) Conferences and Presentations

New Research on Family Involvement and Academic Achievement (Symposium)

This multiple paper symposium at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association followed up on our panel session in 2005. It featured four research studies that used nuanced definitions of family involvement and cutting-edge methodologies to address processes of family involvement and academic outcomes for disadvantaged children across the developmental continuum.

Heather Weiss , Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey, Wendy Barnard, Suzanne Bouffard, Eric Dearing, and Christine McWayne (April 11, 2006) Conferences and Presentations

Research and Evaluation of Family Involvement in Education: What Lies Ahead? (Panel Session)

This panel session at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association in Montreal, examined the current knowledge base and future directions for family involvement research and evaluation. Heather Weiss identified priority areas for future research and evaluation and criteria for selecting these areas. Panelists Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey, William Jeynes, Joyce Epstein, and Anne Henderson discussed research and evaluation on parent–child and parent–student–school relationships, home–school communication and parental expectations, school-based partnership programs, and community organizing, respectively.

Heather Weiss , Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey, William Jeynes, Joyce Epstein, Anne Henderson (April 14, 2005) Conferences and Presentations

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

This book supports teacher training and professional development in the area of family engagement. This volume helps prepare teachers and other professionals to partner with the families of elementary school children for student success and positive development. This second edition pairs child development theory with research-based teaching cases that reflect critical dilemmas in family–school–community relations, especially among families for whom poverty and cultural differences are daily realities.

Heather B. Weiss , Holly Kreider, M. Elena Lopez, Celina Chatman-Nelson (January 2010) Research Report

Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Critically, Thinking Internationally (Keynote Address)

Evaluation plays a major role in shaping new directions for the field of family support. In her keynote address at the Participatory Evaluation and Parent Engagement Institute, sponsored by Family Support America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in Kansas City, Missouri, September 20–22, 2004, Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of HFRP, described how evaluation can support learning, continuous improvement, and innovation. The four components of a family support evaluation strategy that she outlined were experimental studies to show program impact on families, utilization-focused evaluation to support policy and practitioner decision making, action research and empowerment evaluation, and performance standards based on solid research and evaluation.

Heather Weiss (September 20, 2004) Conferences and Presentations

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Evaluating Family Involvement Programs by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D. (Winter 2004/2005) Evaluation Exchange Article

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Children and Youth by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather Weiss, Ed.D. (1999) Evaluation Exchange Article

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Family Support by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D. (Spring 2002) Evaluation Exchange Article

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Family Resource Centers by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather Weiss, Ed.D. (Fall 1996) Evaluation Exchange Article

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Community-Based Initiatives by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather Weiss, Ed.D. (1996) Evaluation Exchange Article

From the Director's Desk

An introduction to the issue on Building the Future of Family Involvement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.

Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D. (Spring 2008) Evaluation Exchange Article

School-Based Services: Traditional and Emerging Models to Address Barriers to Learning

This course will survey various models of community-based services that support students in schools. It will also cover implementation and evaluation of services.

Margot A. Welch (Fall 2002) Syllabus

MAKESHOP: Family Engagement in Exploration, Creativity, and Innovation

Jane Werner and Lisa Brahms, from the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, discuss the Museum’s innovative MAKESHOP studio space, which invites children and families to co-create projects and transforms the traditional museum visit experience.

Jane Werner , Lisa Brahms (June 28, 2012) Research Report

A Strategic Evaluation Approach for the Parental Information and Resource Centers

Helen Westmoreland and Suzanne Bouffard describe the evolving evaluation strategy for the national Parental Information and Resource Centers program, the program’s potential to build the family involvement field, and the role of the National PIRC Coordination Center.

Helen Westmoreland , Suzanne Bouffard, Ph.D. (Spring 2008) Evaluation Exchange Article

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