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.
Parents and Students Learn Side by Side in D.C. School: A 20-Year-Old Initiative Launched by a Carmaker Stresses Family Literacy (Education Week, 1/26/11)
January 26, 2011
Education Week recently featured the Toyota Family Literacy Program at the Moten at Wilkinson Elementary School in Washington, DC. Principal Margaret Stephens-Aliendre says the program is the most effective tool her school has for getting parents involved: "It builds the parents' self-esteem. . . . They learn how to help their children at home." The article quotes Heather Weiss, founder and director of Harvard Family Research Project, who noted that research illustrates that family support early literacy is a strong predictor of school readiness.
Administered by the National Center for Family Literacy and underwritten by Toyota Motor Corporation, the program places parents in classrooms for a couple of hours each week so that they may learn side-by-side with their children. The program also offers parenting and GED preparation classes for several hours each day. Weiss credits the National Family Literacy Center with having developed one of the earliest two-generational family-literacy programs the challenge, according to Weiss, is to prove effectiveness with more-rigorous evaluations.
Read “Parents and Students Learn Side by Side in D.C. School” on the Education Week website. (Available to subscribers only).