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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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Field experience in evaluation inquiry is a promising approach to preparing the next generation of evaluators. Learn what one group of student consultants and organizations did to make a field experience in evaluative inquiry a positive one.
Interested in developing a logic model, learning more about improvement science, or advancing your program evaluation? This guide offers valuable resources practitioners can utilize to strengthen their evaluative work and develop more productive relationships with evaluators.
While evaluation needs may vary, all organizations can benefit from utilizing theory-based evaluation tools to frame evaluation efforts. This article explores how three organizations developed their program’s theory of change and logic model.
In teaching Learning From Practice: Evaluation and Improvement Science at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Candice Bocala creates ample opportunities for students and partner organizations to work together as they explore the complexities of program evaluation. Discover the three insights Bocala has learned about program evaluation along the way.
Learn how this course explores a variety of approaches to program evaluation through the readings and assignments outlined in this course syllabus designed by Candice Bocala, adjunct lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Read about lessons HFRP has learned from supporting evaluation efforts in the field. This commentary highlights the value of investing time to carefully consider the theory behind a program for evaluation to yield usable and actionable information.
Creating high-quality early childhood systems necessitates a strong focus on family engagement. Check out how Oregon is adopting an equity lens and building a strong foundation to engage families by leveraging federal funds, community leadership, and philanthropic investments.
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.
To be successful, children need a strong science, technology, engineering, and math foundation. Learn how Iridescent, a project funded in part by the National Science Foundation, connects families, engineers, and children to develop these skills early on in school.
What is the evidence base to support family engagement in the transition to school? You can check out the articles in this bibliography to read about why transition to school matters for children, families, and communities.
To honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of freedom and justice, we highlight key messages from our contributors about transforming family engagement to promote educational equity.
K–12 schools are the foundation for children’s learning, and students in schools with positive climates tend to do well academically. Read about and download a new survey tool that families and school reformers can use to measure parents’ perceptions of school climate.
Through its Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge funds, Massachusetts has created strategic partnerships with museums and libraries, public television, family and community programs, community nonprofits, and public transportation to build a robust and growing statewide family engagement system.
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.
This Research Spotlight, which follows up on our 2013 fall FINE Newsletter, has been compiled in response to our readers’ interest in using data for continuous improvement.
Deborah J. Brown, external evaluator for Save the Children, discusses how continuous improvement processes have helped strengthen one of Save the Children’s language development and pre-literacy programs, Early Steps to School Success.
We are committed to keeping you up to date on what's new in family engagement. View our list of links to current reports, articles, resources, and events in the field.
In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Heidi Rosenberg discusses how continuous improvement processes can strengthen family engagement strategies, and outlines the mindset and key practices that organizations need to adopt in order to use data to understand and improve upon their work.
A new interactive online learning module, Data in Head Start and Early Head Start: Creating a Culture that Embraces Data, developed by the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations, helps Head Start/Early Head Start leaders understand how to use data to inform their decision making.
This resource highlights tools, publications, and reports that provide examples of promising practices for and guidance on data sharing for afterschool and expanded learning programs and systems.
Free. Available online only.
Afterschool Evaluation 101 is a how-to guide for conducting an evaluation. It is designed to help out-of-school time (OST) program directors who have little or no evaluation experience develop an evaluation strategy. The guide will walk you through the early planning stages, help you select the evaluation design and data collection methods that are best suited to your program, and help you analyze the data and present the results.
Free. Available online only.
As part of HFRP's continuing effort to help practitioners and evaluators choose appropriate evaluation methods, this guide describes measurement tools and assessments that can be obtained and used for on-the-ground program evaluation. Whether you are conducting first-time internal evaluations or large-scale national studies, these evaluation instruments can be used to assess the characteristics and outcomes of your programs, staff, and participants, and to collect other key information.
This presentation examines the “essential data” that OST providers and intermediaries should consider collecting for an evaluation, and the important role families can play throughout the process.
This brief offers lessons and best practices from foundations across the country on grantmaking to school districts. It offers advice to foundations that are considering school district investments for the first time. It also offers a useful "check" to more experienced foundations that want to examine their thinking and approaches against the lessons and practices of other foundations.
Free. Available online only.
HFRP summarizes key observations in this issue of The Evaluation Exchange. Scaling impact often refers to scaling programs or interventions, but ideas, technologies, skills, and policies can also be scaled. Thinking about scale more broadly can reveal possibilities for scaling impact beyond the traditional business model of replication.