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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Supporting Governors' Early Childhood Policy Decisions: The Role of Research
Anna Lovejoy, from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, describes how the organization keeps governors informed about emerging issues in early childhood.
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.
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.
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.
How Organizations Provide Learning Opportunities for Children and Families
Read about how organizations—including early childhood programs, schools, afterschool programs, museums, and libraries—play a key role in helping families access resources, build social networks, and create learning mindsets.
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.
The Road From Research to Outcomes
Jana Martella, from the Council of Chief State School Officers, describes a data-driven approach to developing and integrating policy into the nation's school systems.
How Busy Parents Can Help Their Children Learn and Develop
Spanish Translation Available. No matter how busy parents are, there are things they can do to help their children. Parents of first- and second-graders in the School Transition Study research project have discovered creative ways to stay involved in their children's learning and development. Researchers conducting the survey learned important and useful tips to share with busy parents everywhere.
Free. Available online only.
Parent Involvement and the Social and Academic Competencies of Urban Kindergarten Children
This study shows positive social and academic outcomes for low-income, minority kindergarten children whose parents promote learning in the home and contact schools regularly.
Free. Available online only.
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
A City-Wide Effort to Support and Involve Families
Brenda Miller and Ginger Peacock Preston from the Jacksonville Children’s Commission describe how the city of Jacksonville, Florida, is integrating family involvement into a system of care for children and families.
Evaluating Education Reform: Early Childhood Education
Over the past three decades, an enormous body of research literature has been amassed on early childhood education, parent education, and family support programs. This review summarizes these three areas of research and reports on relevant research in progress.
Free. Available online only.
Increasing the Bottom Line by Supporting Families
Lynn Mitchell, from Corporate Voices for Working Families, describes how businesses can promote policies and practices that support working families, using partnerships between private and public sectors.
A Strong Start for Family Engagement in Massachusetts
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.
Ongoing Child Assessment and Family Engagement: New Opportunities to Engage Families in Children’s Learning and Development
This paper by the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, a new center formed by HFRP and Brazelton Center at Children's Hospital Boston and other partners for the Office of Head Start, focuses on child assessment data as a tool for parent and family engagement in the early childhood arena. It is the first in a series that will help early childhood care and education programs identify ways that they can share information in order to strengthen partnerships and work toward common goals.
Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework: Promoting Family Engagement and School Readiness from Prenatal to Age 8
This framework is a vital tool for early childhood education and care providers seeking to build effective family engagement strategies. It was developed by the Office of Head Start with the assistance of the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement for the Office of Head Start
We Were a "Hard-to-Reach" Family
Former Head Start parent, Nikia Parker, started out as a “hard-to-reach” parent but developed a strong, positive relationship with her family’s Early Head Start home visitor, which enabled her to not only effectively support her own children, but also take on advocacy and leadership roles within the larger Head Start community.
The Transition to Afterschool: One City’s Approach to Connecting Young Children and Their Families to Learning and Enrichment Opportunities
What steps can programs take to help families successfully transition to school and afterschool? How can families make informed choices about afterschool opportunities? What information do families need in this process? This video demonstrates how Cambridge, Massachusetts, is addressing these and related questions to help connect families to afterschool learning and enrichment opportunities prior to school entry.
The Transition to Afterschool: One City’s Approach to Connecting Young Children and Their Families to Learning and Enrichment Opportunities—Part Two
How can you create a resource to help families of young children successfully transition to afterschool? What questions should be addressed? This video looks at one city’s approach to helping connect families and their young children to afterschool enrichment opportunities.
Ready for Success: Creating Collaborative and Thoughtful Transitions into Kindergarten
Because early social performance and academic achievement are predictors of later school success, ensuring that children get off to a good start in kindergarten is critical. This brief, by Harvard Family Research Project's Christine Patton and Justina Wang, examines important elements of high-quality kindergarten transition strategies and profiles promising practices from six states that take an integrated and collaborative approach to helping kindergartners enter school ready for success.
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.
Parents Come to Kindergarten: A Unique Junior Kindergarten Program for Four Year Olds and Their Families
A preschool parenting and readiness program in Canada results in higher school readiness among program children and families, as well as family readiness among teachers.
Free. Available online only.
Transitioning to School: Policy, Practice, and Reality
Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia's the Curry School of Education discusses helping young children to better transition from preschool to kindergarten and into the early years of grade school.
Infant-Toddler Intervention on the Road to School Readiness: Lessons From Early Head Start
Helen Raikes, John Love, and Rachel Chazan-Cohen from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation team discuss the importance of intervention in the early years.
Early Head Start Research-Program Partnerships
An in-depth look at the challenges presented by the evaluation of the Early Head Start program - an evaluation which required the cooperation of multiple layers of research and program partners.