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.
New & Noteworthy
An annotated list of organizations and initiatives related to evaluation in the 21st century.
Electronic Mailbox
A list of useful resources on the Internet.
Credentialing Caregivers
This paper describes why family support is essential, given current social and economic trends, and stresses the need to bridge child care and family support. The author underscores the need for accessible family support training curricula that can be adapted to audiences of child care providers.
$7.00 . 25 Pages.
Families and Teachers as Partners
This digest provides suggestions on how families and teachers can work together in schools to provide enriching experiences for children.
Free. Available online only.
Aiming for Accountability: Vermont
Efforts include the State Team for Children and Families, Success by Six, and the Department of Education.
$5.00 . 40 Pages.
Home/School/Community Partnerships
Class sessions address system-level issues in working with children and their families. Attention is given to strategies and tactics used by school districts, community groups, and private sector organizations to support academic, health, and social goals for children and their families.
Free. Available online only.
New & Noteworthy
An annotated list of organizations and initiatives related to performance measurement.
Electronic Mailbox
A list of useful resources on the Internet.
Performance Measurement
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange, Harvard Family Research Project's quarterly evaluation periodical, investigates performance measurement. It presents articles on results-based accountability (RBA) that are both retrospective, looking at what we have learned about accountability over the years, as well as prospective, looking to the future of RBA.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Performance Measurement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Aiming for Accountability: Lessons Learned From Eight States
Diane Schilder of Harvard Family Research Project draws on case studies of eight states to provide a frank assessment of the potential and limitations of RBA systems.
Interview With Harry Hatry and Joe Wholey
Harry Hatry and Joe Wholey, who have been influential in the movement toward accountability at the federal level, discuss lessons learned and next steps for performance measurement.
Building Support for Statewide Outcomes: Lessons From Florida
Karen Stanford of the Commission on Government Accountability to the People in Florida reveals techniques to engage important stakeholders in the discussion about public outcomes.
Do You Really Want to Be Accountable for Results? Musings on Georgia’s Learnings
Janet Bitner of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, draws on the experiences of Georgia to share some insights about engaging assistance in the development of RBA systems.
National Learning Project Evaluation
Jay Bell of James Bell Associates describes the National Learning Project Evaluation of the United Way.
Ensuring Quality in Head Start: The FACES Study
Ruth Hubbell McKey of Ellswood Associates and Louisa Tarullo of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discuss the FACES study of Head Start.
Aiming for Accountability: Oregon
Efforts include Oregon Benchmarks, the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, the Oregon Option, and the Community Partnership Team.
$5.00 . 50 Pages.
Aiming for Accountability: Lessons Learned From Eight States
This report highlights some of the important lessons in designing and developing results-based accountability (RBA) systems, based on the insights gained from studies of eight states: Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont. The report includes information on how these states overcame challenges in developing effective RBA systems and what the characteristics of promising RBA efforts are.
$7.00 . 54 Pages.
Aiming for Accountability: Ohio
Efforts include Ohio Family and Children First, Early Start, the Wellness Block Grant, and the Family Stability Incentive Fund.
$5.00 . 46 Pages.
Aiming for Accountability: Lessons Learned From Eight States (digest)
This condensed report highlights some of the important lessons in designing and developing results-based accountability (RBA) systems, based on the insights gained from studies of eight states: Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont. The report includes information on how these states overcame challenges in developing effective RBA systems and what the characteristics of promising RBA efforts are.
Free. Available online only.
Resource Guide of Results-Based Accountability Efforts: Profiles of Selected States
This guide includes profiles of different state models of results-based accountability systems, which were developed through document reviews and key informant interviews. Included in the guide is a list of key contacts and bibliographic information on publications each state has developed.
$9.95 . 98 Pages.
Evaluating CBIs: Facing the Challenges and Improving Practice
Karen Horsch from Harvard Family Research Project reveals the practices that nine evaluators of community-based initiatives have used and lessons they have learned addressing challenges.
Interview With Mercer Sullivan
Mercer Sullivan, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and Senior Research Fellow at the Vera Institute of Justice, talks about using ethnography to study community-based initiatives.
Community-Based Initiatives
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange, Harvard Family Research Project's quarterly evaluation periodical, investigates community-based initiatives (CBIs). It offer a variety of viewpoints, perspectives, and practices on how to document and examine CBIs in a way that enables us to learn all we can about them.
Implementing a Theories of Change Evaluation in the Cleveland Community-Building Initiative
Sharon Milligan, Claudia Coulton, and Peter York of the Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change and Ronald Register, Executive Director of the Cleveland Community-Building Initiative, explain how a theories of change approach can be used to address the constraints of traditional evaluation techniques.