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.
Working With Families in the Rural South: Findings From the REA-Funded Promising Readers Program
In an elementary school in the rural south, parents, preservice teachers, and others come together to strengthen children's literacy and learn from their experiences with children and one another.
Free. Available online only.
Measurement Tools for Evaluating Out-of-School Time Programs: An Evaluation Resource
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.
Transforming Family Engagement
In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Evelyn Brosi Semenza and Heidi Rosenberg examine how innovative approaches and tools—including digital media—are helping to transform family engagement. Approaches include community–school partnerships that help promote school readiness; the integration of digital media in educators’ family engagement strategies; and the use of online tools to gather information about parents’ perspectives.
The Child Trends DataBank: An Evolving Resource for Policymakers, Researchers, and Practitioner
Brett Brown, Kristin Moore, and Sharon Bzostek describe Child Trends' “one-stop data shop” for the latest indicators on child and youth well-being.
Engaging the Media as Partners in Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Sarah Brown, Director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, describes the unique way in which the Campaign has enlisted the support of “unusual suspects” in its efforts to improve child well-being and reduce child poverty.
Continuous Improvement: Being Responsive When There is Need for Change
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.
Rethinking the Evaluation of Family Strengthening Strategies: Beyond Traditional Program Evaluation Models
Charles Bruner of the Child and Family Policy Center outlines three factors of good family strengthening programs that evaluators are not adequately measuring in their evaluations.
North Carolina's Smart Start Initiative: A Decade of Evaluation Lessons
Donna Bryant and Karen Ponder describe the past 10 years of evaluating North Carolina's nationally recognized early childhood initiative.
Investing in Those Who Invest in our Youth
Linda Lausell Bryant, Director of Training at Partnership for After School Education, describes their New York City-based coalition committed to quality after school programs.
Identifying School Readiness Indicators to Stimulate Policy Action
Elizabeth Burke Bryant and Catherine Walsh, of Rhode Island Kids Count, give an account of the School Readiness Indicators Initiative.
Building an Evaluation Tool Kit for Professional Development
Jennifer Buher-Kane, Nancy Peter, and Susan Kinnevy of the Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania share their experience of creating a tool kit designed specifically for those who provide professional development to out-of-school time program staff.
Insights From Teaching a Graduate Evaluation and Improvement Science Course
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.
Advocating for the Rights of Undocumented Families
Moria Cappio and Melanie Reyes from The Children’s Aid Society share their experiences reinventing family engagement strategies in their East Harlem Early Head Start/Head Start program to reach out to immigrant families by including parent civic advocacy. Cappio and Reyes also describe how using an advocacy evaluation tool helped them navigate these uncharted waters.
Why We Need to Slow Down When It Comes to Evaluation
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.
Framing Program Evaluation: Why We Should Tinker With Theories of Change and Logic Models
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.
Learning for All: The Value of Field Experience in Training a New Generation of Program Evaluators
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.
NSACA Accreditation: Building Capacity for Continuous Improvement in After School Programs
Mark Carter, Executive Director of the National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA), describes how the NSACA accreditation process helps after school programs build evaluation capacity.
Six Activities to Spice Up the Teaching Case Method Discussion
Margaret Caspe discusses how college and university instructors can use the teaching case method to prepare future educators for family engagement. She offers a suite of activities that instructors can combine with the cases to help students dive deeply into the family engagement issues and dilemmas of practice that are presented in each case.
Family Literacy: A Review of Programs and Critical Perspectives
This paper reviews the literature on family literacy and describes critical perspectives. It also explores guiding principles and examples of their application in three different programs.
Free. Available online only.
Creating Environments to Promote Innovation
For this issue's FINE Newsletter commentary , HFRP consultant Margaret Caspe talks with Heather Weiss, Sherry Cleary, and Jane Quinn about innovation in their respective disciplines. Caspe, who is also Associate Director of Early Childhood Programs at the Children's Aid Society, presents the central themes through a framework designed to help schools and organizations move beyond typical problem solving to discover new ways of thinking.
Beyond the Head Count: Evaluating Family Involvement in Out-of-School Time
This brief offers an overview of how out-of-school time programs can evaluate their family involvement strategies and practices. It draws on findings from our OST Evaluation Database, interviews, and email correspondence.
Free. Available online only.
Bridging Worlds: Family Engagement in the Transition to Kindergarten
This teaching case explores the complex issues surrounding the transition to kindergarten and the importance of family engagement in the process. Three expert commentaries and discussion questions are included. An interactive version is also available.
Free. Available online only.
Update: New Skills for New Schools
Since the 1997 publication of New Skills for New Schools by HFRP, the education reform landscape has changed, making it necessary to align teacher preparation and professional learning for family engagement with the goals of a twenty-first century education. Harvard Family Research Project is working to gather information about promising teacher education practices to prepare teachers to partner with families for student success. A preview of these practices—to be published in our forthcoming policy brief—is summarized in this update.
Free. Available online only.
New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme of Evaluating Education Reform.
Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Engage Families for Student Achievement
Harvard Family Research Project and the National PTA® have teamed up to bring you the third brief in our ground-breaking series about family engagement policy, highlighting the need for teacher education programs to prepare teachers to better work with families.
Free. Available online only.