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.
Reframing Family Involvement in Education: Supporting Families to Support Educational Equity
This research review, part of the Equity Matters research initiative at the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, argues that family involvement in education is a powerful but neglected tool to support children’s learning and development. Disadvantaged children are both more likely to benefit from increased family involvement and to come from families who face the greatest barriers to such involvement. To reframe public understanding of the benefits of family involvement in children’s education, this paper lays out a research-based definition and more equitable approach to family involvement and positions it as a key cross-cutting component of broader comprehensive or complementary learning systems.
Free. Available online only.
Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Critically, Thinking Internationally (Keynote Address)
Evaluation plays a major role in shaping new directions for the field of family support. In her keynote address at the Participatory Evaluation and Parent Engagement Institute, sponsored by Family Support America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in Kansas City, Missouri, September 20–22, 2004, Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of HFRP, described how evaluation can support learning, continuous improvement, and innovation. The four components of a family support evaluation strategy that she outlined were experimental studies to show program impact on families, utilization-focused evaluation to support policy and practitioner decision making, action research and empowerment evaluation, and performance standards based on solid research and evaluation.
Free. Available online only.
Testimony by Heather Weiss at the Hearing on the "Education Begins at Home Act"
HFRP's Director and Founder Heather Weiss testified at the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor's hearing on the "Education Begins at Home Act," on June 11, 2008.
Family-School Partnerships
The goal of the module is to prepare educators to engage parents and family members in children's school success. Students enrolled in the module will learn about the major theoretical approaches to family involvement (e.g., developmental, sociocultural, psychological, and political). They will understand the range of ways families and schools can work together as well as the dilemmas of practice. The module will give students an opportunity to problem solve and reflect on the issues regarding family-school partnerships and to assess the benefits of family involvement for students, families, and schools.
Free. Available online only.
Bringing Families to the Table: Recommendations and Next Steps from the National Policy Forum for Family, School, and Community Engagement
One year after the National Policy Forum on Family, School, and Community Engagement, this report looks back at the major themes of the Forum discussions and offers a set of recommendations for driving family engagement in education as we move forward.
Family and Community Engagement in the Boston Public Schools: 1995–2006
This chapter describes the evolution of Boston Public Schools' family and community engagement efforts. The authors discuss how collective community action contributed to a critical reframing of the district's approach to family and community engagement over a 10-year period. Chapter by Abby R. Weiss and Helen Westmoreland in A Decade of Urban School Reform: Persistance and Progress in the Boston Public Schools 2007. Edited by S. Paul Reville with Celine Coggins. Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Evaluation's Role in Supporting Initiative Sustainability
This paper offers ideas for the roles that evaluation can play in helping ensure a discussion about sustainability is started early enough and maintained throughout an initiative. The ideas in this paper are based on Harvard Family Research Project's broad spectrum of experience in the past two decades with large-scale initiatives.
Free. Available online only.
Strengthening Out-Of-School Time Nonprofits: The Role of Foundations in Building Organizational Capacity
Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation as part of a three-part series, this paper looks at the role that foundations can play in building out-of-school time (OST) nonprofits' organizational capacity. In it, we suggest seven possible approaches to strengthening OST organizations, including methods to ensure that providers become stronger partners with other groups and more adept advocates for their field.
Family Involvement in Early Childhood Education
This research brief synthesizes the latest research that demonstrates how family involvement contributes to young children's learning and development. The brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—specifically, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works.
Free. 8 Pages.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Methodology by HFRP's founder & director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Performance Measurement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to this issue's topic of Scaling Impact by Harvard Family Research Project Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
The Home Visit Forum: Understanding and Improving the Role of Home Visitation
Heather Weiss, HFRP director, describes a consortium of national organizations working to improve home visitation models.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Evaluating Community-Based Initiatives by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
A Call for Ideas
An introduction to The Evaluation Exchange by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Family Resource Centers by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Evaluating Out-of-School Time by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Building the Future of Family Involvement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the first issue on Methodology by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the second issue on Out-of-School Time by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on School-Linked Services by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Evaluation in the 21st Century by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Continuous Improvement by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
A Conversation with Mike Smith
Marshall “Mike” Smith, senior counselor to the Secretary and director of international affairs at the U.S. Department of Education, discusses why the idea of scale entered the education policy conversation, the challenges involved in taking an intervention to scale in new settings, and what evaluation strategies should accompany the process of going to scale.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Harnessing Technology for Evaluation by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.