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.
Understanding Family Involvement in the Preparation of Graduate Students: Measuring Family-Centered Beliefs, Skills, Systems, and Practices
Family-centered practices by professionals serving families and their young children with disabilities have become a cornerstone of personnel preparation programs in early childhood intervention (ECI) and early childhood education. Our research project sought to develop a measure to examine the family-centered beliefs, skills, work systems, and work practices of ECI and ECE graduate students.
Free. Available online only.
Understanding Family Strengthening to Promote Youth Development
Dr. Geri Lynn Peak, a consultant and formerly the Managing Director of the Center for Applied Research and Technical Assistance, describes the evolution, practice, and potential assessment of a family strengthening approach to promote positive youth development.
Understanding Parental Views of School Climate: Frequently Asked Questions About a New Survey Tool
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.
Understanding Research: Ten Tips
Stephanie Schaefer of the National Association of Child Advocates offers tips on how to evaluate research information for its credibility.
University–Community Partnerships
This FINE Forum features the Jane Addams School for Democracy, a university-community partnership in which Hmong and Latino immigrants, professors, high school teachers, parents, and students all work together on public issues.
Free. Available online only.
Untangling Logic Models and Indicators: Reflections on Engaging Stakeholders
Seema Shah, a researcher at the Institute for Education and Social Policy, shares her experience of engaging community organizing groups to develop a logic model on how community organizing leads to better student outcomes.
Upcoming Evaluation Conferences
Harvard Family Research Project describes a couple of upcoming evaluation conferences.
Upcoming Evaluations
HFRP takes a look at upcoming family involvement and complementary learning evaluations.
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.
Useful Learning for Public Action
Heather Weiss of Harvard Family Research Project and William Morrill of Mathtech discuss implementing knowledge development investments to solve the country's basic problems.
Using a Data Management Tool to Better Serve Middle School Youth Across a Variety of Settings
Elizabeth Devaney and Hillary Salmons from the Providence After School Alliance describe how a citywide data collection system helps track and improve after school services and strengthen linkages with community organizations, schools, and families.
Using a Framework Approach to Improve Youth Participation in Informal Learning
Megan Beckett, Sandy Berry, and Kristin Leuschner of RAND Corporation describe a framework approach for transforming research findings into a practical tool for policymakers, parents, and practitioners.
Using and Evaluating Social Media for Social Change
Allison H. Fine is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She writes and speaks on increasing civic participation by harnessing the power of digital technology. In 2006, she published her latest book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age.
Using Behavior Change Theory to Communicate Effectively: The Case of Latino Parent Involvement
Anne Pollock (HGSE) and Julia Coffman and M. Elena Lopez (HFRP) reveal how to design communications that are more effective at changing behavior by keeping in mind the factors that influence behavior.
Using Concept Mapping to Develop Family Support Program Theory
Scott Rosas, from the Nemours Foundation, discusses the potential of concept mapping for the design and implementation of family support evaluations.
Using Democratic Evaluation Principles to Foster Citizen Engagement and Strengthen Neighborhoods
Arnold Love and Betty Muggah describe how Hamilton Community Foundation applied democratic evaluation principles to transform challenged neighborhoods into vibrant communities.
Using Evaluation Results: The Program Staff Perspective
Alfredo Tijerina of School of the Future explains the program staff perspective of using evaluation results.
Using Geographic Data for Neighborhood Revitalization
Josh Kirschenbaum and Victor Rubin from PolicyLink discuss the uses of community mapping.
Using Information Architecture to Improve Communication
Erin Harris from Harvard Family Research Project with Suzanne Muchin, CEO of Civitas, illustrate the design concept “information architecture” for displaying complex information clearly and simply.
Using Internet and Communications Technology to Foster Evaluation in Africa
Zenda Ofir and Jean-Charles Rouge reflect on how Internet-based communication strategies have contributed to building evaluation capacity in Africa.
Using Internet Technology to Develop Evaluation Capacity and Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ada Ocampo and Marco Segone describe the ways electronic networks are being put to use in Latin America and the Caribbean to build evaluation capacity.
Using Narrative Methods to Link Program Evaluation and Organization Development
Charles McClintock, Dean of the Fielding Graduate Institute's School of Human and Organization Development, shows how narrative methods can aid program evaluation and organization development.
Using Quality Assessment Tools to Evaluate OST Linkages
Helen Westmoreland from HFRP discusses how OST programs are using quality assessment tools to evaluate and promote linkages with families, schools, and communities.
Using Technology to Link Evaluation and Funding: San Francisco’s Contract Management System
Tajel Shah and Nani Coloretti of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families describe a web-based contract management system for youth programs.
Valuing Families as Partners
Elena Lopez explores the benefits of creating strong partnerships between early childhood programs and families.