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.
Strengthening Family Engagement Through Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
In this Commentary, HFRP’s M. Elena Lopez and Christine Patton discuss the importance of teacher preparation in family engagement, and highlight the ways in which we at HFRP are working to advance educator training and professional development in this field.
Exploring the Parent, Family, Community Engagement Simulation: A Conversation With Brandi Black Thacker and Guylaine Richard
What you say to families and do with them matters! In this Q & A with Brandi Black Thacker and Guylaine Richards, we learn about how the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Simulation can be used as a professional development tool in Head Start/Early Head Start programs and beyond.
Professional Development in Family Engagement: A Few Often-Overlooked Strategies for Success
In this resource, HFRP’s Christine Patton and the University of Pittsburgh’s Shannon Wanless discuss the importance of professional development (PD) in the area of family engagement, point out strategies for trainers and teachers to think about when designing and considering participating in trainings, and highlight the changing nature of PD in general.
Preparing Educators to Engage Families: Case Studies Using an Ecological Systems Framework, Third Edition
Incorporating the use of HFRP research-based teaching cases and theoretical perspectives, this revised book looks at family engagement issues from the early years through pre-adolescence.
Padres de Familia como Agentes de Cambio
En este Perfil de Liderando el Ramo, Sandra Gutiérrez, la directora nacional del programa Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, programa que está enfocado en la familia latina, comparte su visión de cómo las familias son fundamentales para transformar las vidas de nuestros hijos y de nuestras comunidades. [This article is also available in English as Parents as Agents of Change.]
Embracing the Use of Data for Continuous Program Improvement
In this Commentary, Harvard Family Research Project’s Heidi Rosenberg discusses how continuous improvement processes can strengthen family engagement strategies, and outlines the mindset and key practices that organizations need to adopt in order to use data to understand and improve upon their work.
Helping Head Start and Early Head Start Programs Create a Culture That Embraces Data
A new interactive online learning module, Data in Head Start and Early Head Start: Creating a Culture that Embraces Data, developed by the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations, helps Head Start/Early Head Start leaders understand how to use data to inform their decision making.
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.
Parents as Agents of Change
In this Leading the Field profile, Sandra Gutierrez, national director of the Latino family-focused Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors program, shares her vision of how families are fundamental to transforming the lives of our children and our communities. [Este artículo también está disponible en español como Padres de Familia como Agentes de Cambio.]
Family Involvement News: September 2013
We are committed to keeping you up to date on what's new in family engagement. View our list of links to current reports, articles, resources, and events in the field.
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.
Data Sharing Through Parent Portals: An Exploration of Parental Motivation, Data Use, and the Promise of Prolonged Parent Involvement
In this Research Digest, Barbara Starkie highlights key findings from her recent study that examined why and how parents use online parent portals to view student data.
Family Involvement News: April 2013
We are committed to keeping you up to date on what's new in family engagement. View our list of links to current reports, articles, resources, and events in the field.
Helping Parents Become Interventionists Through the Use of Child Assessment Data
Heather Schrotberger, Andrea Clements, and Elizabeth Nichols of Project EAGLE talk about sharing data with families and illustrate how program staff and parents work as partners to review child assessment data and co-create goals for children.
Tips for Administrators, Teachers, and Families: How to Share Data Effectively
This new set of tip sheets helps administrators, teachers, and families identify the best ways to share student data in meaningful ways, on a regular basis, to strengthen family–school partnerships and promote student learning. The tips can be used to guide the formal conversations that take place during parent–teacher conferences, but they are especially designed to help promote less formal, ongoing conversations about student progress among teachers, families, and students throughout the year.
Data Sharing Resources for Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs and Systems
This resource highlights tools, publications, and reports that provide examples of promising practices for and guidance on data sharing for afterschool and expanded learning programs and systems.
Free. Available online only.
Connected Educators, Connected Families
Elementary school principal and “connected educator” Joe Mazza discusses how he has integrated technology—including social media—into his school’s family engagement strategies to enhance his school’s ability to connect with families. He also stresses the importance of balancing technology-based engagement strategies with in-person relationship-building efforts.
The Countdown to Kindergarten: A Collaborative Approach
Sonia Gómez-Banrey, Director of Countdown to Kindergarten (CDtoK) for Boston Public Schools (BPS), and Katherine (Kacy) Hughes, Senior Project Manager for Early Childhood and Family Learning at Boston Children’s Museum, highlight key components of the collaboration between BPS and the Museum as part of the CDtoK program to help BPS families better prepare their children for kindergarten.
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.
Family Involvement News: February 2013
We are committed to keeping you up to date on what's new in family engagement. View our list of links to current reports, articles, resources, and events in the field.
Fast Forward: What Education Could Be in 2043
In this Guest Commentary, GreatSchools founder and CEO Bill Jackson offers a vision for the future of family engagement in which parents demand more from both the educational system and themselves to help prepare their children for a complex, globally-connected workforce. He also lays out the steps that educators need to take to realize this vision and help students succeed.
A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Different Types of Parental Involvement Programs for Urban Students
In this Research Digest, William Jeynes highlights key findings from his recent meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of different types of school-based parental involvement programs. His study found that programs that emphasized shared reading, teacher–parent partnership, checking homework, and teacher–parent communication all had statistically significant positive effects on student outcomes. Jeynes discusses why the effects of school-based programs are greater than the effects seen with “voluntary” expressions of parental engagement.
A New Tool for Understanding Family–School Relationships: The Harvard Graduate School of Education PreK-12 Parent Survey
This tool, developed through a partnership between the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Survey Monkey, provides educators with free access to a set of survey questions, or scales, to help them collect and analyze data about their family engagement work. These scales also provide educators with an efficient way to assess the progress of their work and identify areas for improvement.
Partnerships for Learning: Community Support for Youth Success
In this paper, we draw on the experiences of national organizations and a set of community schools that have built learning partnerships, and examine seven key elements that we find to be essential in building them. Our paper serves as a guide to school districts and their partners as they consider whether and how to implement a partnerships for learning model. It also informs those who have already established these partnerships and wish to reflect on how to maximize partnership—and student—success.
Free. Available online only.