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.
Self, Family, Community, and Schooling
This course, with its fieldwork component, takes gradual and small steps in grappling with the constituent parts of culture. Taking the notion of self as a center of relationship, we adopt a bottom-up approach in tracing how culture dialectically implicates individual mind and selfhood. Forming several research teams, each group will undertake an empirical studies in designated field sites. Each team, using methodological tools available in visual anthropology and video ethnography (with support from the teaching and technical staff), will be required to relate their research findings to one or more theoretical themes covered in this course.
Free. Available online only.
New Releases on Benchmarking Electronic Communications
In 2007, The Evaluation Exchange (XIII, 1) featured the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, a research effort that developed metrics to measure the effectiveness of nonprofit online advocacy and fundraising efforts. Katie Chun of HFRP describes recent releases from this effort and others that help nonprofits assess the success of their online and text-messaging strategies.
Why Facebook Matters for Nonprofits
Katie Chun of HFRP discusses the growing momentum and collateral challenges of Facebook as the next major vehicle for nonprofits.
Research Update 5: STEM Out-of-School Time Programs for Girls
Out-of-school time (OST) programs that focus on girls’ involvement in STEM can play an essential role in improving female representation in these traditionally male-dominated fields. OST programs offer girls a non-threatening and non-academic environment for hands-on learning that is collaborative, informal, and personal. However, barriers to quality implementation and outcome-based evaluation present challenges for STEM programs serving girls. This Research Update highlights findings from the evaluations and research studies in the OST Database that focus on STEM programs for girls.
Free. Available online only.
The C. S. Mott Statewide Afterschool Networks: Statewide Collaboration to Further After School Policies
An-Me Chung of the C. S. Mott Foundation describes the Statewide Afterschool Networks, and three Statewide Afterschool Network coordinators—Jennifer Becker Mouhcine from Illinois, Zelda Waymer from South Carolina, and Janet Frieling from Washington—discuss how their Networks support and promote systems of after school program quality.
A Collaborative Approach to Parent Outreach
Amy Aparicio Clark and Amanda Dorris describe how the PALMS Project supports educators’ efforts to engage Latino parents in college preparation and enrollment.
Examining the Efficacy of Two Models of Preschool Professional Development in Language and Literacy
Nancy Clark-Chiarelli from Education Development Center, Inc. describes an evaluation of two approaches to early literacy professional development—one with a traditional face-to-face mode of delivery and one with a technology-enhanced component.
Grantmaking to School Districts: Lessons for Foundations
This brief offers lessons and best practices from foundations across the country on grantmaking to school districts. It offers advice to foundations that are considering school district investments for the first time. It also offers a useful "check" to more experienced foundations that want to examine their thinking and approaches against the lessons and practices of other foundations.
Free. Available online only.
Logic Models in Out-of-School Time
Julia Coffman of HFRP describes one approach OST programs can take to develop a logic model.
A Conversation With Paul Light
Paul Light is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., an instructor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and author of 14 books, including most recently Pathways to Nonprofit Excellence. Previously he was Director of the Public Policy Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
A User's Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning
A User's Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning was developed for advocates, evaluators, and funders who want guidance on how to evaluate advocacy and policy change efforts. This tool takes users through four basic steps that generate the core elements of an advocacy evaluation plan, including what will be measured and how.
Free. Available online only.
Michael Scriven on the Differences Between Evaluation and Social Science Research
Michael Scriven, author of Evaluation Thesaurus, talks about how evaluation has evolved into a discipline distinct from social science research.
Research and Advocacy Collaboration: A New Jersey Case Study
Too often vital research in the early care and education field does not get used effectively for advocacy purposes. While researchers and advocates often share the same goals, they tend to operate on separate tracks. This brief explores how research and advocacy can be bridged for greater effect using strategic communications. By definition, strategic communications means a deliberate plan or tactics for using communications as a channel for achieving a certain result. Collaborative work in the state of New Jersey around the goal of achieving a comprehensive and quality early care and education system is used as a backdrop for learning about effective practice.
Free. Available online only.
A Conversation With Jonny Morell
Jonny Morell of the Altarum Institute discusses, among other things, the relationship between innovation and efficiency in technology application.
Electronic Mailbox
A list of useful resources on the Internet.
Making Families Matter at Two-Year Colleges: Training the Early Childhood Workforce to Support Families
$10.00 . 75 Pages.
A Conversation With Ricardo Millett
Ricardo Millett from the Woods Fund of Chicago discusses how evaluators can build capacity by addressing issues of diversity and multiculturalism.
What's Different About Evaluating Advocacy and Policy Change?
Julia Coffman of HFRP describes four ways evaluators may need to adjust their approaches when evaluating advocacy and policy change.
Evaluation Based on Theories of the Policy Process
Harvard Family Research Project explains how it helps to ground evaluation in theories of the policy process.
Blogging (BLOG’ing)
Julia Coffman of Harvard Family Research Project wants to save you from the embarrassment of making the same mistake she made.
Building the Capacity to Build Capacity
Juila Coffman of Harvard Family Research Project describes common qualities shared among “learning organizations,” examining them in the context of service programs.
A Conversation With Richard Rothstein
Richard Rothstein argues that narrowing the achievement gap requires substantial changes in social policy in addition to extensive school reform.
Evaluating Partnerships: Seven Success Factors
Dr. Hector Garza of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships describes what he looks for when evaluating educational partnerships.
Beyond the Usual Suspects
Julia Coffman, from Harvard Family Research Project, describes methods for campaign evaluation that are unique to the communications arena.
Lessons in Evaluating Communications Campaigns: Five Case Studies
This paper examines how communication campaigns with different purposes (individual behavior change and policy change) have been evaluated. It offers a discussion of theories of change that can guide evaluation planning, along with five case studies of completed campaign evaluations. Each case study includes lessons from the evaluation and the paper finishes with a set of cross-case-study lessons gleaned from these evaluations and others.
Free. Available online only.