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.
Text, Play, and Tech: Partnerships Promoting Early Learning Opportunities
As we celebrate the Week of the Young Child, learn how families can support creative play with young children in a variety of ways and settings.
Course Syllabus for Learning From Practice: Evaluation and Improvement Science
Learn how this course explores a variety of approaches to program evaluation through the readings and assignments outlined in this course syllabus designed by Candice Bocala, adjunct lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Family Involvement Makes a Difference in School Success
Family involvement helps children get ready to enter school, promotes their school success, and prepares youth for college. This Research Brief presents findings from HFRP's ongoing, in-depth review of research and evaluated programs that link family involvement in children's education to student outcomes.
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Diverse Communities
This issue of the FINE Forum provides some promising approaches to preparing teachers to partner with diverse families and communities.
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The Aprender en Familia (Family Learning) Program in Chile
What are the three most important ingredients for improving student outcomes through family engagement? For the Aprender en Familia (Family Learning) Program in Chile, school and family partnerships, parent education, and relationship building prove to be an effective combination.
Bibliography of Transition Research
What is the evidence base to support family engagement in the transition to school? You can check out the articles in this bibliography to read about why transition to school matters for children, families, and communities.
Family Involvement News: June 2012
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.
Questions & Answers: Robert Pianta Talks About Kindergarten Transition
Ensuring children's smooth transition from early education programs to kindergarten requires that attention be paid to the resources and linkages among schools, child care and early education services, and families. In this Q+A, Robert Pianta, professor of Clinical and School Psychology at the University of Virginia, shares his recent research on children's transitions and gives tips on how to support families during this time.
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.
Resource Guide for High School Transitions: Annotated Bibliography
This bibliographic resource provides a selected listing of journal articles, research briefs, and other resources that focus on the transitions into and out of high school as well as general high school and college readiness. These resources address a variety of topics related to high school transitions including family engagement, school practices, and student outcomes.
Academic Achievement
This issue of FINE Forum explores new forms of and strategies in family involvement, all of which share a common goal: expanding and deepening family and community roles to help students meet high standards.
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Innovative Stories of Family Engagement From Around the World
Find inspiration for your family engagement efforts from around the world.
Family Involvement News: September 2014
How can “two-generation” programs help parents influence children’s development? What five ongoing family activities can help children’s literacy development? What project will explore the effectiveness of new reading technology used by early education and parenting initiatives? Read to find out!
Featured Teaching Case: Making a Decision About College: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Harvard Family Research Project’s Teaching Cases support teacher training and professional development by highlighting challenges that schools, families, and communities may encounter in supporting children’s learning. In this month’s newsletter, we feature Making a Decision About College: Should I Stay or Should I Go?, which considers the ways in which schools can support students who have significant family obligations to make an appropriate choice about where to attend college.
Family Involvement News: March 2015
What effective family engagement strategies promote educational equity? How can professionals who work with families use their experiences to shape the future of professional development? In what ways can technology support home–school communication? Read here to answer these questions and more!
Explore: Resources to Strengthen Program Evaluation
Interested in developing a logic model, learning more about improvement science, or advancing your program evaluation? This guide offers valuable resources practitioners can utilize to strengthen their evaluative work and develop more productive relationships with evaluators.
Early Childhood Education
As we celebrate the Week of the Young Child, the FINE Forum presents some innovative ideas and practices in family involvement in early childhood education.
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Building a Cradle to Career Pathway in Cincinnati, Ohio
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based Strive initiative has taken a complementary learning approach to scaffolding children’s educational growth to ensure a comprehensive, cradle-to-career system of support that includes family and community engagement. Harvard Family Research Project spoke with Jeff Edmondson, executive director of Strive, as well as two of Strive’s partners in the community, Liz Blume of the Community Building Institute, and Rolanda Smith of Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati, to find out more about Strive’s philosophy, successes, and challenges.
Q & A With Comienza en Casa: Using Technology to Smooth the Transition to School for Migrant Children and Families
In this Q & A, the developers of Comienza en Casa │“It Starts at Home,” talk about supporting migrant families to ensure their children have smooth transitions to school through the use of real-world and digital activities.
Family Engagement Policy Resources
We've added a section to our website to inform stakeholders of our policy-related work in family engagement. This work seeks to promote the broader definition of family engagement that stresses shared responsibility and cross-context learning within a cradle-to-career approach to education. Visit our new policy page for more details, including our comments in the Federal Register regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund competitive grants program.
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