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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.
Elena Lopez explores the benefits of creating strong partnerships between early childhood programs and families.
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.
Article in Urban Education, 40(1), 78–105.
In this article the authors argue that intermediary organizations play a crucial role in capacity building for family involvement, by providing alternatives to school-centered approaches to family involvement and engaging families with intensive support that schools seldom offer.
This paper reviews the literature on community organizing. It examines how community organizing differs from traditional parent involvement activities, outlines the characteristic strategies used to engage parents in organizing efforts, and describes the outcomes of these efforts.
Free. Available online only.
A modified human-centered design process inspires creativity, makes ideas visible, and keeps families’ experiences at the forefront in the transition to school.
The California Department of Education’s Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts is a synthesis of research, best practices, and the state and federal program requirements that include family engagement, intended to guide school districts.
We share several resources on libraries - modern, evolving community spaces of education and support for families and children.
Chinese-American college students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds describe the role of their families in their paths to college.
Free. Available online only.
This review of current literature on community development is a resource for people hoping to gain insight into the common ground and potential for collaboration that exist between family support and community development initiatives. A brief introduction to the bibliography explains what the eight themes are, why they are important, and what special challenges are raised for community development practitioners.
$7.00 . 28 Pages.
Interviews with 84 math teachers about the use of their class websites suggest that sites could be used more effectively to share information with parents and to support parent involvement.
Free. Available online only.
Family Research Project researchers reviewed teacher-certification requirements for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Recommendations for strengthening parent involvement programs in preservice teacher education are presented.
Free. Available online only.
This article examines both the incentives and barriers that affect adolescents' participation in out-of-school time programs.
This resource provides definitions of evaluation terminology frequently used in the out-of-school time field. It also provides answers to frequently asked evaluation questions.
Free. Available online only.
To inform municipal leaders who are developing out-of-school time evaluations, HFRP scanned the city-level initiatives in its evaluation profiles database and prepared this short brief that describes the evaluation approaches, methods, and performance measures that some cities are using for evaluation.
Free. Available online only.
Cultivating empathy can inspire educators to respond with more inclusive and equitable practices to engage families.
Afterschool programs are a powerful influence in the lives of young people, but their benefits can only be realized if youth are engaged. This commentary explores the different dimensions of youth engagement in afterschool programs and offers promising practices for those seeking to promote and foster youth engagement.
Explore the world of anywhere, anytime learning with us! Read how researchers and practitioners are helping to close the opportunity gap by creating innovative spaces, developing strategic collaborations to ensure children’s success, and engaging families and children as partners in meaningful learning experiences, both in and out of school.
Harvard Family Research Project and the Public Library Association call for libraries to join together with schools and community organizations to establish a system of family engagement that extends throughout a child’s life, supports children and families, and prepares children for success.
This profile from the Complementary Learning in Action series illustrates how Alignment Nashville brings together diverse community members and organizations to leverage existing resources in support of Nashville's youth and the Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Free. Available online only.
In this Q & A with Laura Overdeck, learn how Bedtime Math is giving families and children comfort in talking about numbers in their daily lives, and helping families and afterschool programs get children excited about math in the world around them.
Simulations, virtual learning communities, web conferences, text-based chats, and interactive cases are all ways that blended professional learning methods are supporting educators’ ability to engage families. Learn more in this commentary that explores new opportunities for blended professional learning in family engagement.
A key principle in the definition of family engagement is that it is continuous across time. In this commentary, we explore why thinking of family engagement in this way matters, and we learn about tools educators can use to develop the skills to promote it.
Read about how organizations—including early childhood programs, schools, afterschool programs, museums, and libraries—play a key role in helping families access resources, build social networks, and create learning mindsets.
The transition to school is a process—not just a one-time event—and begins during children’s preschool years and continues into and on through the early elementary grades. Find out four important things research tells us about the transition.
Based on her work with the Nana y Yo y las Matemáticas project, Marlene Kliman writes about three strategies teachers can use to engage families in their children’s math education, especially when today’s math curriculum diverges from traditional practices.