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.
A Special Education Plan for Anabela: Does Supporting Her Needs Mean Holding Her Back?
A mother advocated strongly for her daughter's special education placement at a new school, but now appears under-involved to the teachers. The classroom and resource room teachers disagree about whether to retain the girl in second grade, and the classroom teacher must make a recommendation to the principal, knowing the family has opposed retention in the past.
Free. Available online only.
Promoting Involvement of Recent Immigrant Families in Their Children's Education
The purpose of this article is to present a conceptual framework and promote promising practices for involving Hispanic, immigrant parents/caregivers of students in their children's education. Toward this end, the article presents a model for how teachers and immigrant parents/families can be trained and encouraged to work as partners to improve student performance.
Free. Available online only.
Bilingual Voices and Parent Classroom Choices
Ines, a Spanish speaker feels responsible for her daughter's trouble in an all-English first grade classroom. Based on advice from her daughter's teacher, who believes a bilingual placement might be best, Ines reads with Nina in Spanish, but is uncertain this is the right thing to do. How can parents and teachers reconcile their differences about bilingual education?
Free. Available online only.
Youth Involvement in Evaluation & Research
This brief draws on information collected from focus group interviews with representatives of 14 programs that are involving youth in their evaluation and research efforts. It examines the elements of successful youth involved research projects and offers short profiles of the 14 organizations included in the study.
Hard copy out of stock. Available online only.
Family, Child & Teacher Interaction in Diverse and Inclusive Educational Settings
We will examine the role of the teacher in the classroom and school community with the intention of developing insight, understanding, and personal style which will support the teacher in his/her interaction with families. The class will study the techniques of family-school collaboration, constructive methods of evaluation, and the parameters of the federal law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
Free. Available online only.
Teacher, Family & Community: Relationships and Resources
Examination of how the relationship between schools, families, and communities impacts the school adjustment of children during middle childhood and early adolescence as well as the roles of school personnel, parents, and community agents. Models and methods for facilitating positive relationships are considered. Resources for the education of children within families and communities are investigated.
Free. Available online only.
Home/School/Community: Systems Interventions
The purpose of this course is to provide the student with information on a broad array of issues relating to school and community collaboration with families. Systems interventions within the home, school, and community contexts will be considered. Emphasis is placed on system-level consultation theories, research, and practice. The course prepares school professionals to function as consultants in school and community settings.
Free. Available online only.
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.
Free. Available online only.
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.
Defining “Fine”—Communicating Academic Progress to Parents
Molly is surprised when her son's teacher recommends he attend summer school. She thought he was doing just fine and the family had been doing a lot to make the home a rich reading environment. How can teachers better communicate academic progress with parents? How can administrators support teachers in this effort?
Free. Available online only.
Setting Standards at Porter Road School
A fourth grade teacher weighs the advantages and disadvantages of a mandated state educational test on her students. She must weigh the conflicting perspectives of parents, students, community members, and her teaching colleagues to define her own stance in regard to the test and to present her thoughts to the school principal.
Free. Available online only.
School Won't Let Mom Talk About Her Casino Job
A middle school principal will not allow a single mother employed by the local casino to address her daughter's class during Career Week because he is concerned about promoting gambling. How can this school reorganize to serve and respect all families?
Free. Available online only.
Reaching out to the Only One out There
Brian is struggling with his sexual orientation and confronts Jacob, a teacher whom he suspects is gay. Jacob reveals his sexual orientation to Brian and when Brian reports this information to his mother, Jill, she demands her son to withdraw from extracurricular activities led by a gay teacher. How can Jacob, knowing the risks of suicide among gay youth, best support Brian and gain Jill's confidence?
Free. Available online only.
What's Going on With Tomasito?
Tomasito's embarrassment at having his parents drop by the school limits the development of a strong, trusting, and communicative parent-teacher relationship. Shy and quiet Tomasito does not share information about his home life with his teacher who in turn holds many misconceptions about his home context. How can teacher and family communicate better?
Free. Available online only.
Preparing Teachers to Work With Parents
This study surveyed 96 teacher education programs in the United States and examined how these preservice programs incorporate parent involvement in their curriculum.
Free. Available online only.
Friction at Madison Family Literacy Program
Noreen, an early childhood teacher, arranges free speech therapy for young Junie. She volunteers to take Junie to the therapist, but when Junie's mother fails to pick up her daughter Noreen lashes out with an angry phone message, threatening to call the Department of Social Services. How can the two make the situation better and what could have prevented it?
Free. Available online only.
Diverse Communities
This issue of the FINE Forum provides some promising approaches to preparing teachers to partner with diverse families and communities.
Free. Available online only.
Counseling and Intervention in Multicultural Settings
This course focuses upon the unique challenges diversity brings to the provision of counseling and psychological services to children, youth, and parents. Students will learn the history, culture, and expectations of various ethnic and cultural groups and develop the cross-cultural communication skills necessary to effectively work with families of varying cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Students will also explore how issues such as immigration, poverty, sexism, and racism affect counseling practices and the development of effective interventions.
Free. Available online only.
Family-School-Community Partnerships: A Compilation of Professional Standards of Practice for Teachers
This report summarizes the current family involvement standards of practice for teachers and other educators, as described by a variety of professional associations, including the National Parent Teacher Association, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Free. Available online only.
Out-of-School Time Issue #2
The Spring 2001 issue is the second in a series of two dedicated to the field of out-of-school time and after school that was started in the Volume VI, Number 1 issue. This issue features a conversation with Jane Quinn about the out-of-school time field, descriptions of national and local evaluations that are under way, a discussion of developmental research and evaluating after school programs, a description of practices that involve youth in evaluation and research, and some practical advice about using logic models in evaluating after school programs.
What Words Don't Say
Martin, an African-American student struggles with peer problems at his elementary school. He experiences racism and classism. How can Martin's mother and his teacher dialogue about sensitive issues?
Free. Available online only.
Reinventing Evaluation to Build High-Performance Child and Family Interventions
This chapter provides examples of local and state efforts to build capacity of organizations to obtain and use data that will inform and continuously improve practice and policy. Chapter by Heather Weiss in Perspectives on Crime and Justice:1999-2000 Lecture Series.
Strategic Communications
The Winter 2001 issue focuses on the increasing importance of strategic communications in nonprofits, examining how to best create, produce, and evaluate communications strategies. The issue features communications campaigns and their evaluations, a conversation with a top communications professional, and information and resources for designing and evaluating strategic communications initiatives.