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.
What is the Campbell Collaboration and how is it helping to identify “what works”?
Robert Boruch, a founder of the Campbell Collaboration and professor of education and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how the Campbell Collaboration and randomized trials contribute to evidence-based policy.
An Introduction to Theory of Change
Andrea Anderson is a research associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, where she focuses on work related to planning and evaluating community initiatives.
A Conversation With Gary Henry
Gary Henry makes the case for a paradigm shift in how we think about evaluation use and influence.
Evaluating Complicated—and Complex—Programs Using Theory of Change
Patricia Rogers of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology describes how a theory of change can provide coherence in evaluating national initiatives that are both complicated and complex.
The Knight Foundation's Approach to Cluster Evaluation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Wellsys Corporation describe how they plan to aggregate lessons learned across a "thematic cluster" of youth development investments.
Ten Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Competency in Evaluation
Teresa Boyd Cowles of the Connecticut Department of Education offers self-reflective strategies evaluators can use to enhance their multicultural competency.
The Evidence Base for Increasing High-Achieving Minority Undergraduates
Mehmet Öztürk discusses findings from a review of evaluations of programs at selective colleges and universities to be used for improving undergraduate academic outcomes for underrepresented minority or disadvantaged students.
360 Degrees of Literacy: A Look at a Community Partnership in Dallas
Dennie Palmer Wolf and Jennifer Bransom offer lessons from the evaluation of a Dallas-based effort to promote
New & Noteworthy
The New & Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, and initiatives related to the issue
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Complementary Learning by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Complementary Learning
The topic of this issue of The Evaluation Exchange is complementary learning. Complementary learning posits that we can bolster children's learning and achievement by linking and aligning both the school and nonschool arenas in which children live, learn, and play. This means, for example, linking schools with early childhood programs, out-of-school time programs, and other programs based in the community. In this issue we delve into the kinds of mechanisms that can create these linkages and sustain their effectiveness, and highlight promising approaches for evaluating the complementary-learning practices that already exist, both in terms of what outcomes to focus on and what methodologies to use.
Free. 25 Pages.
Supplementary Education: The Hidden Curriculum of High Academic Achievement
Priscilla Little of HFRP reviews Supplementary Education, a new compilation of essays and papers edited by Edmund Gordon, Beatrice Bridglall, and Aundra Saa Meroe.
Learning Is Everyone's Business: Learning Supports in Iowa
On behalf of their partners in the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development, Linda Miller and Carol Behrer describe a statewide interagency collaboration to coordinate educational policies, practices, and programs.
Studying Contextual Predictors of Participation in Out-of-School Time Activities
Describing a new study by HFRP, Holly Kreider illustrates how research and data can illuminate and facilitate links between complementary learning contexts.
Investing in Connections
Foundation executives discuss their efforts to connect the many contexts in which children live and learn in order to increase the impact of their investments in these areas.
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.
SPARKing Innovation
Tony Berkley of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation describes the application of a theory of change to a complex initiative to facilitate team learning, strategic management, and program improvement.
Beyond the Classroom: Complementary Learning to Improve Achievement Outcomes
Harvard Family Research Project introduces complementary learning as a concept for improving learning outcomes without relying solely on school-based reform.
Project HOPE: Working Across Multiple Contexts to Support At-Risk Students
In this article, Barbara Jentleson and Helen Westmoreland, from Duke University, highlight the mechanism of connecting complementary-learning contexts through staffing patterns and practices.
Technology Goes Home: Connecting Families, Communities, and Schools
Kelly Faughnan from HFRP describes a program that connects families and schools in the Boston area through the mechanism of technology.
Engaging Families in Out-of-School Time Programs
A group of researchers illlustrate how the practice of family engagement can link the out-of-school time, school, and home contexts.
Increasing the Bottom Line by Supporting Families
Lynn Mitchell, from Corporate Voices for Working Families, describes how businesses can promote policies and practices that support working families, using partnerships between private and public sectors.
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.
Seattle School District's Community Alignment Initiative
Sara Tenney-Espinosa, of the Seattle School District, describes the evaluation goals and early findings from a collaboration between the district and local after school providers.
Family Educational Involvement: Who Can Afford It and What Does It Afford?
This is a chapter in Developmental Pathways Through Middle Childhood: Rethinking Context and Diversity as Resources. Edited by Catherine R. Cooper, Cynthia T. Garcia Coll, W. Todd Bartko, Helen M. Davis, & Celina Chatman. Published by Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ. This chapter uses mixed methods to examine associations between school context, family educational involvement, and child literacy outcomes from kindergarten through third grade.