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.
Improving Parental Involvement: Evaluating Treatment Effects in the Fast Track Program
Robert Nix, research associate at Pennsylvania State University, describes how a rigorous evaluation of a complex behavior problems preventive intervention analyzes its school-home component.
Parental Involvement and Secondary School Student Educational Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis
William Jeynes, from California State University at Long Beach, describes a meta-analysis of 52 studies that confirm parental involvement is associated with higher student achievement in secondary school.
Blending Evaluation Traditions: The Talent Development Model
Veronica Thomas and Velma LaPoint describe the Talent Development approach to evaluating an urban family-school-community partnership program.
A Catalog of Family Process Measures
Margaret Caspe from HFRP describes the various measures family intervention and prevention programs use to evaluate family processes.
Using Concept Mapping to Develop Family Support Program Theory
Scott Rosas, from the Nemours Foundation, discusses the potential of concept mapping for the design and implementation of family support evaluations.
Basic Applications of Multilevel Modeling
Eric Dearing, from the University of Wyoming, explains some of the basic uses of multilevel modeling, using examples from family involvement research and evaluation.
What Matters in Family Support Evaluation?
M. Elena Lopez of HFRP interprets themes from a participatory evaluation and parent engagement institute.
Learning From Parents Through Reflective Evaluation Practice
David Scheie, See Moua, and Pang Lee summarize lessons learned by listening to parents’ spontaneous stories during a parent survey interview.
Promoting Quality Outcome Measurement: A Home-Visitation Case
Audrey Laszewski, project director of the Early Years Home Visitation Outcomes Project of Wisconsin, describes how a stakeholder collaboration resulted in a common outcome measurement process.
A Conversation With Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn reflects on the breakthrough findings and new directions for research, evaluation, and practice in family-focused interventions.
Helping Every Student Succeed: Schools and Communities Working Together
This four-session discussion guide by the Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center)is intended for communities trying to close the achievement gap in their schools.
Free. Available online only.
Engaging Parents in an Urban Public High School: A Case Study of Boston Arts Academy
An urban public school successfully engages parents by offering a variety of school-based activities, a welcoming environment, and frequent communication between staff and parents.
Free. Available online only.
Other Organizations' Out-of-School Time Publications
See other organizations' publications and resources related to community youth development and youth civic engagement, and The National 21st Century Community Learning Centers program evaluation.
Family, School, and Community Connections Symposium: New Directions for Research, Practice, and Evaluation
We teamed up with the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) to present this 1-day Family, School, and Community Connections Symposium: New Directions for Research, Practice, and Evaluation.
Free. Available online only.
The Effects of Comprehensive Parent Engagement on Student Learning Outcomes
This study examined the school-level effects on tested student achievement in 129 high poverty elementary schools that implemented a common set of comprehensive parent-engagement strategies over a 2-year period.
Free. Available online only.
Do Educational Programs Increase Parents' Practices at Home?: Factors Influencing Latino Parent Involvement
Latino parents become more involved in their children's education when they understand the school system and know how to help their children.
Free. Available online only.
“Daddy Says This New Math Is Crazy”
Beth Martin, a fourth grade teacher, finds her students respond well to the new mathematics curriculum she is using in her class, but at home parents struggle to understand the new math and help their children with homework. How should Beth and her colleagues respond to parents' skepticism about the new curriculum and support their involvement at home?
Free. Available online only.
Preparing Teachers to Engage Parents
This research report reviews parent involvement modules created for preservice teachers focusing on parent-teacher communication and collaborating with community. The online, problem-based modules were designed by the North Texas Partnership for Parent Engagement.
Free. Available online only.
The Promotive Effects of Family Educational Involvement for Low-Income Children
Article in the Journal of School Psychology, 42(6), 445–460. In this article the authors longitudinally examined associations between family involvement, children's feelings about literacy, and children's literacy achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade. Children's feelings about literacy mediated associations between family educational involvement and literacy achievement. Also, family involvement was more positively associated with literacy outcomes for children whose mothers were less educated compared with children whose mothers were more educated.
Understanding and Evaluating Family Engagement in Out-of-School Time (Workshop)
Engaging with families is one of the many strategies that out-of-school time (OST) programs use to create quality, adult-supervised experiences for youth during nonschool hours. This workshop introduced participants to the latest research and evaluation findings on family involvement in OST programs, and shared strategies for engaging with families, using two case studies to illustrate these practices in context.
Free. Available online only.
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Social Inquiry
Book chapter on using mixed methodology in the social sciences. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Research methods in the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Parent Involvement and the Social and Academic Competencies of Urban Kindergarten Children
This study shows positive social and academic outcomes for low-income, minority kindergarten children whose parents promote learning in the home and contact schools regularly.
Free. Available online only.
Internet Surveys: Back to the Future
Internationally recognized survey expert Don Dillman discusses the advantages and limitations of conducting surveys via the Internet.
Evaluating a Literacy Program Using Web Surveys
Daniel Khimasia from Frontier College shares lessons learned from evaluating the administering of a literacy program using web surveys.