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.
Evaluating Family Support: Thinking Critically, Thinking Internationally (Keynote Address)
Evaluation plays a major role in shaping new directions for the field of family support. In her keynote address at the Participatory Evaluation and Parent Engagement Institute, sponsored by Family Support America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in Kansas City, Missouri, September 20–22, 2004, Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of HFRP, described how evaluation can support learning, continuous improvement, and innovation. The four components of a family support evaluation strategy that she outlined were experimental studies to show program impact on families, utilization-focused evaluation to support policy and practitioner decision making, action research and empowerment evaluation, and performance standards based on solid research and evaluation.
Free. Available online only.
Families, Schools, and Community Resources
Analyzing family, school, and community resources and needs as related to the family life cycle, examining child welfare and education and ecological approach, and exploration of careers related to children and families. Strategies to improve communication and collaboration are emphasized with a focus on family types, cultures, economic conditions, school systems, community services, political forces, advocacy groups, and other factors that impact young children and their families.
Free. Available online only.
Working It Out: The Chronicle of a Mixed-Method Analysis
Chapter in Discovering Successful Pathways in Children's Development: Mixed Methods in the Study of Childhood and Family Life. Edited by Thomas S. Weisner. Published by University of Chicago Press. This chapter chronicles a mixed-method analysis of family involvement in children's learning, drawing observations about the process and added value of combining methods.
The Role of the Family in the Educational Experiences of Second-Generation Chinese Americans
Chinese-American college students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds describe the role of their families in their paths to college.
Free. Available online only.
Promoting Quality Through Professional Development: A Framework for Evaluation
Recognizing the critical role that staff play in promoting quality OST programs, in this brief we examine OST professional development efforts and offer a framework for their evaluation.
Free. 12 Pages.
Understanding and Measuring Attendance in Out-of-School Time Programs
This brief reviews developmental research and out-of-school time program evaluations to examine three research-based indicators of attendance—intensity, duration, and breadth—offering different models for how attendance in out-of-school time programs can influence youth outcomes.
Free. Available online only.
Detangling Data Collection: Methods for Gathering Data
This Snapshot describes the common data collection methods used by current out-of-school time programs to evaluate their implementation and outcomes.
Free. 6 Pages.
Plus Time New Hampshire 3-Day Training Institute
Participation in out-of-school time programs is a key ingredient to achieving positive outcomes for young people. Priscilla Little presented two workshops, which provided overviews of key participation challenges: collecting meaningful attendance data and attracting and sustaining youth participation in OST programs.
Free. Available online only.
21st Century Community Learning Centers Summer Institute
This workshop, Redefining After School Programs to Support Student Achievement, provides an overview of current evaluation research, describes elements of effective after school programs, and discusses a theory of change approach to designing and implementing effective after school programs.
Free. Available online only.
Moving Beyond the Barriers: Attracting and Sustaining Youth Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs
This brief culls information from several implementation and impact evaluations of out-of-school time programs to develop a set of promising strategies to attract and sustain youth participation in the programs.
Free. 16 Pages.
Family and School Partnerships for Academic Success
Emphasis is on continuous family-school teamwork efforts. Attention is given to family background and social context. The course will cover effective family involvement programs/models and current research underscoring the dynamic interaction between families and schools on the academic success of pre-K through grade 8 students.
Free. Available online only.
New & Noteworthy
An annotated list of organizations and initiatives related to the issue's theme of Early Childhood Programs and Evaluation.
The Road From Research to Outcomes
Jana Martella, from the Council of Chief State School Officers, describes a data-driven approach to developing and integrating policy into the nation's school systems.
Thoughts on Early Childhood Research: Improving Connections
Marilou Hyson and Heather Biggar, from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, offer ideas for how stakeholders in early childhood can share research results.
Learning a New Language: Effectively Communicating Early Childhood Research to State Legislators
Jack Tweedie, from the National Conference of State Legislatures, explains how to convey research to legislators in ways likely to influence their policymaking.
Early Childhood Programs and Evaluation
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange charts the course of early childhood programming and evaluation over nearly half a century. Contributing authors offer a range of views on how best to communicate the importance of investing in a child’s early years and how to improve early childhood programs and policies. Several articles consider the explosion of science—from longitudinal studies of child outcomes to a large-scale demonstration program—that has helped forward our understanding of how young children learn and grow. Finally, a number of articles suggest that better information is needed to close the persistent gap in achievement between children from low-income families and those from middle-income homes.
Free. 32 Pages.
Supporting Governors' Early Childhood Policy Decisions: The Role of Research
Anna Lovejoy, from the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, describes how the organization keeps governors informed about emerging issues in early childhood.
A Conversation With Art Rolnick
Economist Art Rolnick discusses his approach to early childhood investment, which he describes as “economic investment in human capital.”
The Home Visit Forum: Understanding and Improving the Role of Home Visitation
Heather Weiss, HFRP director, describes a consortium of national organizations working to improve home visitation models.
Private Foundations and the Move Toward Universal Preschool
Infant-Toddler Intervention on the Road to School Readiness: Lessons From Early Head Start
Helen Raikes, John Love, and Rachel Chazan-Cohen from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation team discuss the importance of intervention in the early years.
Rethinking the Evaluation of Family Strengthening Strategies: Beyond Traditional Program Evaluation Models
Charles Bruner of the Child and Family Policy Center outlines three factors of good family strengthening programs that evaluators are not adequately measuring in their evaluations.
Identifying School Readiness Indicators to Stimulate Policy Action
Elizabeth Burke Bryant and Catherine Walsh, of Rhode Island Kids Count, give an account of the School Readiness Indicators Initiative.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Early Childhood Programs and Evaluation by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Early Head Start: Further Lessons
Catherine Ayoub and Barbara Pan, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, describe their work collecting and analyzing longitudinal data to supplement national findings from the Early Head Start study.