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.
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Building the Future of Family Involvement
This double issue of The Evaluation Exchange examines the current state of and future directions for the family involvement field in research, policy, and practice. Featuring innovative initiatives, new evaluation approaches and findings, and interviews with field leaders, the issue is designed to spark conversation about where the field is today and where it needs to go in the future.
Free. 40 Pages.
New & Noteworthy
This section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue’s theme.
Strengthening Family Ties
Sharon Hemphill and Holly Kreider describe how the Boys & Girls Clubs of America is implementing and evaluating an initiative that goes “beyond the walls” to support families in order to promote children’s success.
After School Programs as an Oasis of Hope for Black Parents
Gerard Robinson discusses how and why low-income and working-class Black parents are involved in enrolling their children in after school programs.
A City-Wide Effort to Support and Involve Families
Brenda Miller and Ginger Peacock Preston from the Jacksonville Children’s Commission describe how the city of Jacksonville, Florida, is integrating family involvement into a system of care for children and families.
Promoting Parent–School Relationships During the Transition to Kindergarten
Amy Schulting from Duke University explores the role of teacher outreach to families during the transition to kindergarten.
After School Programs in the 21st Century: Their Potential and What it Takes to Achieve It
This research brief draws on seminal research and evaluation studies to address two primary questions: (a) Does participation in after school programs make a difference, and, if so (b) what conditions appear to be necessary to achieve positive results? The brief concludes with a set of questions to spur conversation about the evolving role of after school in efforts to expand time and opportunities for children and youth in the 21st century.
Free. 12 Pages.
Case Study of the First Year of Sports4Kids at the Ohrenberger Elementary School in Boston, Massachusetts: 2006-2007 School Year
Harvard Family Research Project completed a a case study evaluation of Sports4Kids, a school-based program that that provides opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play at elementary schools. This study examined one program site in Boston, to provide data to test whether Sports4Kids was implemented as planned and achieved its intended outcomes. Data were collected through a variety of instruments, including observations, interviews, and surveys and from a variety of sources, including from teachers, the principal, students, and the program site coordinator.
Research Update 2: Highlights from the OST Database
Synthesizes findings from the profiles of 13 research and evaluation reports added to the OST Program Research and Evaluation Database in August 2007.
Free. Available online only.
Building Villages to Raise Our Children: Six Volume Set
This set of six volumes offers practical advice for establishing and managing a family support program.
Hard copy out of stock.
Research Update 1: Highlights from the OST Database
This Research Update synthesizes findings from the profiles of 15 research and evaluation reports added to the Out-of-School Time Program Research and Evaluation Database in December 2006. It highlights strategies for assessing program processes as well as key outcomes and features of programs that promote positive outcomes.
Free. Available online only.
Family Involvement Interventions: Shining the Spotlight on Evaluation (Symposium)
This panel symposium, held at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Chicago on April 10, 2007, followed up on HFRP's family involvement sessions at previous AERA meetings in 2005 and 2006. The 2007 symposium featured discussion regarding the evaluation of family involvement interventions
Necessity Leads to Innovative Evaluation Approach and Practice
Innovation Network describes their methodological innovation—the intense-period debrief—use to engage advocates in evaluative inquiry shortly after a policy window or intense period of action.
Pioneers in the Field: Four Foundations on Advocacy Evaluation
Representatives from four foundations discuss their expectations and approaches for assessing their advocacy and public policy grantmaking.
Evaluation and InterAction
Ken Giunta and Todd Shelton of InterAction answer HFRP's questions about their approaches and ideas on evaluating advocacy.
Advocacy and Policy Change
This 32-page issue of The Evaluation Exchange describes new developments in evaluating advocacy and policy change efforts that attempt to inform or influence public policy at the local, state, or federal levels.
Free. 32 Pages.
What does monitoring and evaluation look like for real-life advocates?
Stephanie Schaefer, codirector of research at Fight Crime: Invest in Kids—a national nonprofit, bipartisan organization of law enforcement leaders and violence survivors—describes how they use evaluation to inform their advocacy and demonstrate their impact.
Evaluating Nonprofit Advocacy Simply: An Oxymoron?
Marcia Egbert and Susan Hoechstetter offer nine principles to guide advocacy evaluation, based on a recent and groundbreaking Alliance for Justice tool on this topic.
Continuous Progress: Better Advocacy Through Evaluation
Edith Asibey and David Devlin-Foltz describe the new Continuous Progress website, which helps advocates and grantmakers collaboratively plan and evaluate advocacy efforts.
A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy
Organizational Research Services identifies outcomes associated with advocacy and policy work based on its new resource, A Guide to Measuring Advocacy and Policy.
Using and Evaluating Social Media for Social Change
Allison H. Fine is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She writes and speaks on increasing civic participation by harnessing the power of digital technology. In 2006, she published her latest book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age.
The eNonprofit Benchmarks Study: Diving Into Email Metrics
Karen Matheson from M+R Strategic Services describes a recent study that helps nonprofits measure and interpret their online advocacy and fundraising success.
Constituency Building and Policy Work: Three Paradigms
Janice Hirota and Robin Jacobowitz describe three paradigms that show how constituency building and policy change efforts can work together to achieve sustainable and systemic reform.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Advocacy and Policy Change by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
An Emerging Framework for Assessing Nonprofit Networks
Based on their new handbook Net Gains, Madeleine Taylor and Peter Pastrik offer guidelines on how to evaluate nonprofit networks that are used to achieve social change goals.