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.
Suspension at Aurora Middle School
Khoi, a well behaved student who recently emigrated from a Vietnamese refugee camp, is suspended from Aurora Middle School because he stood near a fight. His mother Mai feels helpless because she speaks limited English, and only knows that her son was unjustly suspended. What is the school's role in supporting culturally diverse families?
Free. Available online only.
Quality of Life: A Framework for Examining the Impact of Welfare Reform
Danielle Hollar of Harvard Family Research Project writes about the possibility of using an approach that provides a more comprehensive picture of the quality of people’s lives to examine the impact of welfare reform on individuals.
New and Noteworthy
The New and Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme of Methodology.
Electronic Mailbox
The Electronic Mailbox section features a list of useful resources on the Internet relating to the issue's theme of Methodology.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the first issue on Methodology by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Simplifying Complex Initiative Evaluation
Julia Coffman of Harvard Family Research Project writes about using a logic model approach to evaluate a large and diverse foundation initiative.
At What Price? Benefit-Cost Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Program Evaluation
James Edwin Kee, professor at George Washington University, discusses the purposes, strengths, and limitations of benefit-cost and cost-effectiveness analyses to determine the relative costs and benefits of the programs.
Evaluating Collaboratives: Challenges and Practice
Ellen Taylor-Powell from the University of Wisconsin-Cooperative Extension examines the challenges of collaboratives, and how they stretch us to think about evaluation in new ways.
Interview With Michael Scriven
Michael Scriven, past president of the American Evaluation Association, shares some of his insights about the challenges facing evaluation, evaluation as a distinct discipline, and links between evaluation and practice, including organizational learning.
Cooperative Extension’s Capacity to Support Programs For Children,Youth, and Families At Risk: The Organizational Change Survey
Donna Peterson, Mary Marczak, Sherry Betts, and Erik Earthman, The University of Arizona Institute for Children, Youth and Families, write about their evaluation of the Children, Youth and Families At Risk (CYFAR) National Initiative.
Methodology (#15)
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange includes several articles on methodological topics, particularly those involving complex initiatives or problems. Topics inlcude the logic model approach to evaluate large and diverse foundation initiatives, the difference between cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis, the challenges to evaluation in the coming years, and community action research.
Community-Based Research: Research for Action
Jill Chopyak, Executive Director of the Loka Institute, details her organization's work on community action research.
The Evaluation Exchange Readers' Survey
JuNelle Harris of Harvard Family Research Project reveals the results of the recent satisfaction survey of The Evaluation Exchange readers.
Evaluating the National Replication of a Prevention Program for Youth and Their Families: Middle School Families and Schools Together
Laura Pinsoneault and James Sass from Alliance for Children and Families on their organization's replication and evaluation of the middle school adaptation of the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program.
Making Families Matter at Two-Year Colleges: Training the Early Childhood Workforce to Support Families
$10.00 . 75 Pages.
How Busy Parents Can Help Their Children Learn and Develop
Spanish Translation Available. No matter how busy parents are, there are things they can do to help their children. Parents of first- and second-graders in the School Transition Study research project have discovered creative ways to stay involved in their children's learning and development. Researchers conducting the survey learned important and useful tips to share with busy parents everywhere.
Free. Available online only.
Tim Kelly: A School Responds to a Family in Need
Tim Kelly, a first grade student, comes to school hungry, dirty, emotionally needy, and academically unprepared. His teacher believes his lack of care at home is contributing to his poor school performance. How can a teacher individualize parent involvement?
Free. Available online only.
Generating Family-School Partnerships Through Social Marketing
The outgrowth of a meeting of six national organizations promoting family-school partnerships, this article discusses methods to enhance family involvement through social marketing. By arguing that schools should view parents as “customers,” teachers and administrators can reach out to parents in effective and successful ways.
Free. Available online only.
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies: Training Child Care Providers to Support Families
Presents a framework of family-centered training.
$10.00 . 111 Pages.
Erik Greer
Erik's first grade teacher is concerned about his intentional aggression towards other children and communicates regularly with Erik's mother about it. Subtle differences in beliefs between Erik's mother and teacher leave both feeling unsatisfied in their attempts to help Erik. How can the two build a partnership to change Erik's behavior?
Free. Available online only.
Interview With Karen Pittman
Karen Pittman, Senior Vice President of the International Youth Foundation, spoke about the challenges to evaluating youth development programs, issues with promoting policy changes and scale-up, and other countries’ experiences with youth development programming.
Upcoming Evaluation Conferences
Harvard Family Research Project describes a couple of upcoming evaluation conferences.
Building Local Capacity for Evaluation: The Michigan Abstinence Partnership Evaluation
Stacy Constantineau Meade of Michigan Public Health Institute writes about the increasingly important role of evaluation in enabling communities to promote and sustain change.
New Strategies in Foundation Grantmaking for Children and Youth
Heather Weiss and M. Elena Lopez of Harvard Family Research Project reveal the results of their W. K. Kellogg Foundation commission to examine trends in foundation grantmaking for children and youth.
New & Noteworthy
The New and Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme of Children and Youth.