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FINE Newsletter, Volume II, Issue 2
Issue Topic: Innovations in Family Engagement

Family Involvement News

We at Harvard Family Research Project are committed to keeping you up-to-date on what's new in family involvement. This list of links to current reports, articles, events, and opportunities will help you stay on top of research and resources from HFRP and other field leaders.

New from Harvard Family Research Project

• Partnerships for Learning: Promising Practices in Integrating School and Out-of-School Time Program Supports
  This new report from HFRP is aimed at helping out-of-school-time (OST) program leaders, decision-makers, and funders understand and implement effective OST–school partnerships for learning.
• Engaging Older Youth: Program and City-level Strategies to Support Sustained Participation in Out-of-School Time
  This new report by HFRP and Public/Private Ventures, funded by The Wallace Foundation, highlights key strategies to promote OST program participation among older youth.

Family Involvement Articles & Reports

• Family Involvement and Race to the Top
  This editorial from the Boston Globe examines the absence of family involvement in evaluations of states’ Race to the Top applications and argues that family involvement criteria be considered for this federal grant program. 
• Supporting Student Transitions from Middle to High School
  The Texas Comprehensive Center has developed a model for schools and families to use in assisting students in making successful transitions from 8th to 9th grade.  Improving family involvement in the transition process is highlighted as one route to positively influence high school completion rates. 
• Engaging Youth on Their Turf
  This publication from the Healthy Teen Network profiles six successful programs that promote positive youth development through parental involvement, among other strategies. 
• Promoting Family Involvement through School-Based Health and Extended Learning Services
  This research brief from Child Trends details the design of several school-based health and extended learning programs operating in New Mexico and outlines the challenges and opportunities associated with them.  The brief illustrates how strategies to engage families can be useful in developing successful programs. 
• Senate Committee Hearings on ESEA Reauthorization Emphasize “Meeting the Needs of the Whole Student”
  This archived video depicts the April 22 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions hearing with expert testimony about how to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to meet the needs of the “whole child” and emphasize the development of communication and critical-thinking skills. 
• U.S. Department of Education Develops Protocols for New “Promise Neighborhoods”
  The U.S. Department of Education recently released a set of rules for the new Promise Neighborhood Program, which will provide grants to communities for creating schools that engage families and communities and offer wide-ranging support services. 
• Five Big Ideas for Data Rigor... Without Mortis
  HFRP Founder & Director Heather Weiss was recently asked to contribute her thoughts on Education Sector's Five Design Principles for Smarter Data Systems and their potential impact on cradle-to-career pathways in a guest post on the blog, The Quick and the Ed. Citing examples such as the New Visions School Data Snapshot, the post highlights the benefits of accessible and usable data systems to support learning in and out of school.

Tips for Parents

• What Matters for Staying on Track and Graduating
  The Consortium on Chicago School Research, in conjunction with the Chicago Public Schools, has developed a research brief for parents summarizing findings on behaviors in students’ freshman year of high school and their relationship to graduation rates and academic attainment.  The brief also provides tips for parents to help improve their children’s grades and attendance. 
• School Source NYC Resources for Parents
  This website provides tip sheets for parents to help them better navigate their children’s education.  In particular, parents can access information about supporting their children’s transitions into kindergarten, middle school, and high school. 
• New Study on Parent Involvement
  A recent study from researchers at University of California–San Diego found that parents are spending more time with their children; however, the increase is twice as great for college-educated parents as it is for less-educated parents. The authors hypothesize that the increase is due to increased competition for college admissions. 

Awards & Events

• Healthy Teen Network Calls for Workshop Proposals
  The Healthy Teen Network is asking for proposals for its 2010 conference.  The conference will include workshops and presentations in the area of Engaging Caregivers and Parents of Adolescents. 
• ASCD Express Soliciting Stories about Engaging Parents and the Community
  Due May 26, submissions to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's e-newsletter Express should include stories about successful and innovative ways for engaging parents and community members in schools. 

This article is part of the May 2010 FINE Newsletter. The FINE Newsletter shares the newest and best family involvement research and resources from Harvard Family Research Project and other field leaders. To access the FINE Newsletter Archive, visit www.hfrp.org/FINENewsletter.