January 2006 Announcement
Dear FINE Member,
Here are this month's FINE member updates. Please
feel free to forward this information to friends and other education colleagues.
New on the FINE Website
- Family Involvement Storybook
Corner
In case you missed our announcement last month, we have launched a new
section of our website for promoting family involvement.
The Family Involvement Storybook Corner is a unique source for information
on using children's storybooks with family involvement themes to engage
families in their children's education and encourage family–school–community
partnerships, all while supporting literacy. Launched in partnership with
Reading Is Fundamental, the Storybook Corner offers resources to help educators,
families, and those who work with families promote family involvement in
children's education in a wide range of settings. Resources include a bibliography
of storybooks with family involvement themes for ages 4–8, as well
as teacher, trainer, and parent tools for using a multicultural storybook
to promote involvement.
New From Harvard Family Research Project
- HFRP's Complementary Learning
Concept
HFRP is introducing our new concept to address the achievement gap—complementary
learning. We believe that for all children to be successful, there must
be an array of linked learning supports around them that reach beyond the
school. We call this network of supports complementary learning. In the
complementary learning model, family involvement is a key mechanism for
linking families, early childhood programs, schools, and other learning
supports for children. The new complementary learning section of our website
explores the concept further and provides links to our relevant publications
and resources.
Early this year, we plan to launch a new series of publications on complementary
learning. To be notified when these new publications are available, sign up
for our e-news email.
- New Issue of The Evaluation
Exchange on Democratic Evaluation
Equity and inclusion in the evaluations of programs for children, families,
and communities are at the forefront of the discussion in the latest issue
of our The Evaluation Exchange periodical. The issue also examines
the use of evaluation to promote public accountability and transparency and
focuses on including parents and community members in evaluating programs
for children and families.
If you would like to receive multiple hard copies for a conference or training
workshop, please send a request to hfrp_pubs@gse.harvard.edu
and let us know how you plan to use them.
FINE Resource Roundup: Advocacy and Engagement
Since the resources on the FINE website are so extensive, we thought we would
occasionally bring your attention to resources you may not have seen before
or that may now be more relevant to you in your work. This month's roundup complements
the new issue of The Evaluation Exchange on democratic evaluation in
education and social programs for children, families, and communities. This
month we highlight FINE resources that focus on leadership, advocacy, and community
organizing.
Research Report: Concepts
and Models of Family Involvement
This report identifies four approaches to family involvement—parenting
practices, school–family partnerships, democratic participation, and school
choice—and illustrates their implementation through case studies. The case
studies on democratic participation highlight the Right Question Project, National
Coalition of Advocates for Students, and the Prichard Committee for Academic
Excellence.
- Research Digest: Reading,
Writing, and Reform in the Bronx: Lessons for Community Engagement in Schools
Five community-based education organizing groups use various strategies
to build trust and commitment among parents and teachers.
- Research
Digest: “As Long as I Got Breath, I'll Fight”: Participatory
Action Research for Educational Justice
A participatory action project in the South Bronx explores how young people,
their parents, and community members have mobilized for educational resources,
opportunities, and the fulfillment of their dreams.
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Research Digest: Faith-Based
Organizing for School Improvement in the Texas Borderlands: A Case Study
of the Alliance School Initiative
Educators, parents, and a faith-based institution strive to create a viable
parental engagement initiative at a public elementary and middle school
in the Texas borderlands.
-
FINE Forum e-Newsletter
Program Spotlight on Parent Services Project
Parent Services Project in California illustrates how a community-based
organization can serve as a catalyst of social capital by bringing together
families and school personnel and by facilitating their dialogue and goal
setting.
-
FINE Forum e-Newsletter
Program Spotlight on Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools
Dennis Shirley, Professor and Chair of Teacher Education at Boston College,
designs and teaches his urban education courses in collaboration with urban
teachers and holds classes in urban public school sites. A community organizing
effort to bring more families into the school for Parents' Night is a central
project in one course.
-
FINE Forum e-Newsletter
Parent Perspective on Leadership Training
Kentucky parents have initiated projects to support schools in the implementation
of state standards in mathematics.
-
FINE Forum e-Newsletter
on Jane Addams School for Democracy
The Jane Addams School for Democracy is a university–community partnership
to create an education and action center where community members, high school
and college students, and faculty address community problems and public
issues.
-
FINE Forum e-Newsletter
Parent Perspective on Parent Voices
Parent Voices, an organizing group in California, mobilizes parents around
high quality and accessible child care for all families.
-
Member Insight: How can early childhood
settings encourage parents to advocate for their child?
This Member Insight by six early childhood education experts explains how
early childhood settings can encourage parents to advocate for their children.
-
Member Insight: How can
parents be engaged in students' transition from middle to high school?
Eugenia Ambrocio discusses ways to empower Latino parents to advocate for
their children in schools and become more involved in the transition from
middle school to high school.
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Syllabus: People, Power, and
Change
Marshall Ganz, Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard University Kennedy
School of Government, teaches a course on organizing. Students learn to
engage with social, economic, and political problems from an organizer's
perspective by developing their own organizing projects.
-
Syllabus: Education Organizing
Mark R. Warren, Associate Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education,
teaches a course on the role of community organizing in fostering school
change. The course examines the many ways that community groups and schools
promote the active engagement of participants to improve education.
-
Syllabus: Social Contexts
of Education
Dennis Shirley, Professor and Chair of the Teacher Education Program at
the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, team-teaches his course
with Boston public school teachers in an urban school setting. Themes of
the course include school–family–community partnerships and community
organizing for school reform.
- Commentary
on the Teaching Case: Making a Decision About College: Should I Stay or
Should I Go?
Concha Delgado-Gaitan describes the importance of creating empowered parent
organizations to transform schools and to prepare parents for their children's
transition to college.
Reports and Articles
Policy
-
A
City Platform for Strengthening Families and Improving Outcomes for Children
and Youth
This platform from the National League of Cities, presented to delegates
at the 82nd Annual Congress of Cities on December 10th, challenges leaders
across America to take action to support families. Recommendations include
establishing family–school–community partnerships, helping parents
find preschools, supporting family literacy, and encouraging family involvement
in school.
Upcoming Events
-
Child
Welfare League of America 2006 National Conference
The Child Welfare League of America's national conference, Children 2006:
Securing Brighter Futures, will take place in Washington, D.C., February
26–March 1. Topics include family–school–community connections,
the Families and Schools Together program, and family-centered community
organizing.
-
2006
National Smart Start Conference
The National Smart Start Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, March
6–9, aims to address an audience of representatives from early childhood-related
organizations and the government and child care professionals. Topics will
include family support, family–school–community partnerships,
and parent involvement.
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Community–Campus
Partnerships for Health 9th Conference
The 9th conference by Community–Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH),
taking place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 31–June 3, will focus on
Walking the Talk: Achieving the Promise of Authentic Partnerships. CCPH
works to connect communities and institutions of higher education in order
to achieve goals such as closing the K–12 achievement gap, encouraging
youth civic engagement, and opening pathways to college.
Contact Us
Have a problem with the website or questions and comments concerning our work?
Send an email to fine@gse.harvard.edu.
Enjoy!
FINE – The Family Involvement Network of Educators
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