Elena Lopez

• Third Sector New England

Libraries are increasingly focusing on families. Educational research confirms that family engagement in children’s learning and development predicts school readiness, positive social behaviors, high school graduation, interest in STEM careers, and post-secondary education. A Librarian’s Guide to Engaging Families in Learning will inspire libraries...

Libraries are increasingly focusing on families. Educational research confirms that family engagement in children’s learning and development predicts school readiness, positive social behaviors, high school graduation, interest in STEM careers, and post-secondary education. A Librarian’s Guide to Engaging Families in Learning will inspire libraries...

Many librarians work in public libraries to make a difference for children, families, and communities and identify family and community engagement as a cornerstone of their responsibilities. For librarians to be successful they must be afforded strong foundations in family and community engagement that begin early in their preparation. Yet little i...

Innovation often means finding new ways to make better use of resources that already exist in our communities. A new initiative to connect schools and libraries was just the right catalyst to enhance family engagement.

Public libraries today are undergoing significant transformations as well as interacting with patrons in new and different ways (Knight Foundation 2017). Part of this transformation is the way libraries are engaging entire families. Libraries are playing a stronger role than ever before in supporting families to promote children’s early literacy an...

As society expects children and youth today to explore content-area topics in depth and to develop critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills, out-of-school settings are becoming increasingly important to individual learning. These settings, which include libraries, museums, digital media, and after-school programs, are evolving into...

The policy forum brought to the center what is now on the periphery of education reform: family, school, and community engagement (FSCE) as a strategy to support student success. The forum sought to serve as a catalyst for reframing what FSCE should look like in the twenty--first century, and for repositioning this engagement as a major contributor...

This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement for elementary school children--that is, the studies that link family involvement in elementary schools to children's academic achievement and social development. It synthesizes the outcome-based empirical research published between 1999 and 2006 that were cataloged in...

The purpose of the brief is to help educators, service providers, and local evaluators in schools, intermediary and community-based organizations, and social service agencies become more effective by highlighting the best program and evaluation practices of family-strengthening intervention programs. At a time when evidence-based practice matters,...

This resource guide contains annotated Web links to recent (published in and after 2000) research, information, and tools about family involvement. Family involvement involves a broad range of constructs and this is reflected in the guide, which covers resources about parenting practices to support children's learning and development, home-school r...

Although a substantial literature examines the outcomes of family involvement in education, and the family and school characteristics that support or deter such involvement, we know little about the role of national nonprofit intermediary organizations in family educational involvement. This article argues that intermediary organizations play a cru...

Community organizing engages parents in poor performing schools to improve children's educational outcomes. Although standard parent involvement practices such as monitoring children's homework, reading to them, and volunteering in schools are linked to students' positive academic and behavioral outcomes (Jordan, Orozco, & Averett, 2001), they are...

The Families and Schools Together (FAST) Program is a family-support program that helps schools build strong relationships with families of children aged 6-9 experiencing behavioral or academic difficulties. A recent study examined FAST's application in San Antonio, Texas, focusing on six community-building strategies. (Contains 29 references.) (ML...

A recent ethnographic study that interviewed 11 elementary principals provides examples of how principals with limited resources can build relationships with low-income parents. Effective principals set goals, expand services to children and families, provide parenting education, negotiate and celebrate cultural differences, build strong relationsh...

In 1998, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation asked the Harvard Family Research Project to examine current trends, gaps, and opportunities in foundation grantmaking for children and youth. Early in the process, it was clear that there were important transformations in funding goals and strategies underway. This report examines current grantmaking trends an...

Provides examples of practices utilized by school-based family support programs, explaining how family support programs work to ready children for school. Considerations for staffing family support programs are examined, including what type of staff to hire, components of a quality workplace, and types of staff development necessary. (SM)

2 In 1997, Harvard Family Research Project developed policy and practice recommendations to elevate the preparation of teachers in family involvement and authored the brief New Skills for New Schools: Preparing teachers in family involvement. 1 Since the publication of New Skills for New Schools, the education reform landscape has changed dramatica...