FINE Newsletter Archive
The FINE Newsletter shares the newest and best family involvement research and resources from HFRP and other field leaders. Visit our subscription center to receive the FINE Newsletter via email.
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Volume II, Issue 2, May 2010May FINE Newsletter: Innovations in Family Engagement
With the introduction of the Department of Education Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), innovation has emerged as a hot topic in education. In this issue, we consider what innovation means and how to foster it within the field of family engagement. In the commentary, HFRP Consultant Margaret Caspe talks with Heather Weiss, Sherry Cleary, and Jane Quinn about innovation in their respective disciplines and presents a framework designed to help schools and organizations develop breakthrough ideas. The issue also includes two new resources. The first is a case from New Visions for Public Schools that summarizes a pioneering effort in New York City to engage families in students’ academic success and college readiness by supporting parents in understanding student data. The second resource is a paper from the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group that compiles 12 examples of leading innovations in family engagement as an integral and effective strategy in systemic educational reform. In addition, we include an article from the Children’s Aid Society illustrating how an Early Head Start/Head Start program reinvented its family engagement strategies to incorporate parent advocacy for undocumented immigrants and used an evaluation tool to advance this work. The theme of innovation also appears in a teaching case highlighting the dilemmas that arise when innovations in teaching methods and curriculum are neither developed in collaboration with families and communities nor well-communicated to these critical stakeholders.
Volume II, Issue 1, April 2010April FINE Newsletter: Family Engagement Across the Developmental Continuum
Family involvement supports children’s learning and growth across the developmental continuum—from birth through young adulthood. Parents’ interactions and activities help shape children’s readiness for school, and consistent engagement during children’s elementary years is also related to positive academic and behavioral outcomes. Family engagement remains important in adolescence and predicts healthy youth behaviors and higher rates of college enrollment. In this month's issue, we discuss how families and educators can tailor their family engagement strategies to ensure that the activities they use are developmentally appropriate and effective.