Teacher: Early Childhood Education and Family Involvement
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Harvard Family Research Project Harvard Graduate School of Education
EVIDENCE THAT FAMILY INVOLVEMENT PROMOTES SCHOOL SUCCESS FOR EVERY CHILD OF EVERY AGE HARVARD FAMILY RESEARCH PROJECT NO. 1 IN A SERIES SPRING 2006
Family involvement in eaRly CHilDHooD eDUCation
The family seems to be the most effective and economical system for fostering and sustaining the child’s development. Without family involvement, intervention is likely to be unsuccessful, and what few effects are achieved are likely to disappear once the intervention is discontinued.1 —Urie Bronfenbrenner
This brief is dedicated to Urie Bronfenbrenner (97–2005) whose pioneering research influenced the work of Harvard Family Research Project.
INTRODUCTION
Family involvement matters for young children’s cognitive and social development. But what do effective involvement processes look like, and how do they occur? This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—that is, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works. The conceptual framework guiding this research review is complementary learning. Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) believes that for children and youth to be successful from birth through adolescence, there must be an array of learning supports around them. These learning supports include families, early childhood programs, schools, outof-school time programs and activities, higher education, health and social service agencies, businesses, libraries, museums, and other community-based institutions. HFRP calls this network of supports complementary learning. Complementary learning is characterized by discrete linkages that work together to encourage
consistent learning and developmental outcomes for children. These linkages are continuously in place from birth through adolescence, but the composition and
Harvard Family Research Project Harvard Graduate School of Education
EVIDENCE THAT FAMILY INVOLVEMENT PROMOTES SCHOOL SUCCESS FOR EVERY CHILD OF EVERY AGE HARVARD FAMILY RESEARCH PROJECT NO. 1 IN A SERIES SPRING 2006
Family involvement in eaRly CHilDHooD eDUCation
The family seems to be the most effective and economical system for fostering and sustaining the child’s development. Without family involvement, intervention is likely to be unsuccessful, and what few effects are achieved are likely to disappear once the intervention is discontinued.1 —Urie Bronfenbrenner
This brief is dedicated to Urie Bronfenbrenner (97–2005) whose pioneering research influenced the work of Harvard Family Research Project.
INTRODUCTION
Family involvement matters for young children’s cognitive and social development. But what do effective involvement processes look like, and how do they occur? This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective involvement—that is, the research studies that link family involvement in early childhood to outcomes and programs that have been evaluated to show what works. The conceptual framework guiding this research review is complementary learning. Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) believes that for children and youth to be successful from birth through adolescence, there must be an array of learning supports around them. These learning supports include families, early childhood programs, schools, outof-school time programs and activities, higher education, health and social service agencies, businesses, libraries, museums, and other community-based institutions. HFRP calls this network of supports complementary learning. Complementary learning is characterized by discrete linkages that work together to encourage
consistent learning and developmental outcomes for children. These linkages are continuously in place from birth through adolescence, but the composition and