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The group who went to the Achievement Gap program at Harvard
will be meeting to discuss putting the ideas to work. Meetings are the Second and Fourth Fridays of
the month,
This page was prompted by a program at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, Closing the
Achievement Gap,
There is a controversy over the designation of some schools
as dropout factories. A separate page
describing the controversy is here.
·
A central emphasis of the program is the Harvard Family Research Project. They have a page listing their
research, by subject. One of the
main emphases of the November 2007 workshop was Complementary
Learning, or getting families and communities more involved in
education. They have a FINE Network
(family involvement network of educators) you can join for free, and they will
send you newsletters with toolkit information about making programs
happen. Among their interests:
¨ A study on lessons learned about family involvement in early education.
·
From
· Pedro Noguera wrote City Schools and the American Dream. People attending the Nov.1-3 program were asked to read chapter 7 of that book. His ideas are described in his articles.
· The Foundation for Child Development is, according to their mission statement, “a national, private philanthropy dedicated to the principle that all families should have the social and material resources to raise their children to be healthy, educated and productive members of their communities. The Foundation seeks to understand children, particularly the disadvantaged, and to promote their well-being.”
·
A report of
evidence about Family
Involvement and Student Outcomes from 2002 (241 pages) summarizes the
findings from 51 studies. A general
summary: “When parents talk to their children about school, expect them to do well,
help them plan for college, and make sure that out-of-school activities are
constructive, their children do better in school. When schools engage families
in ways that are linked to improving learning, students make greater gains.
When schools build partnerships with families that respond to their concerns
and honor their contributions, they are successful in sustaining connections
that are aimed at improving student achievement. And when families and
communities organize to hold poorly performing schools accountable, studies
suggest that school districts make positive changes in policy, practice, and
resources.”
· The Economic Policy Institute studies, among other things, the achievement gap. Rbt. Lynch, one of their scholars, wrote Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation. One of their reports focuses on progress on the achievement gap, check it. They respond to controversies over education, such as this one involving the connection between education and economic development.
· Some folks have worked on an indicator that helps assess policies, THE CHILD AND YOUTH WELL-BEING INDEX. The challenge is to find meaningful ways to measure the effects of policies on the lives of actual individuals.
· The Harlem Children’s Zone says the “emphasis of our work is not just on education, social service and recreation, but on rebuilding the very fabric of community life.” From their website they list this NYT story (14 pgs in pdf format) about their work.
· The Rochester Children’s Zone is just starting, and is briefly described here. Its website includes several files describing its planning process.
·
The program also looks at asset mapping.
¨ Here is a web page describing asset mapping, with a link to a 4-page pdf file of “best practices” in asset mapping.
¨ Here is another brief web page, with diagrams, describing asset mapping.
¨ Here is an article by Kretzmann & Green on the toolbox of asset mapping.
¨ Here is a 35-page powerpoint presentation on asset mapping, from the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice.
· Almost 40 years ago the HGSE founded Project Zero, aimed at enriching education through the arts.
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