Over 40 years of research confirms that family engagement improves readiness, achievement and graduation rates – Harvard Family Research Project

The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) reports, “over 40 years of research confirms that family engagement improves student readiness, student academic achievement, and graduation rates.” At a time when over one-third of all American students fail to graduate, every empirically supported strategy must be called upon in order to help our children succeed.

Parent involvement has emerged as one of the most important strategies that schools can implement. HFRP reports that “rigorous empirical research” makes a powerful case for parent involvement as one of the essential pillars for making students and schools perform better. (The other ones are: leadership; instructional guidance; teacher capacity; and school climate.)
Parent involvement must be integrated into the life of the school and sustained over time to really work. According to psychologist Carol Dweck, the key is to build a “growth mindset.” As the HFRP report notes, people “with a growth mindset see their life as a work in progress…Barriers and challenges become opportunities and effort and resilience make for success.”

Supporting these findings, The Latino Family Literacy Project™ can help you set up your parent involvement program at your school site or district.