Joyce L. Epstein, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Mavis G. Sanders, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Steven B. Sheldon, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator
Johns Hopkins University
Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships
NICHD Grant 1-R01-HD0471
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires schools to help every student achieve a high level of proficiency in math, reading, and science by 2014. It also requires districts and schools to involve families in ways that will boost student achievement. Yet, most districts and schools are struggling with how to implement effective partnership programs and how to measure the “value added” effects of family and community involvement for student achievement in specific subjects.
This project is a five-year, multi-cohort, longitudinal study of the effects of the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) intervention model to increase and improve family and community involvement to support student achievement in reading, math, and science. The project will “scale up” professional development tools, guidelines, and approaches for curriculum-linked involvement activities that have been developed, pilot tested, and shown to (a) produce systemic and sustained change in district and school knowledge, policies, and programs of school, family, and community partnerships, (b) effectively improve the involvement of parents and the community, and (c) increase student reading, math, and science achievement, and other indicators of student success.
Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, Principal Investigator
Dr. Steven Sheldon and Dr. Claudia Galindo, Co-Investigators
The Main Study includes five cohorts of 10 school districts with 8 schools each for a total sample of 50 districts and 400 schools, including elementary, middle, and high schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the U.S. Using random-assignment and strictly-matched samples and conducting longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses, we will study the “nested” effects of district policies and leadership on the quality of school programs and practices of family and community involvement, and the contribution of school, family, and community partnerships to student achievement.
Three Special Focus Studies also are being conducted:
A summary of findings from these studies is in Research Briefs.
Results of the Main Study and Special Focus Studies will be added, as they are completed, to the List of Research Publications.