In compliance with California's Proposition 10 (Children and Families First Act), county commissions are being asked to monitor what differences the family support programs they are funding are making in the lives of the children and families they serve. Each commission has the responsibility of selecting a set of indicators to measure the impact…

Family resource centers (FRC) are emerging as a promising program approach to solving urgent social problems. Evaluation plays an important role in learning how these programs work, what their impact is, and whether they should be expanded. However, FRCs pose unique challenges to evaluation. This report considers the challenges to evaluating FRCs,…

This document is comprised of the 1997 issues of a quarterly newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The first issue focuses on evaluation methodology and includes articles on the following topics: (1) mixing evaluation…

This report highlights the input of leaders at a national meeting in October 2001 to discuss an evaluation framework for the family support field. The meeting marked the beginning of the Evidence Along the Way National Family Support Evaluation Project, an initiative to develop a comprehensive framework for evaluating how well the family support…

Describes as example a parents' center in London to examine impact of evaluation exercises on people and services being evaluated. Questions whether evaluators are measuring the right things, whether evidence is valid, and what effects an evaluation may have on services. Identifies features of research and evaluation that are most likely to…

The general decline in public resources has encouraged government agencies to consolidate job functions, and the internal program evaluator is becoming a scarce commodity. This paper briefly describes a case study about the circumstances and implications of merging two formally antagonistic job roles: program administrator and program evaluator.…

This document is comprised of the 1998 issues (issues 3 and 4 are combined) of a quarterly newsletter produced by the Harvard Family Research Project to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. Regular columns include: "From the Director's Desk,""Theory and…

Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) is a knowledge development initiative designed to: (1) create and test a new model for providing mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment for young children (birth to 7 years) and their families; and (2) inform practitioners and policymakers of successful interventions and promising practices…

Six articles provide an overview of the multiple approaches to evaluating the problems of homelessness and introduce the challenges of evaluating interventions for the homeless. The first part focuses on research about homelessness, and the second part describes major demonstration programs and their evaluations. (SLD)

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is addressing problems of evaluation of family literacy programs through portfolio assessment. Beginning in fall 1991, 15 programs began using portfolios to document parent-child interactions. This guide provides a description of the introduction of portfolio assessment into these programs and…

In fall, 1991, La Frontera Center, the Tucson Council for Alcohol and Drug Dependence, and the Community Organization for Drug Abuse Control were funded to carry out an educational program to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse in the Tucson, Arizona area. The resulting project, Pasos Adelante (Steps Forward), is an early intervention…

This document is comprised of the two 2001 issues of a newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The first issue focuses on strategic communications and efforts of nonprofit agencies to evaluate strategic communication…

This document is comprised of the three 2002 issues of a newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The Spring issue focuses on family support evaluations and their role in advancing the field of family support and includes…