LIFT, Inc.
Project Title
For analysis and dissemination of research on parent aspirations for their children's education
Date
Sep. 08, 2016
Duration
4 months
Description
Research has demonstrated that higher levels of parental involvement in their children’s education are significantly related to children’s social and emotional development, academic success, and long-term life prospects, with a particularly strong effect for children living in poverty. However, family engagement remains low, particularly in low- income and urban areas. LIFT, a national nonprofit organization, helps families with young children break the cycle of poverty. They work directly with families to empower parents to become their own advocates, and in an effort to better understand what parents need, they recently completed the first phase of a community listening tour. With Corporation support, they hope to develop a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the factors preventing parents from fully engaging with their children’s education by conducting a thorough analysis of their research thus far and producing five in-depth profiles of LIFT parents and families from across the national network, with the long-term goal of informing more responsive policies and programs.