Studies
Over the last 15 years, a number of published studies articles have been conducted on the replication and dissemination of our programs. These independently produced articles demonstrate the effectiveness of our program development as implemented in communities all across the country and internationally. Our first national replication data for the FAST program were collected in 1993-1995 across 13 states and 53 pilot elementary schools with funding from the DeWitt Wallace Readers' Digest Foundation, working with the Alliance for Children and Families.
We are committed to continued research and continuous refinement of our programs. Moreover, our programs lead the nation in evaluation methods for proving efficacy. We scientifically accepted measures; and we evaluate statistically significant changes in each family that participates in our programs. Our model gives assurance to funders, schools, and program administrators that their sites and clients are being well served.
To receive a copy of any of the research papers mentioned here, please contact us at 888-629-2481 or by email.
Recent Studies
Strong school and family ties have long shown success in influencing positive child development and lasting success. This study of the implementation and evaluation of the Kids FAST and FASWORKS programs over multiple years in a large metropolitan area of Virginia was conducted using data collected from individual program sites over the course of 35 months from Spring 2005 - Winter 2007.
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The FAST program set can be implemented in school or community based alternatives. The model supports various ways of configuring an implementation to satisfy local goals including how to put it into action. In this study by J. Sandler of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the community-based deployment option was analyzed and found to be rich with ways to satisfy a variety of needs, such as helping families improve racial harmony, crime, neighborhood relations, and assimilation. Sandler concludes that FAST's strong framework and QA practices are critical to its success. Contact us for the full report.
Lessons From Family-Strengthening Interventions: Learning From
Evidence-Based Practice
Harvard Family Research Project in late 2006 noted that FAST, as an evidence-based program can and does make lasting changes to improve the lives of children, their families, academics and social capital.
Families and Schools Together...revealed six success markers implicit in the narratives. The success markers demonstrate that the major outcome of FAST is the production of social capital in all three of its dimensions.
The University of Wisconsin education department analyzed the FAST program for its effects in creating lasting networks for helping parents and children better focus on school-based performance parameters. In a controlled study, FAST was shown to be effective in positively impacting attributes that insulate children from delinquency and reducing influences that inhibit school function in children. The theory that creating networking, relationships, positive habits, and interpersonal accountability does improve family function and school behaviors.
McDonald, L., and Grillova, R. M.
Wisconsin Center for Education Research
(WCER). Wisconsin Families and Schools Together (FAST): Family, School and Community Partnerships for School Safety: Aggregate Evaluation Report. Final report to the US Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services (Grant No. 2003-CK-WX-0255) Washington: DC.
School-based family support: Evidence from and Exploratory Field
Study. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, Fischer, R.84(3), 339-347.
FAST is a promising program that shows evidence of increasing critical measures that positively affect parent-child-school connectedness and academic related factors.
McDonald, Lynn
Evidence-based, family-strengthening strategies to reduce delinquency: FAST -- Families and Schools Together. In A. R. Roberts & G. J. Green (Eds.), Social workers' Desk Reference (pp. 717-722). New York: Oxford University Press.
Families and Schools Together
(FAST): Involving the whole family. Abandoned in the back row: New lessons in education and delinquency prevention. The Seventeenth Annual Report to the President, the congress and the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (pp. 53-63).
A Research study by Abt Associates focused on well-regarded family support programs.
FAST was described as an effective and mature model that incorporated science-based foundations and reached at-risk families.
"FAST parents reported fewer behavior problems in their children compared with parents of children in the comparison group."
The Juvenile Crime Prevention Demonstration
Project: Statewide Final report (January 1996 – May 2000). CA.
Harvard makes FAST the subject of a case study, showing the program to be a prototype for effective family strengthening, parent involvement, and evidence-based programs. The future of family relationship management programs is defined by the FAST program.
This 2000 study was updated in 2004.
Neito, M. Neito, M.
Security and crime prevention in California public schools. California
Research Bureau. Report prepared at the request of the State Senate Education Committee and Senate Select Committee on School Safety.
OJJDP is the juvenile justice arm of the US Justice Department. We have a longstanding working relationship that has produced very positive results for families and school aged kids.
McDonald, L., & Frey, H. E.
Families and Schools Together: Building Relationships. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
McDonald, L., & Sayger, T. V. (1998). Impact of a family and school based prevention program on protective factors for high risk youth. In J. Valentine, J. A. De Long & N. Kennedy (Eds.), Substance abuse prevention in multicultural communities (pp. 61-85). Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
McDonald, L., Billingham, S., Conrad, P., Morgan, A., Nina, O., & Payton, E.
Families and Schools Together (FAST): Integrating community development with clinical strategy. Families in Society, 78(2), 140-155.
McDonald, L., Coe-Braddish, D., Billingham, S., Dibble, N., & Rice, C.
Families and Schools Together: An innovative substance abuse prevention program. Social Work in Education, 13(2), 118-128.
"Repetition of information and experience creates neurological connections in the brain, in the body. These connections, called dendrites are physically manifested at various ages in a child's development. This means as parents and as educators we must pay careful attention to what we repeat to our kids and focus on the consistency of simple, everyday experiences we offer them."
Dr. Lynn McDonald