FAST

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 6 claims (5 mixed, 1 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description

Families and Schools Together (FAST), developed and implemented by Families and Schools Together, Inc., is a multifamily group programme that strengthens parenting, family relationships, and connections among families, schools, and communities.

Components

• Families and Schools Together (FAST) program: FAST is a multifamily group program aiming to "empower parents to improve their parenting skills, build positive relationships and social capital between families and schools." It has three stages: initial outreach, eight weekly multifamily group sessions of 10–12 families, and FASTWORKS monthly parent-led sessions for two years. Sessions include parent-led family activities (crafts, meals, singing, communication games), children's activity time with school/community staff, parent discussion groups, and 15 minutes of coached one-to-one "special play." Core components constitute 40 percent of implementation with structured local adaptations at 60 percent, intended to foster local buy-in and o (Bos et al. (2018))

Claims

• Fidelity of FAST program-component delivery was high (97–98 percent overall), but reach to families fell far below design expectations [~W]
• Small isolated effects on family conflict (negative) and parent-teacher joining (positive) appeared but were not enduring and may be spurious [~W]
• The impact of FAST did not differ significantly by student subgroups or school characteristics in the RCT [~W]
• Students who attended FAST three or more times showed strong positive effects on Grade 1 reading and more modest effects on mathematics, but a strong negative effect on kindergarten attendance [~W]
• Offering FAST produced no meaningful, enduring effects on family functioning, family-school relationships, academic learning, or social-behavioral outcomes in a 60-school cluster RCT [-W]
• FAST take-up was far below the projected 60 percent participation rate, with only about 20 percent typical participation per year [~W]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• Bos, J., Spier, E., Bandeira de Mello, V., González, R., & Huang, F. (2018). Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation Study of Families and Schools Together (FAST) Final Report. American Institutes for Research. https://evidenceforessa.org/program/families-and-schools-together-fast/

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	fast
title	FAST
description	Families and Schools Together (FAST), developed and implemented by Families and Schools Together, Inc., is a multifamily group programme that strengthens parenting, family relationships, and connections among families, schools, and communities.
status	review
moved_from	element/fast-program-element
product_kind	programme
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — bos-2018

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