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Family literacy activities usually involve parents and children engaged in reading and/or writing together. These activities occur daily in homes, schools, libraries, community centers, etc. The intensity of these activities varies greatly from family to family and sponsor to sponsor. There is a special type of family literacy, however, that differs from these short-term, often isolated activities. Comprehensive family literacy programs target low-income families with young children and are designed to break the cycle of poverty and low literacy skills. Therefore, family literacy programs are meant to help the families most in need.
Since 1998, a consistent definition for these comprehensive family literacy services has been included in federal legislation. The federal definition defines family literacy services as (brackets added):
"...services that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family and that integrate all of the following activities:
- Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children. [Often called PACT]
- Training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children. [Parent Education]
- Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency. [Adult Education]
- An age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences. [Early Childhood Education]."
How
Because quality family literacy programs should be built upon existing community resources, collaborative partners should work together to integrate isolated services to develop the four-component program. Partners should also be included for the provision of the necessary support services so families in need can participate in this intense educational program. No two family literacy programs will look alike because each program’s design is based on the individual community’s needs and resources. A valuable tool for the process of program development is a text called Reflecting on Essential Elements for Comprehensive Family Literacy: A Workbook. (Click on this title to download the document.)
Common partners for family literacy program development include, but are not limited to:
- Public school system (Title I, Reading First, etc.);
- Adult education programs (ABLE, Volunteers of America, Joint Vocation School, etc.);
- Teen programs (GRADS, LEAP);
- The Early Childhood Education program and special education;
- Extending Learning Opportunities programs (21st Century);
- Health Department (Help Me Grow, Women Infant and Children (WIC), Parents as Teachers, etc.);
- County Department of Job and Family Services (TANF programs);
- Special Education Regional Resource Center (SERRC);
- Community libraries;
- Housing Authority/Community Development Agency;
- Community Action Councils;
- County Family and Children First Councils;
- Institutions of Higher Learning (two and four-year);
- Hospitals, businesses and unions.
Why
Comprehensive family literacy services are meant to improve the educational opportunities of low-income families with young children. Research shows that the major risk factors to children’s academic success are:
- Parents with low literacy skills;
- English as a second language home;
- Poverty;
- Lack of a print-rich environment;
- Lack of parents’ involvement in children’s education;
- Not being read to or talked with.
Based on the premise that parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, comprehensive family literacy programs address these risk factors directly. With intensity and duration, these programs are designed to enhance the educational level and parenting skills of adult participants. Parents learn strategies to support their young children’s literacy development and become more comfortable in school settings. Research shows that parents become more involved in their children’s education through participation in comprehensive family literacy programs.
In these family literacy programs, children also receive enhanced age-appropriate early childhood education that better prepares them for success in school. Through regular program instruction, parents and children learn together and practice their literacy skills together. Education and lifelong learning become important for the whole family.
Research confirms that comprehensive family literacy programs offer an effective, long-term approach to breaking the interrelated cycles of poverty and low literacy skills. For the latest research and resource information about family literacy, click www.famlit.org (National Center for Family Literacy).
Funds are available for comprehensive family literacy program development through Even Start. Even Start is a model educational intervention program that assists children and adults from low-income families to achieve rigorous state standards.
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