This study examined the reading interest and emergent literacy skills of 31 children with Down syndrome (DS) ages 7 to 13. Parents completed questionnaires on their children's interest in reading, home literacy environments, and parental beliefs about reading. Children were then assessed on their cognitive and emergent literacy skills.…

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' primary mission is to enhance data collection and reporting on children and families. "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015" provides the Nation with a summary of national indicators of children's well-being and monitors changes in these indicators.…

This article reviews the relationship between poverty and reading achievement in America's schools. It then discusses how to advance the reading proficiencies of students from economically impoverished homes. It gives particular emphasis to school-home partnerships and sociocultural literacy practices.

When viewed through the lens of critical pedagogy, children's literature offers a viable avenue for tapping the "funds of knowledge" abounding in culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It is an effective means for promoting dialogue, arousing critical consciousness, and facilitating the "coming to voice" of…

This paper deals with the relation between children's home literacy environments (HLE) and their literacy development in the first phase of primary school. On the basis of a broad conceptualisation of the HLE, we identified three home literacy profiles (rich, child-directed and poor HLE). Firstly, we related these profiles to socio-cultural…

Investigated the impact of a course on interprofessional collaboration and field site experiences in family literacy programs on the perceptions of preservice teachers as it pertained to working with children and families "of promise." Found that students' views changed to a "family first" perspective, considering children and families to be "of…

The purpose of Even Start, as outlined in federal legislation, is to help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and low literacy by providing a unified family literacy program for low-income families. Even Start has three related goals: (1) to help parents improve their literacy or basic education skills; (2) to help parents become full…

Pennsylvania's family literacy programs were subjected to a statewide evaluation in 1999-2000. Data were collected through focus groups with parents, a survey of staff in community agencies and organizations, and analyses of program data and the findings of selected assessments administered to adults and children involved in the program.…