Parent involvement in children's language and literacy development is a continuum. Parents enhance their newborn baby's language and vocabulary growth, whereas with older children parents are involved in school and provide support by engaging in learning activities such as assisting with homework. Parent involvement is an important part of…

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) presents, alongside the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy at Penn State University, these proceedings from the research strand at the 22nd National Conference on Family Literacy. Through these sessions, NCFL's conference continues to provide the latest research in family education…

Interactive Literacy Activities, or ILAs, broadly refer to activities that facilitate interaction between adults and children for the purpose of promoting literacy and language development. It is essential to make ILAs developmentally and culturally appropriate for children and to use an approach that integrates various activities in order to…

Although many women value and benefit from social interaction in adult education and family literacy, these social dimensions are often treated as tangential or inconsequential. Utilizing data from two studies of family literacy programs in Pennsylvania, this study examined how family literacy programs provide a supportive social space for women…

Family literacy is frequently taken to mean involving parents in helping to teach their children school-type literacy tasks in the home (for example, Hannon, 2000; Poulson Macleod Bennett, and Wray, 1996). This article presents the case for an alternative approach to family and community involvement in school-based literacy tasks by drawing on the…

Reviews global statistics on illiteracy. Highlights to objectives of UNESCO's International Literacy Year. Discusses the trend toward intergenerational or family literacy programs in the U.S., as exemplified by Head Start, Even Start, and the parent-children literacy efforts of Sharon Darling. (DMM)

This guide provides help in locating and securing funds for family literacy programs and illustrates how family literacy programs may be organized and implemented by explaining important legislation and presenting examples of collaborative family literacy efforts that use a variety of resources. The booklet is organized in four parts. Part I…

This manual introduces the topic of family literacy programs in libraries and provides guidelines for libraries that are just getting started in family literacy programs as well as libraries that are further developing their existing programs. It is argued that illiteracy tends to be both intergenerational and cyclic, i.e., if a child's parents…

A project was conducted to help parents in adult literacy classes learn how to help their children with mathematics. During the project, numerous kits were created for parent and child to sign out and take home. The kits contain all the materials needed for a mathematical activity, including the mathematics concept targeted in the kit and…

This manual is designed to help volunteer teachers in family literacy programs introduce a writing project that provides parents and children with a worthwhile learning experience to take home and share. The guide suggests ways to prepare parents and children for a collaborative story-writing experience and offers ideas on how to structure the…

Family literacy programs are developed on the premise that the important relationships between children and adults affect literacy achievement and activity. The programs bring parents and children together in a teaching and learning environment. The critical teacher in a child's life is the parent. Family programs support and strengthen family…

This "snapshot" presents a review of a new family literacy handbook. Edited by Dr. Barbara Wasik of the FPG Child Development Institute, "The Handbook of Family Literacy" provides scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners (both inside and outside the field) with a valuable snapshot of its current boundaries and rapidly growing content.…

This manual documents a family literacy program developed by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and conducted at a local elementary school. It describes how the program combined General Educational Development (GED) courses for parents with a preschool program for their 3- to 4-year-old children. Based on the Kenan Family Literacy model…

This guide is designed to provide a resource on family literacy videotapes for programs in family literacy, adult basic education, and English as a Second Language serving parent populations. The guide provides information from the rating sheets of adult educators throughout Pennsylvania who volunteered their time and expertise in reviewing some…

This document provides an overview of a family literacy demonstration project conducted to offer family literacy classes in three public schools in Philadelphia. The project was designed to help adults meet their own needs and to enable them to support their children's learning. The whole-language, learner-centered approach was used. Background…