The Lebanon County Family Literacy Program, a project of the Lebanon Community Library (Pennsylvania), targeted intergenerational/families and focused on coalition building, public awareness, training, and collection development. The Lebanon Community Library serves as: a centralized location for storing and disseminating materials and handouts on…

This videotape generates enthusiasm by showing participants an overview of the goals and benefits of the Parents Sharing Books Program. It features parents, teachers, and principals who are involved in book-sharing programs in their schools. By watching the videotape, parents will see book-sharing strategies and motivational techniques and hear…

Designed to be used in conjunction with "On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners," this handbook focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for tutors to help children from birth through third grade master reading fundamentals. The 5 chapters of the handbook present 11 training sessions for tutors, comprising 36 hours…

The Child Development and Behavior Branch (CDBB), within the Center for Research for Mothers and Children, has grown in the past four years from supporting five programs to supporting seven, with a concomitant increase in the number of grants of more than 50 percent, and a corresponding increase of more than 87 percent in overall funding. During…

Reviews family literacy initiatives, arguing that many well-intentioned initiatives are driven by poor assumptions and definitions, are limited in scope, have not been evaluated fully, and fail to achieve genuine collaboration between home, school, and community. Suggests that initiatives should consider how they meet needs of all students and…

Describes the Parent and Child Education (PACE) program, a statewide family literacy program in Kentucky that promotes positive attitudes toward schooling and academic achievement. PACE focuses on parents' basic skills, children's learning skills, and parents' child care skills. (FMW)

This study investigated the relationships among selected aspects of normal language development, emerging metalinguistic skills, concepts about print, and family literacy experiences in 43 preschoolers from various socioeconomic backgrounds. It found that family reports of literacy activities were associated with income and that children's…

Describes a federally funded partnership between Northeastern Illinois University and Chicago Public Schools to provide an inner-city family literacy program. Details program components, highlighting use of computers, video technology, and photography as tools to develop literacy and to document progress of parents and children. Notes evaluation…

Introduces an issue on family literacy in urban education, describing three approaches to family literacy. Articles highlight the sense of place, community, and identity; Hispanic parents' use of literacy-rich environments; discourse between teachers and Latino parents during conferences; identifying teaching practices that connect home and…

This study examined how 4 specific measures of home literacy practices (i.e., shared book reading frequency, maternal book reading strategies, child's enjoyment of reading, and maternal sensitivity) and a global measure of the quality and responsiveness of the home environment during the preschool years predicted children's language and emergent…

The newborn is amazingly equipped to acquire language and literacy--these early years are the foundation upon which later learning is built. Drawing on current research, the authors of this book examine the elements of beginning language and literacy and look at how families, programs, and communities can encourage beginning language and literacy…

Intended for practitioners from preschool to college whose major interest is literacy development, this book presents 20 essays that discuss multiple perspectives of the varied definitions of family literacy and provide ideas for schools, community agencies, and families by presenting different types of programs to put into practice. Essays in the…

These hearings transcripts present testimony regarding reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). "Chapter 1" of this legislation is a central part of federal education policy. Education is currently funded at about $7 billion a year; an additional $700 million, or 10 percent, is budgeted for the coming fiscal…

This manual was developed to help facilitators explain, implement, or expand a family literacy program. It is based on research and on the experience of developing and implementing the model program established by Literacy Volunteers of America-Chippewa Valley in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The program encompassed the four basic components of family…

One of the most common worries children's parents have is how well their children are learning to read. Introducing children to the joys of reading depends not only on the teachers, but on the parents. The most effective way parents can teach children how to read and to love reading is to read to them and, later, with them. Jim Trelease, author of…