Family literacy programs have arisen in an attempt to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and illiteracy. Numerous federally-supported family literacy programs have recognized the importance of instructing parents and children in a home setting. The legislation of Even Start seeks to integrate parenting education, adult basic education,…

This theme issue focuses on the need for adult literacy programs, as well as recent innovations in literacy education. "Adult Literacy and Leadership: Current Innovations" (Aurelio M. Montemayor) describes an adult literacy outreach program in Texas, and discusses the importance of family literacy for parents' involvement in their…

This fact sheet begins with an overview of family support programs, which includes a discussion of the premises of family support programs and the assumptions on which they are based, and a list of typical program components. The remainder of the fact sheet focuses on one type of family support program, family literacy programs. These programs…

Prince George's County (Maryland) Memorial Library System received a grant to develop and implement a parenting-literacy project for the women in the County Correctional Center. The project's goal was to help the incarcerated female parent develop her own and her child's literacy skills. Eighty-eight women with children aged 5 and under or who…

This handbook provides guidelines for designing evaluation materials and for conducting the evaluation of workplace training programs. It includes a variety of evaluation instruments, which are described briefly in the introduction and explained in more detail in the remainder of the handbook. These evaluation instruments are included: employee…

In a 5-year longitudinal study, the home literacy environments of 60 preschool children in Canada were assessed. Over the preschool and early school experiences of these children, they were administered various measures of meta-literate awareness and later, standarized reading measures, to determine the nature of the home environment's influence…

The University of Akron's Reading Assessment Component (RAC) research study assessed the effectiveness of a computer-based literacy program, Principles of the Alphabet Literacy System (PALS), as an alternative to classroom instruction for functionally illiterate adults living in Summit County, Ohio. The RAC study assessed four objectives: (1)…

A YWCA-based family literacy model curriculum in Elgin, Illinois is described. In 1990, the Elgin YWCA had the following program components in place: six daytime and five evening ability level classes for adults taught by certified teachers; a preschool English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program for 3- to 4-year-old children of adult students;…

This annotated bibliography describes studies and reports on issues related to family literacy in multiple contexts. With the exception of five entries, it is limited to programs and studies in the United States. Materials include conceptual discussions, bibliographies, and studies that use experimental, ethnographic, and program evaluative…

A study investigated whether the much publicized campaign geared to parents and teachers about reading aloud to children has had any impact on the U.S. public. Subjects, 236 parents and 17 teachers from an urban private school with a large Portuguese population, filled out questionnaires. Results indicated that parents have been influenced by the…

This report of a hearing presents testimony on H.R. 2535, the School Excellence and Reform Act, also cited as the "Even Start Act," a bill aiming to combine into a single educational program adult basic education for parents and school readiness training for children at risk. The specific intent of the legislation was to establish a…

The Committee on Education and the Workforce, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 27) to enhance the workforce investment system of the Nation by strengthening one-stop career centers, providing for more effective governance arrangements, promoting access to a more comprehensive array of employment, training, and related services, establishing a…

Even Start programs integrate early childhood education, adult literacy or basic education, parenting education and support, and parent and child time together to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. This progress report describes the Even Start program in Colorado and presents evaluation findings from the 2001-2002 implementation year,…

This study investigated whether Mississippi's Parents as Teachers (PAT) program was advancing parent involvement in children's learning at home and when children entered formal schooling. It focused on whether there were differences in frequency of school participation and in levels of engagement in home learning activities between parents who had…

This paper examines the literature in the growing field of education and inequality that is concerned with how individuals sort, and the consequences of this knowledge for the accumulation of human capital, equity, efficiency, and welfare. It argues that how individuals sort across neighborhoods, schools, and households (spouses) can have…