Joliet Junior College's Center for Adult Basic Education and Literacy (CABEL) is responsible for providing adult basic education and support services for adults whose skills in reading and mathematics are below the 12th grade level. Its offerings include instruction in Adult Basic Education (ABE), General Educational Development (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL), job and life skills, literacy volunteer training, and workplace and family literacy programs. In spring 1992, in an effort to break the intergenerational cycle of under-education, unemployment, and welfare dependency, CABEL established the "Families about Success" (FAS) project to provide parents and children with a positive, interactive educational experience. FAS enrolled low-income parents and their children, aged 3 to 10, who had been identified as being at risk. The program focused on adult education/basic skills; children's basic literacy skills; parent-child interaction; career/vocation and self-esteem; and parenting skills. Formal and informal assessment of the program revealed the following: (1) FAS participants showed a higher average gain in reading and mathematics Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) scores than those adults enrolled in GED classes; (2) ESL students also demonstrated greater progress if they had participated in FAS sessions with their children; (3) the kindergarten skills screening tests of FAS preschoolers showed a nearly 100% improvement in gross motor, fine motor, and language/cognitive skills; and (4) older children showed an increase in reading skills by as much as 1.5 grade levels. Tables of relevant data, a variety of evaluation and checklist forms, data on one family's progress, and a 51-item bibliography are appended. (JSP)