Over the last 3 decades, educators have found an overwhelming relationship between parent education levels, parental involvement, and children's school success. Family literacy affects parents' effectiveness in helping their children learn. These are the four components of comprehensive family literacy: (1) interactive literacy activities between parents and children; (2) parent training on how to be their child's first and most important teacher and how to participate in their child's education; (3) literacy training for parents that leads to economic self-sufficiency; and (4) age-appropriate education for children to prepare them for success in school and life. Configuration of those components varies, with most programs providing center-based classes for children and parents and some providing home visits. In addition to literacy improvement, in some programs parents can learn workplace skills through volunteer activities at their child's school. The appeal of family literacy programs as a strategy for educational reform is based on its flexibility (can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse families); its comprehensiveness (two generations educated simultaneously); and its social impact (cycle of poverty and low literacy are broken). To support family literacy in statewide programs of education, governors could encourage state agencies to collaborate on family literacy services; make family literacy an allowable use of existing education funds; and authorize specific funds for family literacy. (There are 2 appendices and the bibliography lists 13 references). (AJ)