This article reports a case study of two Chinese-English bilingual families in Singapore and illustrates the importance of incorporating two hitherto disconnected fields of research--family language policy and family literacy practices--to an understanding of early language and literacy acquisition in the familial milieu. Specifically, this work…

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' primary mission is to enhance data collection and reporting on children and families. "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015" provides the Nation with a summary of national indicators of children's well-being and monitors changes in these indicators.…

Research Findings: The home literacy environment and other early learning settings such as preschool play a role in children's language and literacy outcomes, yet research suggests that Latino, Spanish-speaking families are less likely than other families to participate in family literacy activities. This study explored the relations among…

This research study investigated the at-home literacy behaviors and experiences of young children before and during their kindergarten year. Research has shown that the frequency and quality of at-home literacy experiences can either hinder or hamper children as their formal schooling begins (Fletcher, Cross, Tanney, Schneider, & Finch, 2008;…

Literacy interventions in the family context have great potential to promote reading development in children. However, the results of meta-analyses indicate that family-based approaches tend not to be as effective as expected. Although the effectiveness of family literacy interventions can be assumed to hinge largely on the quality of their…

Early childhood family literacy programs have great potential to positively influence children and families. This article presents the core values and key components of high quality early childhood family literacy programs. The benefits and cost effectiveness of these programs are also discussed.

In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed, emphasizing a stronger concentration on reading achievement. Research has shown that the family structure influences literacy development. The study was developed based on the social learning theories of Vygotsky and Skinner. Vygotsky's approach to sociocultural theory examines the…

Reading with Junior is a program that teams up a Grade 3 male elementary school pupil with reading difficulties--or with no motivation to read--with a parent (preferably a father) and a male student in a preschool and elementary school teaching program. The pupil's role was simply to participate in the project; the university student's role was to…

This study examined the effects of a school/home-based intervention program designed to enhance the reading motivation and comprehension of Swiss fourth graders (N = 713). In order to identify the specific contribution of the home environment, the program was implemented in one group "without" (N = 244) and in one group "with"…

Young children, their caregivers, and families should take advantage of opportunities to relish stories together. In this article, the authors describe one child's earliest experiences with story that have informed their work with preschool children and their families. Carol's (the second author's) daughter Sloane is privileged in all the ways…

The study had twofold purposes. The first one is to establish the underlying structure of family literacy practices at the different grade levels kindergarten, first, third, fifth, and eighth, for children who were followed in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K). The second purpose is to investigate the…

The purpose of this case study was to investigate the home literacy practices of parents who take on dual roles as both teachers of literacy to their children and students in General Education Development (GED[R]) programs. We interviewed 12 GED teacher-student parents to explore how literacy practices within the home environment affected both the…

There is concern from government in each of the sample sites over the role fathers play in supporting their children through school. Fathers have become a more "visible parent" and a focus for policy-makers in education. Family literacy programmes are used in this article as an example of an educational programme where fathers are often…

This report presents estimates from a large-scale, multi-district RCT (randomized controlled trial) on the effectiveness of a summer reading program on improving student reading comprehension for economically disadvantaged grade 3 students reading below the 50th percentile nationally. This study focused on the summer between grades 3 and 4 for…

This article advocates for the inclusion of transnational and community literacies in the literacy instruction provided to all students, but especially those who are ELLs (English language learners). Transnational and community literacies are texts and literacy practices that reflect the multidirectional movements of people, media, language and…