Using the Pennsylvania Department of Education Family/Community Standards, university professors from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford collaborated with multiple community clubs such as the Rotary and Kiwanis as well as local agencies including St. Bonaventure University on the development and implementation of a family literacy day event…

This report from the field shares information describing a pilot program that addressed the literacy needs of middle school culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. One of the authors played a key role in designing and implementing the Building Bonds family literacy program. This program was made to engage these students and their…

The Australian Council for Educational Research's submission to the Australian Government Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training's Public Enquiry into Adult literacy and its importance highlights the importance of these skills to Australia's well-being and economy, and calls on the government to continue participation in an…

This article describes the needs analysis, implementation and outcomes of a pilot program aimed at creating books with families in ways that represent their language and culture. "Creating Books in Communities" is part of "Better Beginnings," a state-wide program, developed by the State Library of Western Australia, for…

For more than a decade, the number of adults who cannot read has plateaued at around 32 million (HuffPost Books, 2014). According to the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, 67% of children are not proficient readers by the end of third grade (Smith, 2015). Given the high stakes attached to acquiring multiple literacies in order to access basic…

Jumpstart is a growing literacy program that is now active in 17 states in addition to the District of Columbia. The Jumpstart Model pairs children of low-income families with college mentors in the child's typical learning environment. Despite the prevalence and importance of Jumpstart, little has been written about either the general model of…

Evaluators face challenges when programs consistently fail to meet expectations for performance or improvement and consequently, evaluators may recommend that closing a program is the most prudent course of action. However, the evaluation literature provides little guidance regarding when an evaluator might recommend program closure. Given…

Accounts of fathers' reluctance to engage with locally based family learning groups rarely acknowledge the relationship between learning and identity. This tends not to be the case in parallel accounts of women's reluctance to become involved in groups or networks where the mainstream clientele is male. Drawing on the case study of a national…

Reflects upon the development, implementation and research of specific intergenerational family literacy initiatives in the Anglophone section of New Brunswick. Presents four initiatives and discusses working with the community, working in the neighborhood, and working within a university context. (SG)

Notes that the purpose of the project was to collect evidence about learning in the "life school" of families. Describes the second session in which people brought in artifacts to tell family stories about learning in their homes. Finds that families and teachers involved in this project become more aware of home experiences as part of literacy…

Notes how the family literacy movement, which emphasizes respect for diversity and the cultural heritage of participants, is gaining momentum. Considers how the art of storytelling provides an excellent vehicle for promoting and enhancing language and literacy development within families. (SG)

Utilizing an effective literacy program as a case study, the social-constructivist approach to family literacy is discussed in this article. The role of literacy programs as mentor to the apprentice family and the consequent transformation of family to child-mentor is described. Through review of an effective faintly literacy program, it is…

Noting that family literacy is an intergenerational approach to education that addresses the needs of both the adult and child learner, this booklet presents aspects of family literacy programs and steps to help ensure the program's success. After discussing the need for family literacy, the book discusses the effectiveness of family literacy and…

A Tucson, Arizona elementary school is one of 45 development sites for the Toyota Families in Schools Program, which brings in parents to learn alongside their children and in their own classrooms for 4 hours daily. Parents also receive vocational instruction aligned with local job opportunities. (MLH)

This paper describes a family literacy project that involved parents whose children were attending a pre-school centre in a low socio-economic suburb of Perth, Western Australia. A formative experimental design was used to examine the home literacy practices of the families as described by the parents, and to construct a series of workshops. The…