Running Head: PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 1

Programs to Support Parent Involvement in Children’s Literacy

Sarah Rooney

Franciscan University of Steubenville

PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 2

Introduction

It is always a monumental moment in a child’s life when he or she begins learning how to

read. Not only is this period of life exciting but also crucial to the literary success of the child.

The International Literacy Association (ILA) reported early literacy as extremely important for

80% of responders in the Top Takeaways From ILA’S What’s Hot in Literacy Report (2017).

The ILA also reported 68% of responders deemed parent engagement as important. ILA’s

What’s Hot in Literacy Report is a yearly study that highlights what literacy topics are trending

and what topics are important. They conduct this study by administering interviews and surveys

to educators, literacy professionals, and government representatives in four different countries.

According to the ILA report, parent involvement in children’s literacy is key to the future literary

success of children. Other research also shows that parent involvement is important to supporting

positive literacy. DeLoatche, Bradley-Klug, Ogg, Kromery, and Sundman, (2015) stated that

parent involvement encourages children’s development of pre-literacy skills such as

phonological awareness and word recognition. However, not all parents are capable of fostering

the development of their child’s early literacy skills. Parents may lack in knowledge of literacy

skills and strategies to develop those skills. It is the responsibility of school districts to reach out

to these parents in order to instruct them so they may become involved in their child’s literacy.

Purpose

Parent involvement is essential to the growth of children’s early literacy skills, however

some parents are not equipped with the skills to help develop their child’s early literacy. Due to a

lack of their own literacy skills or a lack of strategies to support their children, parents are unable

to engage in their child’s literacy. Through research the following questions will be answered:
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 3

What programs can school districts implement to teach parents literacy instruction skills? How

are these programs are implemented? Have these programs shown to be successful?

In order to answer these questions a survey was sent to a school district in a

predominately migrant Spanish speaking community. The majority of parents in this community

are deficient in English literacy skills due to the lack of any formal education in their native

Spanish speaking country. In addition, many of these parents have not had access to the

resources to learn English since coming to America. The survey consists of questions about the

importance of parent engagement, if the district staff has encountered parents who lack literacy

skills, and what steps the district has taken to provide support to parents. The goal of this survey

was to highlight what steps this school district took in order to empower parents to take part in

their child’s early literacy instruction.

It is hypothesized that this research will highlight programs implemented by school

districts to teach parents how to support their child’s early literacy skills. It is predicted that

programs such as adult education classes, family literacy nights, and English development will

be the programs available to parents.

Review of Literature

Boyce (2010) conducted a study that outlines a program to enhance parent involvement

in literacy for Spanish-speaking migrant families. Thirty-two Spanish speaking preschoolers

enrolled in Migrant Head Start programs were randomly selected to participate in the

Storytelling for the Home Enrichment of Language and Literacy Skills (SHELLS) in addition to

their Head Start services. These students and their families were compared to a group of forty-

three students who continued to receive only the Head Start services. Researchers compared and

contrasted the maternal elicitation, home language literacy environment, and the total number of
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 4

words used by a child between the two groups. The methodology for this study included

assessment before and after the SHELLS intervention through maternal interviews, child

assessments, and videotaped narrative sessions. The purpose of this comparison was to test the

success of the SHELLS interventions for families in Migrant Head Start programs. The results

indicated an increase in the use of supporting literacy behaviors by the mothers, increase in

language and literacy home environment, and an increase in the total number of words used by

the child after the SHELLS interventions.

The authors of this article explain the study very clearly through professional writing that

was expanded on through the use of graphs, tables, and direct quotes from the study. The authors

further supported their reasoning for conducting the study by connecting previous research about

the importance of parent involvement in early literacy for student success. The authors also

focused on the importance of adapting the SHELLS interventions to meet specific families’

needs and interests. Through this study it is evident that interventions are successful when they

support the culture and tradition of families. However, this study had some limitations due to the

small sample and limited intervention time. It would be interesting to see this study conducted

again over an extended period of time. Overall, this study outlined a program that can be

beneficial to parents who lack literacy skills. School districts can implement SHELLS into their

community in order to provide a learning opportunity for parents who lack the skills to foster

their child’s early literacy development.

Steiner (2014) presents an intervention for families that involves parents in their child’s

early literacy development. The researcher conducted a literacy intervention for two culturally

diverse, first grade classrooms in a high-poverty school district. The two classes were selected to

participate through convenience sampling. Each classroom had a set of six parents that
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volunteered to take part in the study. One classroom was the treatment group and the other was

the control group. The treatment classroom’s parents had the opportunity to take part in an eight

week intervention course that was designed to teach parents how to support their child’s literacy

learning through weekly strategies. A few of the strategies the study focused on included making

predictions, retelling, questioning, and using illustrations. The methodology for this study was a

mixture of quantitative and qualitative measurements. To analyze the quantitative effects of the

intervention, researchers used frequency analysis and pre and post testing. Qualitative methods

of analysis included parent interviews, audio-taped parent-child readings, and reader response

forms. The purpose of this study was to not only teach parents strategies for reading with their

child but also to build effective school and home based partnerships between staff and families.

The results displayed an increase in the use of storybook reading strategies within the family that

were in line with classroom based instruction as well as significant increases in students’ testing

scores.

The author of this article clearly demonstrated the effect parents’ knowledge of reading

strategies has on children. Through the use of tables and graphs, Steiner clearly articulated the

positive effects of the intervention. The unique use of personal recounts and evaluation from

parents made this article particularly special. Direct feedback from parents was incorporated into

the text highlighting the purpose of parent roles in literacy and the road parents took to embrace

those roles. To improve the study, the research could be performed with parents who are

randomly given the opportunity to participate in the intervention. Often times parents who

volunteer are already those who are more involved with their child. The study could also be

performed in the same classroom where half the students are part of the treatment group and the

other half are the control group. It would have been better if all parents came from the same
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 6

classroom in order to control for the difference in the instruction and support offered in each

classroom. Two classrooms are most likely different in some way, perhaps significantly. It would

also be great to see this performed with a much larger sample. Would it be possible to build

school-home based relationships with every family in a school district? Overall, Steiner (2014)

outlined an intervention strategy that any teacher could implement into his or her classroom. This

intervention gave parents the knowledge and skills to support their child’s early literacy

development.

O’Donnell (2014) conducted a study that credits the overall academic improvement of

students to the increased involvement of caregivers who participated in a family involvement

program. The study investigated the impact of the YMCA Family Involvement Project had on

the academic performance of low-income Latino families. The project provided weekly

workshops offered by bilingual social workers in collaboration with the school district. Two

major themes of the workshops were in-home education and family literacy. The in-home

education workshops taught parents how to design an educationally-rich home environment by

monitoring homework, talking to children about education, and providing academics supports

within the home and surrounding community. The family literacy workshop was taught using

two programs, Motheread/Fatheread and Story Exploring. Motheread/Fatheread is structured to

increase adult reading skills and help adults be reading models for their children. Story Exploring

uses multicultural books to promote children’s love for books and to build reading skills. One

hundred forty-four Latino parents that participated in the program voluntarily took a pre-

assessment survey on family involvement in their child’s education. After the program was

complete the parents took a Parent Teacher Involvement Questionnaire that measured how often

they participated in educational activities with their child. The children of the participating
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parent’s baseline grades and standardized test scores were collected from the school district. The

purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the YMCA Family Involvement Project on

Latino children’s academic success. The results show that the program increased educational

performance and fostered better relationship and communication between families and teachers.

O’Donnell (2014) credits this success to the fact that as parents learned more about how the

educational system worked, they became more confident in their skills learned to help their

children academically.

O’Donnell and Kirkner presented this study very thoroughly with the use of elaborate

text, tables, and in depth explanations. The authors supported the reason for their study by

providing historical research that demonstrated the importance of family involvement in

education for Latino children. Through this investigation it is evident that the YMCA Family

Involvement Program was successful in enhancing family involvement thus improving children’s

academic performance. However, this study lacked a comparison group. It is difficult to

determine if the entirety of the academic improvement of the children can be attributed to the

impact of the program. In future research the select group should be compared to a control group

that has no correlation to the program. Overall the findings of this research illustrate a program

that schools can implement to teach parents instruction skills in order to help their own child

develop literacy skills.

Methodology

The research methodology for this study was conducted through a survey and brief

interview. The survey and interview were sent to educators and administrative staff at a school

district in the Central Valley Region of California. The reasoning behind this area of selection

was because of the dense population of Spanish speaking immigrants in the region. A vast
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majority of students in the school district are English language learners, English as a second

language learners, or children of dominantly Spanish speaking parents. For this reason, this

school district was an excellent place of study for this research.

The superintendent of the school district was interviewed in order to understand the

student and family demographics in the school community. The goal of the interview was to

have a better perception of the typical family culture specifically surrounding language. The

superintendent was asked the following questions: Could you provide some statistics about your

school district? What percentage of the students are Spanish speaking? What percentage are

English language learners? Can you tell me about the typical family in your school district? Are

there any other demographic features about the staff, students, families, community, or district

that would be beneficial to this study?

A survey was sent to forty educators and administrators in the school district. The goal of

the survey was to determine what opportunities schools provide for parents to become involved

in their child’s literacy. Twenty-five of the forty recipients voluntarily responded to the survey.

The first survey question was, “Do you agree that parent involvement is key in the

growth of children’s early literacy skills?” This question was asked to get professional input on

the importance of parent involvement. The second survey question was, “Have you encountered

parents that are unable to foster the growth of these (literacy) skills due to their own lack of

knowledge or skills? This question was asked to better understand the ability of parents to

support their child in this school district. The third survey question was, does your school district

have any programs that teach parents literacy instruction skills? This question would help the

conductors of this study to know if programs are already being implemented into this school

district. The fourth survey question was, “If yes, (to the previous question) what is the program?
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 9

How is it implemented? Has the program been successful?” This was a paragraph response type

question to allow the survey participants to elaborate on parent literacy programs in the school

district. The goal of this question was to get a clear understanding of programs in the district that

are available to parents. The fifth and final survey question was, “If your school does not

currently have a program to address this issue, what do you think can be done to assist these

parents?” The purpose of this question was to get professional judgement from educators in the

field about how parents can be empowered to help develop their child’s early literacy skills.

Findings

The following findings are results from the research that answer the following questions:

What programs can school districts implement to teach parents literacy instruction skills? How

are these programs are implemented? Have these programs shown to be successful?

Through the interview, the superintendent stated that 53% of the students in the district

are English language learners, 90% of the students are Hispanic, and 33% are immigrants. Out of

these students approximately 60% of them speak only Spanish at home. Regarding the parents in

the district, the superintendent stated that the average education level in the community was a

fifth grade level. Many of the parents work long days in the harvest fields and make less than

$30,000 a year but love and are committed to their children. He stated that the parents of this

community put a great amount of trust into the school district to instruct their children and give

them the skills to overcome the poverty the parents experience due to a lack of education and

skills.

According to the survey responses 80% of the district educators and administrators

strongly agreed that parent involvement is key to the growth of children’s early literacy skills.
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One hundred percent of survey participants stated that they have encountered parents that were

unable to foster the growth of their child’s literacy skills.

Do you agree that parent involvement is key in the growth

of chldren's early literacy skills?

4% 12%

4%

80%

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Disagree

In answering the fourth survey question, what programs does your school district have

the teach parents literacy skills, the survey participants did not highlight one particular program

but rather multiple attempts to increase parent literacy. These efforts include Family Literacy

Nights, formal adult education in English language development and English literacy, and a

Migrant Family Bi-literacy program.

Family Literacy Night is an event held once a year at a school in the district. During this

event, educators review the importance of reading at home and provide reading at home

strategies to for parents. Parents are encouraged to become partners with the educators and

students in their child’s literacy process in small ways, such as listening to their child read. Each

family leaves the event with two books at or slightly above the child’s reading level. This event
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is a program that can be adopted at any school in order to provide support and simple instruction

skills for parents.

Adult English education classes are offered throughout the community. Classes are

offered several times a week from 8-11am for 28 weeks per year through the Healthy Start

Family Resource Center in the district. There are also adult evening literacy instruction classes

offered in various settings across the community. These programs help to teach parents English

literacy which supports the ability of parents to support their child in learning English literacy

skills.

The Migrant Bi-literacy Program gives the parents of preschool-aged children the

opportunity to be engaged in their child’s education. Instruction is provided both to the learner

and the parents. A program like this involves parents in their child’s literacy education from the

very beginning of the school’s instruction. This is a great program because it teaches parents and

learners to work together to develop literacy skills at a young age.

The last question of the survey asked participants for their opinion on what can be done

to assist parents who lack these literacy skills. Many respondents replied with ideas of seeking

out the parents’ specific needs, wants, and availabilities. Several respondents point out that if the

program meeting time is not convenient, parents will not be able to take advantage of the

opportunities before them. Other respondents elaborated on determining the parents’ literacy

needs. These needs may be in multiple literacies, traditional literacy, digital literacy, or specific

content literacy. Once the needs are determined, programs that match these needs can be

identified and implemented into the school district to support parents.

It may be predicted that these efforts empower parents to become more involved in their

child’s literacy development through their own instruction. According to the survey results, the
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respondents did not know the specific implementation and success rate of each of these

programs. However, many respondents stated that these programs are often attended by a steady

group of parents who are committed to learning English literacy skills.

Recommendations

This research highlighted several programs that school districts can implement to support

the involvement of parents in their child’s literacy development. However, this study had a

variety of limitations. The sample size was limited to one school district. With further research it

would be beneficial to research parent literacy support programs implemented across a variety of

settings. The success of the different programs could be closely measured to determine which

program has the highest success rate.

Another limitation of the current study was the shortage of implementation and success

data of the programs implemented in the school district researched. This lack of data was due to

the absence of a researcher present in the school district and the lack of the district’s personnel’s

knowledge of data. In future research one may study the success of programs implemented by

testing the children’s literacy skills before and after the parent involvement. These tests can be a

form of written work and oral reading. The researchers can also interview the parents involved to

determine how the parent role changed and if engagement in their child’s literacy development

increased.

The implications of the research collected in this study are that there are many programs

school districts can implement into the district in order to empower parents to become involved

in their child’s literacy development. Parent involvement is crucial to the growth of a child’s

literacy development. Some parents are unable to foster this growth due to their own lapse of

knowledge or skill. With the implementation of programs such as Family Literacy Night,
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Migrant Bi-literacy, and adult education classes, parents have the opportunity to develop their

literacy knowledge or skills in order to then support their child’s learning.

PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 14

References

Boyce, L. K., Innocenti, M. S., Roggman, L. A., Jump Norman, V. K., & Ortiz, E. (2010).

Telling stories and making books: Evidence for an intervention to help parents in migrant

head start families support their children's language and literacy. Early Education and

Development, 343-365. doi:10.1080/10409281003631142

DeLoatche, K. J., Bradley-Klug, K. L., Ogg, J., Kromery, J. D., & Sundman, A. N. (2015).

Increasing parent involvement among head start families: a randomized control group

study. Early Childhood Educ J, 271-278. doi:10.1007/s10643-014-0660-7

O'Donnell, J., & Kirkner, S. L. (2014). The impact of a collaborative family involvement

program on latino families and children's educational performance. School Community

Journal, 24(1), 211-234.

Rivera, H. H. (2014). Studying the impact of technology-infused activities among low-income

spanish-speaking immigrant families. Journal Of Latinos And Education, 13(3), 196-211.

Rivera, L., & Lavan, N. (2012). Family literacy practices and parental involvement of Latin

American immigrant mothers. Journal Of Latinos And Education, 11(4), 247-259.

Steiner, L. M. (2014). A family literacy intervention to support parents in children's early literacy

learning. Reading Psychology, 703-731. doi:10.1080/02702711.2013.801215

“What’s hot in literacy.” (2017). International Literacy Association.

PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 15

Appendix

Early Literacy and Parent Involvement Survey

I am a college student in my junior year at Franciscan University of Steubenville studying
to become a teacher. I grew up in Kingsburg, California and plan to return to the valley to teach
in the wonderful community that raised me. As a future educator I was wondering, what school
districts can do to help parents, who lack literacy skills, become more involved in helping
develop their child’s early literacy skills?
Parent involvement is key to success in the growth of children’s early literacy skills,
however some parents are not equipped with the skills to help develop their child’s early literacy.
Through this research I plan to discover programs that schools can implement to teach parents
literacy instruction skills in order to help their own child. I want to learn what these programs
are, how they are implemented, and if these programs have been successful.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this 5minute survey. Your contribution to this
action research is greatly appreciated.
1. Do you agree that parent involvement is key in the growth of children’s early literacy skills?
o Strongly disagree
o Disagree
o Agree
o Strongly agree

2. Have you encountered parents that are unable to foster the growth of these skills due to their
own lack of knowledge or skills?
o Yes
o No

3. Does your school district have any programs that teach parents literacy instruction skills?
o Yes
o No

4. If yes, what is the program? How is it implemented? Has the program been successful?
(Long answer text)
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 16

5. If your school does not currently have a program to address this issue, what do you think can
be done to assist these parents?
(Long answer text)
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 17

Raw Data

(Survey Responses)

Do you agree that parent involvement is key in the growth

of children's early literacy development?

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree

Have you encountered parents that are unable to foster the

growth of these skills due to their own lack of knowledge or
skills?

Yes No
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 18

Does your school district have any progams that teach

parent literacy instruction skills?

Yes No

If yes, what is the program? How is it implemented? Has the program been successful?

 There isn't one particular "program", rather, there are multiple "efforts" designed to

increase parent literacy and involve parents in the life of their children. A few examples

of these efforts: 1. Most learning communities have a variety of family literacy nights

with the learning facilitators and reading specialists providing opportunities for the

parents and children to work together on basic literacy. 2. Learners have books that they

take home. Parents who lack literacy can still listen to their children read. 3. We have

formal Adult Education classes that focus on learning English and basic literacy skills.

Adult/parent literacy is a significant issue in our community with the average education

level being at the 5th grade. Our focus has been more on advancing the literacy of the

children and making them fully accountable for their learning.

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 Different learning communities employ different programs that may be customized to the

unique needs of their parents. These include math literacy nights, English language

development programs and family fun nights.

 I know there are English classes for adults. There is also a place available where the

community can go to get various services to support the education and health of their

child. I am unaware of implementation and success rate

 Our district offers adult education classes for parents who want to learn English. It is

offered through our Healthy Start Program and it is couple times a week in the mornings

around 9:30. The program has had some success but many parents are at work during that

time.

 Often, I get invited to attend literacy nights with a specific focus (math skills, reading

skills). This invitation comes from elementary school where my daughter attends.

 The Migrant Program helps to teach the parents English which in turn supports the ability

of the parents to support their learners. I am not sure if there has been data collected to

assess the effectiveness of the program however there is always a waiting list to enroll in

the limited seats.

 The programs offered in Lindsay have steady, but small, enrollment. Success in the

program is often determined by regular attendance and participation. It is run in the

evenings and has a very committed group of parents who want to learn English.

 English classes for parents, local community agencies also provide them.

 Family Literacy Night at our school. It is only once a year but we review reading at home

strategies and the importance of reading with your child in any language. The families

take home 2 free books at the event. I also have sent a note home with parents with the
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 20

learner's current reading score and things to do to improve it. Each learner should be

taking home a book at or above their level daily to read at home and this is

communicated with the parents. We work to make them partners in the process, even if it

is just encouraging the learner to read routinely at home.

 There are "CBET" programs to help parents become literate themselves which in turn

would help their children. Several programs, departments, and sites hold "literacy nights"

where parents are taught how to foster literacy at home regardless of their own education

level.

 Adult English Family Literacy class, held two mornings per week (8-11am) for

approximately 28 weeks per year. We have very strong participation and enthusiasm.

 I am not aware of a program in the district that teaches parents about literacy instruction

skills. I usually try to teach parents how they can work with their child at home during

parent conferences.

 Migrant Family Bi-literacy Program for preschool age children and their parents. First

year of implementation using CDE curriculum. Instruction is provided to both preschool

children and parents.

 Adult English Class and Parent Education Meetings focusing on literacy - yes, they have

been successful and helpful; however, I think we need more.

 literacy classes/Parent university

 The district Migrant Education Program has a bi-literacy program for pre-school aged

learners and their parents.

 Several Literacy programs are offered at JJ Cairns School: ESO Class through COS,

GED Classes through Proteus, and Lindsay Adult School.

PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 21

 Unfortunately I don't know the data on success ratings. Wish I did! :)

 There are numerous programs that support this, from adult literacy classes lead by our

assessment coordinator to offerings at each site. Most of these opportunities are held on a

monthly basis. I am not certain that we are monitoring the implementation itself enough

to determine success of the programs.

 Family Bi-Literacy-CDE Program; Evening classes literacy instruction with learners and

parents; yes

If your school does not currently have a program to address this issue, what do you think can be

done to assist these parents?

 There is always more that can be done. However, there is no "magic formula" for what

can be done to improve parent literacy. Advancing adult literacy is often more difficult as

there is a sense of shame from these adults and also their time is limited as they often

work long hours.

 Offer incentives for a parent night to build literacy skills. These offerings should be

offered at various times of the day to be accessible to all parents.

 Adult Ed programs - skills based - needs assessments needt o be done to determine the

specific needs of the parents that you are working with

 I would offer more options for parents to attend classes like in the afternoons and maybe

even Saturday.

 My son is in high school and it is not a practice at this time. There are several things that

could be done to implement a parent literacy program: 1) Survey the needs of the parents

in regards to literacy 2) Create a parent group that promotes and leads other parents in
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 22

becoming literate/involved 3) Invite parents into the classroom where teacher's and/or

students are leading lessons (literacy)

 The real issue lies in what kind of literacies parents want and how to best develop them.

Early literacy in children is based on various factors, including family and cultural

literacy. These literacies can be developed just as successfully in a home language. In

school, children learn multiple literacies simultaneously- traditional literacy, digital

literacy, content literacies (such as math and science), etc. (often called the "new

literacies"). In helping parents, the first thing to do is determine what kind of literacies

they want to learn- do they want basic English? Do they want to know how to help their

children with reading and writing? Do they want workplace literacy? Digital literacy?

Then, much of the research shows, the best way to develop these are in events and

sessions that bring them in WITH their children and make them co-constructors of

knowledge and literacy together.

 I think we could be doing so much more, but it comes down to funding and working after

hours to meet community needs.

 I think we need to start by asking the parents what they need and what they would be

willing to commit to in regards to literacy instruction. We also need to foster a safe

environment at schools, so parents see schools as partners, not adversaries. If a program

is not offered on site, schools should know what programs are offered in the community

and be willing to share those with parents.

 I think having literacy nights every month or so would be helpful to parents. Literacy

nights could cover a range of literacy skills from comprehension to different reading
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 23

strategies to use when reading. The use of literacy games are fun and engaging to use

with parents as well.

 Design parent friendly communications about reading with their child, or how to monitor

their child's use of reading programs accessed virtually. Consider offering a parent

support class to address these issues during Back to School night. Design a program for

parent support that involves bringing their child and practicing the new skillset while in

the learning setting.

 Our Adult English Class is always full and we always have a waiting list of parents that

we are unable to provide services to. We need more opportunities for our parents to learn

English since there is the interest and the need. We also need to provide other engaging

opportunities to help parents feel successful and be involved in their child's literacy

learning.

 I invite my parents to come into my class and actually become a part of my lessons. Once

they understand a component/skill, they then take over as a learning facilitator and lead a

station that addresses that skill with the learners. This empowers my parents and learners

at the same time.

 Parent Literacy Night at K-8 Schools (Provide materials and model literacy activities to

be used at home.)

 Learning Facilitator/Parent Conferences (During conferences provide materials and

model literacy activities to be used at home)

 It would be good to connect with an outside agency that could provide this service. The

current problem is that the Healthy Start and Migrant Ed staff do not have the training to

provide these services.

PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S LITERACY 24

 Although our District DOES have programs - many teachers in the Elementary grades

have not been given this information or data to be able to share it with their parents or

each other. Every teacher should have Quick Access to the data, phone numbers and

information to share with their parents at the beginning of each school year and with

every parent contact (Conferences).