Resources

Pennsylvania Center for the Book

Family Literacy activities were developed in cooperation with the the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. These research-based resources were designed for parents and educators working with parents and young children. Resources include (1) sample integrated lesson plans for Adult Education, Parenting Education, Early Childhood Education, and Interactive Literacy (also known as PACT Time); (2) developmental information guides for parents and practitioners; (3) recommended booklists for children’s books and parent resources; and (4) downloadable activities based on high quality children’s literature.

Pennsylvania Family Literacy Resources

The purpose of this website is to provide family literacy practitioners with the most recent and useful resources in curriculum, publications, professional development and websites.

Smithsonian Learning Lab

The Smithsonian Learning Lab offers free digital access to more than two million artworks, objects, videos, educational activities, and more from across the Smithsonian.  Using the Learning Lab’s authentic resources and innovative tools, parents, teachers, and learners of all ages can make discoveries, create personalized learning experiences, and share their creativity and knowledge with others around the world.

National Center on Improving Literacy

The National Center on Improving Literacy is a resource for improving outcomes for students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia.  There are many resources for parents, families, schools, and districts including Improving Literacy Briefs, current legislation, and a resource depository.

Recently, Dr. Grinder hosted a webinar to celebrate National Family Literacy Month, Engaging Children:  Interactive Literacy Activities [PreK-K] that focused on the parent engagement in family literacy with an emphasis on children with dyslexia.  You can view the webinar or view the Power Point presentation.

Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

The Barbara Bush Foundation supports family literacy across the county where children and parents can succeed together.

National Center for Families Learning (NCFL)

NCFL exists to encourage family engagement as adults and children learn.

Policy Resources

• Although the federally funded Even Start Family Literacy Program is no longer funded, state evaluations and program overviews continue to provide evidence of positive and significant outcomes for the families that participated in these family literacy programs.  Several examples include: Texas (2009-2010), Pennsylvania (2008-2009), Illinois (FY 10), Nebraska (2009-2010), Michigan (3 year review from 2008/09 to 2010/11).

• At the 2008 National Even Start Association Conference, a session called Even Start Works! explored three research studies that demonstrated the impact of Even Start Family Literacy programs.

• Follow-up data on older children who have been in family literacy programs are provided in Is Family Literacy Achieving Its Intended Outcome? (2004) to demonstrate their success in school.

• The Rand Corporation shows that the educational attainment of mothers, as well as neighborhood poverty, is more important than ethnicity or immigration status in determining children's school achievement, in the article A matter of class: Educational achievement reflects family background more than ethnicity or immigration (2004).

• The Brookings Institute demonstrates in the article, "School readiness: Closing racial and ethnic gaps" (2005), the importance of parental and preschool child interventions in eliminating racial and ethnic gaps in school achievement.

• The Anne E. Casey Foundation released a KIDS COUNT special report, Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters (2010), to emphasize the critical importance of having all children achieve grade-level proficiency by the third grade. Learning to read is paramount to children's success in school.  An update was written in 2013 -- Early Warning Confirmed.

• The National Center for Family Literacy developed a report, The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions on Children's Acquisition of Reading from Kindergarten to Grade 3 (2006), that reviewed the scientific literature on parent involvement and the acquisition of children's reading from kindergarten to grade 3. The results from the meta-analytic review were clear: Parent involvement has a positive impact on children's reading acquisition.

Website Resources

Adult Education/Parenting Websites

Early Childhood/Elementary Websites

Parent and Child Interactive Literacy Websites