Although the concept of communities of practice (CoPs) has been applied to many fields, the application within the context of the senior citizens' interaction must be different from those in the vocational arena. In Toy Clinic Shops (TCSs) in Taiwan, senior volunteers together sharpen their skills of repairing toys for school children, which can…

Parents of Chapter 1 reading students were invited to take part in a reading program using courseware for adult beginning readers. A group of 52 parents completed the program; on average they gained more than one year in reading level after 20 hours of instructional time. Impact on children and delivery models are discussed. (CH)

Finds that the supportive environment of "women helping women" was the hallmark characteristic of a local Even Start family literacy program and that participants were not consciously thinking about family literacy but joined the program for themselves and gave no indication of seeing the connection between the adult literacy component…

The learning that parents accomplish through informal involvement in running preschool learning groups was examined through a survey of adults who were actively involved in a Pre-School Learning Alliance program in 1 of 10 locations throughout England. Of the 632 adults contacted, 311 (nearly 50%) completed questionnaires. Approximately 60…

The Kenan Trust Family Literacy Project was implemented during the 1988-89 school year at three model sites in Louisville, Kentucky, and four in North Carolina. The model was designed to teach undereducated parents together with their 3- or 4-year-old children. Children participated in a comprehensive preschool program while adults studied in…

A study examined the influence of an intergenerational approach on the literacy development of parents and on the practice of family literacy at home. During a 3-year period, 367 families enrolled in multilingual, multiability literacy classes for at least one instructional cycle. The adult basic education classes were held in a community center…

These two documents discuss two related family literacy projects that were conducted to develop a model for providing sustained literacy and developmental activities to economically disadvantaged families throughout Pennsylvania. The first document details the development/implementation of the Families Reading Together program, which built upon…

This document contains information from and about the Family Numeracy program, a 1-year pilot program conducted in 14 local education authorities throughout the United Kingdom to identify the most effective methods of achieving the following goals: raise the level of home support for numeracy; improve the numeracy skills of 3- to 5-year-old…

An evaluation was made of PACE (Parent and Child Education), a family literacy program initiated in Kentucky in 1986. PACE was created because of the widespread belief that the state has a serious problem with undereducation of its adult population and the belief also that this problem is the result of persistent patterns of educational failure…

This article describes models of literacy education using the intergenerational approach. This approach attempts to teach both parents and children reading and writing, while also improving the parenting and job readiness skills of the parents. Several ongoing projects are described, such as the Kenan Trust Family Literacy Project in Kentucky and…

This paper examines early childhood development, family, health, and literacy. It places particular emphasis on the need to consider the interrelationships of these factors when attempting to use literacy to improve the quality of life of individuals in developing countries. The paper begins with a discussion of learning capacity and a conceptual…

The benefits of family literacy programs for children were examined in a 1997 follow-up study in which 154 parents and 237 children who had participated in a family literacy demonstration program in 1994-1995 were interviewed along with the teachers of a subsample of the children and the demonstration program coordinators. The demonstration…

A field evaluation of 14 community-based family and intergenerational literacy programs identified the most effective strategies, structures, and approaches to reach and teach the "hardest to reach." Information was collected through 90-minute telephone surveys with program coordinators and/or executive directors. Although different in structural…

Parental perspectives on family learning were examined through focus group discussions with parents who had participated in family learning courses at a nursery school, primary school, secondary school, and family support center in London, England. Five focus group discussions with a total of 25 family learning course participants, 2 in-depth…

This report, which is intended for individuals developing family literacy (FL) programs, contains background information on the research, development, operation, evaluation, and outcomes of federal- and state-level FL initiatives. Discussed in section 1 are the following topics: the importance/benefits of FL programs; definitions of literacy and…