The problem of illiteracy is intergenerational. Many parents lack the skills, knowledge, and awareness needed to support their children's educational development. Our educational system must be changed so that it places equal priority on education for the child and on academic remediation for the parent. Family intervention programs do not address the undereducation of the parents. In family literacy programs, however, parents and children become teachers and learners. Functional context literacy, that is, relating the content of what is taught to the specific needs and goals of the individual learner, makes learning relevant to the goals of parents and children. The Kenan Trust Family Literacy Project, an outgrowth of the Parent and Child Education (PACE) program in Kentucky, provides individualized instruction and joint learning in elementary schools to parents and their preschool children. Parents sharpen their skills in reading, math, and language, and receive career counseling, student assessment, and employability skills instruction. Benefits include increased responsibility and improved parenting skills for parents, and increased maturity and cognitive growth for children. The Kenan Project results indicate that disadvantaged children and parents can be helped jointly in intervention programs. (SH)