Areas of Expertise - Family Literacy
“It is amazing the changes we all go through by just showing up. I look around me and I see many people fulfilling goals. I’m not the only one going through changes. My children are too. By attending school, it makes my kids want to learn more.”
Katharine
MA Even Start Parent
Family literacy programs provide parents and children most in need of improving their literacy skills with a unified program of intensive services and support that integrate four components:
- Interactive literacy between parents and children that transfers educational concepts and values into the home and family
- Training for parents on how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children
- Parent literacy education that leads to economic self-sufficiency and
- Age appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences.
Decades of research target parent literacy as one of the single most important predictors of a child’s school success. Parent involvement in education has resulted in better grades for children, fewer behavior problems, increased classroom participation, and better social adjustment (Harvard Family Research Project, 2005, NCFL, 2003). Family literacy programs have also provided benefits to adult participants, including increased self-esteem, confidence, literacy competence, and interest in their own education.
Early Childhood Associates, Inc. has worked closely with the Massachusetts Department of Education (MADOE) since 1999 to evaluate Even Start programs locally and statewide, and has provided technical assistance for continuous program improvement. We have conducted statewide evaluations for Even Start in Massachusetts since 1999, longitudinal research on its effectiveness, and an analysis of Even Start participants’ MCAS scores. In addition, we collaborated with MADOE to develop the Guide to Assess Quality in Family Literacy Programs.
Our approach builds on emerging research that targets early childhood classroom quality as critical to implementing a high-quality literacy program. Our family literacy research matrix compiles the knowledge gained through our considerable evaluation work of the Massachusetts Even Start program.
