1	Family Literacy Impact FAU Literacy and Teaching Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL January 29, 2004 Valerie Bryan, Ed.D. Anita S. Rodgers, M.Ed.
2	Family Literacy “Home is the child’s first school, the parent is the child’s first teacher, and that reading is the child’s first subject”
3	Parenting Impact Intergenerational transmission of a culture and its knowledge passes from parent to child. What the family provides: Fundamental Skills General Approach to Experience
4	Parenting Impact The magnitude of children’s accomplishments depends: less on the material and educational advantages and more on the amount of experience children accumulate with parenting that provides: language diversity, affirmative feedback, symbolic emphasis, gentle guidance, and responsiveness.
5	Experience Intensive intervention cannot make up for the difference in the amount of such experience children have received from their parents. At what age?
6	Goals Ensure that all children get enriched experience and models of good parenting whether at home or in child care facilities.
7	Alternatives Affordable quality child care on an income-graded basis Neighborhood child care centers with early diagnostic and intervention services Mentors or caregivers to provide one-to-one parent coaching National policy concerned with children’s early experience (supporting good parenting) as it is with health and nutrition
8	Literature says . . . National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) “Most early education programs lose about one-third of their staff each year . . .” “Need to invest in a stable, sustainable workforce of high-quality early childhood teachers” “High turnover compromises quality, and undermines the stable, caring relationships that are crucial elements in a young child's positive development”
9	Literature says . . . National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Children who attend centers w/high turnover & lower levels of quality are less competent in social and language development (NCCS, Arnett Scale) Teachers w/ more education & early childhood training at college + higher wages & benefits = more provision of appropriate and sensitive caregiving (NCCS)
10	Literature says . . . National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Teachers and children interacted in a more positive and pro-social manner when child-staff ratio was lower (NCCS study) Children are kept in large groups more when ratios are higher (CSCR) Teachers with higher levels of education spent more time interacting with children, teaching children, and teaching language/number concepts and were more goal-oriented (OSECP)
11	Difference in Amount of Talking of the Ordinary American Family In an average hour, some parents spent more than 40 minutes with their child, other less than 15 minutes Some parents responded more than 250 times to their child, others responded fewer than 50 times Some expressed approval & encouragement more than 40 times an hour, others less than 4 times
12	Ordinary American Family Some parents said more than 3,000 words to their child in an average hour together, others said fewer than 500 words.
13	Ordinary American Family
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16	Early Experience – Prohibitions Prohibitions (Don’t, Stop, Quit) Per Hour Professional Parents – 5 per hour Welfare Parents – 11 per hour
17	Early Experience – Social Strata Longitudinal Study – 3 Socioeconomic Groups: Professional (Pro), Working-Class (W-C), and Welfare (Wel) Families: The utterances of the Pro parents were not only greater in amount but also richer in certain quality features – nouns, modifiers, past-tense verbs, affirmative feedback displayed less negative feedback to children per hour. The welfare children received in each hour less than half the language experience of the working-class children.
18	Language Experience & Outcomes Amount of parent talk accounted for all the correlation between socioeconomic status (and/or race) and the verbal intellectual accomplishments of 42 young American children.
19	Environmental Links All parents used a similar number of imperatives (“Come here”), prohibitions (“Stop That”), and questions (“What are you doing?”) in caring and socializing children. When parents began to discuss feelings, plans, present activities, and past events, the vocabulary became more varied and the descriptions richer in nuances. The talk also became more positive and responsive to their children’s talk.
20	Age 3 (Child = Parents) By as early as 3 years of age, the children’s own talk had come to match their parents’ talk. As the children learned to talk, the amount that they talked increased steadily until it reached the amount of their parent’s talk, and the it leveled off. The children were talking as much as – but only as much as their parents’ talk. The children’s talk was varied – but only as varied as their parents’ talk.
21	Significance of “Talk” Amount The most important aspect of children’s language experience is its amount. There is less need for programs to try and teach parents to talk differently to their children or to change parent styles of interacting and more need to help parents learn to talk more to their children. Evaluate child care settings for very young children is the amount of talk actually going on between children and their caregivers.
22	Family Literacy Programs Common Program Components Adult Education GED, ESOL, Vocational/Technical, Basic Literacy, Employability Skills Early Childhood Education Quality Age Appropriate Parent Education Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time Interactive Literacy Activities between parents and their children Home Visitation Required for Even Start Programs (Florida Grants for FY 2004-2005 - $6 million)
23	Family Literacy Programs 2002-2003 Governor’s Family Literacy Grants 14 Organizations were awarded one-year, start-up grants; Grants up to $50,000. $1.4 Million Budget Program Participants 485 Adults, 189 pre-kindergarten children, 499 K-15 children, and 460 families Diverse group of participants – wide range of countries and languages Lived in the country an average of 7.5 years Couples with children- 53%; Single parent with child(ren)-32%; Extended family-12%; Other 4%. Less than High School-52%; High school/Ged-37%; More than High School-11%
24	Family Literacy Impact