Family Literacy

Literacy-Related and Family Literacy

News Update on Literacy in Florida, May 2003	Earlier this week Governor Bush announced 63 percent of third graders, more than ever before, received passing scores on the FCAT. Meanwhile, the percentage of third graders scoring at Level 1 in reading dropped to 23 percent from 27 percent in 2002 and 29 percent since 2001.
Governor Bush Launches "JUST READ, FAMILIES!" WEB SITE and declares May as "Just Read, Families!"	"Just Read, Families!" offers parents the online tools they need to nurture summer reading while providing incentives to students who achieve certain reading goals. "Research shows children who do not continue reading through the summer can lose a month or more of progress made in the past school year. By encouraging children to read, parents are playing a critical role in achieving our mission to have every child reading at grade level or above," Governor Bush said. http://www.justreadfamilies.org http://www.myflorida.com
The "Just Read, Families!" Web site offers resources and tools parents need to create a reading-friendly environment at home. The Web site is divided into five sections. Those sections include: Getting Started - Tips on reading aloud to children; Great Ideas - Offers summer reading activities, downloadable Summer Reading Activities Kit, reading publications and other website resources; Kids Page - Child-friendly sites that help develop reading skills; Recommended Reading- offers parents the opportunity to check their child's school Web site to see if they require Summer reading; and Library Links - Information on the Florida Library Youth Program (FLYP) and links to every public county library system in Florida.
The main component of "Just Read, Families!" is the Florida Libraries Youth Program, a summer reading program that aims to provide opportunities for children and their families to discover the joy of reading together through activities at local public libraries. "Learning to read is one of the most important skills we learn as a child," said Secretary Hood. "Reading together as a family enhances the relationship and helps build strong foundations that will last a lifetime."

Resources to Assist in Literacy Efforts:

Florida Literacy Coalition, Inc.: The Florida Literacy Coalition provides current and accurate information to prospective adult students and volunteers about literacy programs available throughout the state, promote awareness of literacy to the
public, and provide current and relevant information and resources to those who provide literacy instruction: volunteer adult literacy tutors, teachers, and parents.
The Governor's Mentoring Initiative: The initiative is designed to help students excel in school by recruiting 200,000 Floridians to become mentors. The initiative promotes collaboration among state agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations. It provides a variety of mentoring formats including: One-on-One Mentoring, Team Mentoring, CyberMentors, and Paired Partner Mentors. The initiative is paired with other unique strategies to address the needs in Florida:
- Governor's Family Literacy Initiative, "establish(ed to insure) literacy as a value in every family", provides funding, and a host of other resources to assist the process, such as "celebration" techniques, "phone line", and "story time".
- PowerUP organization, the Florida-based coalition establishes computer labs in underserved communities across Florida
- FrontPorch Mentoring
- Links to cooperative agencies and sources pertinent to Florida
The Partnership: The Florida Partnership for Family Involvement in Education is a statewide organization involved with promoting family involvement and increasing student achievement. The Partnership goals are to increase parental awareness of education issues, to develop and sustain partnerships and networks with other organizations, agencies and family centers, and to increase numbers and types of partnerships between home and school.
Statistical Information about Family Literacy: Information complied by the Florida Literacy Coalition on facts and statistics related to Florida and its family literacy.

Several of the following offer services and programs for Florida:

National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) http://novel.nifl.gov/

At the NIFL web site, access a database of literacy programs, get information on grants and contracts, and download publications about literacy issues.

Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/index.html

The LINCS web site offers news items, event information, facts and statistics, funding information, and literacy resources for teachers and administrators.

Literacy.org http://www.literacyonline.org/

This home page for the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL) and the International Literacy Institute (ILI) provides full-text research reports.

PBS LiteracyLink http://www.pbs.org/literacy/

This page has a variety of resources for literacy teachers and students.

Literacy Links http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/Literacy_Resources/links.html

This site provides a comprehensive list of links to literacy-related web sites.

Laubach Literacy International http://www.laubach.org/home.html

The home page for the world's largest literacy organization offers news items, a volunteer database, information about grants, and links to literacy resources.

National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~ncsall/

Download teaching materials, review publications and research reports, and browse links to adult learning and literacy resources at the NCSALL web site.

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