Research Briefs

Poverty, Residential Mobility, and Persistence in Family Literacy Programs: Perceptions of Educators and Adult Learners in Pennsylvania

The Importance of Social Interaction and Support for Women Learners: Evidence from Family Literacy Programs

Parenting for Literacy Development and Educational Success: An Examination of the Parent Education Profile

Moving towards Participatory Adult Education: Involving Family Literacy Students in Meaningful Leadership Experiences

Ongoing Research

Examining Residential Mobility and Family Literacy Educational Outcomes Among Poor Families in Pennsylvania. This pilot study, undertaken in collaboration with the Center on Rural Education and Communities, assesses how poverty and residential mobility influence adult persistence and participation in family literacy programs across both urban and rural contexts. Research methods include interviews with family literacy program directors and residential and educational histories of family literacy participants and their children.

Pennsylvania Even Start Case Studies. This study describes the organizational practices (e.g., recruitment, retention, instruction, program design, evaluation) of three Even Start family literacy programs in Pennsylvania, including the ways they relate and respond to their institutional environments, such as legislation and community history. Program directors are involved in designing and implementing the study, for example, by working with adult education teachers to integrate data collection into classroom instruction.

Cultural Variation and the Parent Education Profile (PEP). Increasingly, family literacy programs are using the Parent Education Profile (PEP) to assess parenting practices. Using a typology of "mainstream" (i.e., White, middle-class) and "non-mainstream" (i.e., non-White, poor, or working-class) parenting practices, this study examines the class- and culture-based assumptions about parenting embedded in the PEP, as well as the ethical implications of intervening in the parenting practices of poor, immigrant, and minority families.

Adult Participation Related to Outcomes in Family Literacy Programs, Summary of Findings and Implications for Practice. Analyses of the statewide evaluation data indicate that adult learners who accumulate between 50 and 99 hours of adult education within a single 12-month period perform better on the TABE reading, while at least 75 hours are needed in order to perform better on the TABE mathematics post-test...

Women in Pennsylvania’s Family Literacy Programs: Effect of Participant Characteristics on Extent of Participation, Summary of Findings and Implications for Practice. Data from Pennsylvania’s statewide evaluation of family literacy programs were used to assess the effect of participant and family characteristics on duration and intensity of participation in family literacy programs. Duration was defined from two different perspectives...

Survey of Interactive Parent Child Literacy Activities in Pennsylvania Family Literacy Programs. The purpose of the study is to answer the question, “What kinds of activities are occurring while engaged in an Interactive Parent Child Literacy Activity in family literacy programs across Pennsylvania?”

Interactive Literacy/PACT Observation Tool (Word version) (PDF version) This instrument, piloted in family literacy sites, is useful as a teacher training tool. Experienced teachers may also find it helpful in focusing parent-child interactive literacy instruction. It is intended to encourage teacher reflection rather than be used for teacher evaluation, and to be used twice or more per year. The instrument requires an observer and a teacher before, during, and after the interactive literacy time.

Testing the Assumption: The Impact of Family Literacy on Children’s Development. The literature led us to ask the following two research questions from the Pennsylvania family literacy data: (1) Does pre-school children’s participation in the family literacy program lead to gains in developmental skills, particularly literacy-related skills; and (2) Does parental participation in a particular component of family literacy affect child development scores?

Mapping Success: Family and Child Education (FACE) Program. Provides a short progress report on the FACE project--Mapping success: Family and Child Education Program. Mapping Success was conceptualized as a three-phase research project that aims to develop a clear understanding of family literacy indicators of effectiveness.(click here for full paper - PDF version)

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